his time they were down well over a minute, then shot up to the surface
together and piled on to the landing, their brown bodies glistening in
the sun. The boys went down the ladder and joined Jerry in getting the
reports of the divers.

These all agreed that the yacht lay directly over an old wreck, which
was so overgrown that it seemed little more than a huge rock. One of the
men had brought up a sliver of wood in proof of the story, however, and
at sight of it Jerry nodded, satisfied.

"There she is, lads--eight fathoms down! Mystery o' the sea,
lads--mystery o' the sea, and us up above here in the sun!"

The boys kept a sharp lookout for the shark, but he was not to be seen,
and the Kanakas declared there was nothing alarming to be seen
underneath the surface. Now it was that Jerry had Dailey and Birch bring
down the diving outfits to the landing, and he briefly ordered the
Kanakas to don them and go down.

To the surprise of all, the Kanakas refused. They looked with some
suspicion on the heavy boots and copper helmet, declaring that they felt
safer without all these things and were perfectly willing to go down as
often as was wished.

At this Jerry carefully explained that such work would not do, that he
wanted the wreck explored, and that it was necessary for a man to be
down for a long period to do this successfully. The Kanakas still
balked, however, and when Jerry grew furious and ordered one of them
flatly to get into the diving dress, Bob interposed.

"None o' that, Jerry. The men are right. If you want someone to go down,
pick out one of your own men--Birch or Dailey there."

The Scotch engineer, standing up above, burst out laughing. Birch
promptly denied all interest in the wreck.

"Not me, sir! I ain't no diver, nor shark fighter neither. If anyone's
to go down, let the quartermaster go down, I says!"

"That's right," grinned Mart maliciously. "You climb into one of the
suits, Jerry! Mebbe your old friend the Pirate Shark is waiting for you
to show up."

Jerry chuckled and wagged his white head in solemn refusal, while those
above made fun of him unrestrainedly. Finally Jerry scratched his head
and gazed up at the men lining the rail.

"Dailey," he ordered, "see to gettin' out two o' the boats. Yorke, you
an' Birch an' Borden come down to the after cabin. I'll learn ye who's
master aboard here!"

He chuckled again, and beckoned to the boys to follow, which they did.
Dailey ran to the bridg