up
above. Fish tell no tales, lads, fish tell no tales! Old Jerry's the
only man who knows--"

"How soon will any boats come out?" asked Mart, who had resolved to
bother no more about the Pirate Shark, as he had a shrewd notion that
Jerry was not quite right in the head. "Will they bring fruit?"

"Aye, lads, plenty o' that. But they'll not be out for an hour or two
yet, not they! Time for mess, lads--eight bells, time for mess!"

The captain got his sights, to be worked out later, and joined them. As
he did so, Jerry made the request that he be given shore leave, as he
might want to go ashore with any boats that came out. He had been here
before on a trading trip, he said, and knew the natives in the village
at the river mouth; so if he spent a day ashore he could arrange for
their hunting trip and make firm friends of the Malays.

"Why, of course!" smiled Captain Hollinger, as they went down to mess.
"You're a guest as far as I'm concerned, Jerry, so do as you please."

The old quartermaster nodded and no more was said on the subject. To the
boys, it seemed that Jerry's desire to go ashore was a good sign. Since
he was willing to trust himself alone to the natives, it showed that on
his previous visit he must have made friends with them. The boys had
read and heard a good deal of how the more unscrupulous trading
schooners treated the natives, and they perceived at once that Jerry's
previous visits must have been made in peace and good will.

Mart Judson, indeed, inclined strongly to the opinion that the
white-haired old quartermaster was slightly "bughouse," as he expressed
it. As to the dynamite on board, he concluded that whether the Pirate
Shark was an hallucination of the old man's brain or not, the explosive
might come in useful in their diving operations. He gave no credence
whatever to the story of the wrecked galleon out in the lagoon "eight
fathom down."

What Bob thought in the matter did not appear, for although the
freckled, blue-eyed chap seemed careless enough, in reality he was
cautious in giving vent to any opinion whatever. He merely grunted in
reply to Mart's arguments, that afternoon, and waved a hand beyond the
island, to the place Jerry had indicated.

"Six fathom here, Mart, and Jerry says it's eight up there. There's a
channel to the sea, there, and rocks pointing up. The channel would be
apt to cut it out deeper, and twelve feet makes a lot o' difference."

Beyond that he would say no