d, a fleshless skull with a skin of
blistered parchment strained so tightly over it that the cheek-bones
seemed to be on the point of breaking through; while the eyes, but for
the sparkle of the fever in them, would have been invisible, so deeply
were they sunk within their sockets. The rest of his frame was
evidently in like condition; his bare arms and exposed shanks seeming
literally to be nothing but skin and bone, without a particle of flesh
upon them.

For a space of, perhaps, ten seconds, this grisly phantom stood
motionless in the boat, staring blankly at us; then, when the ship was
within some twenty fathoms of him, he threw his gaunt, bony arms above
his head, and with a wild, eldritch yell, such as I had never heard
before, and hope never to hear again, he half sprang, half tumbled over
the side of the boat into the water, and, with a frenzied energy such as
few sound, strong men could have exhibited, struck out for the ship.

A wild cry of dismay arose from our decks, fore and aft, at this
unlooked-for act of madness; and then, with one accord, all hands,
myself included, dashed to the starboard quarter-boat and, while the
first comers flung the coiled-up falls off the pins and cut the gripes
adrift, Forbes and four others scrambled into her and, with wild
eagerness, thrust the rowlocks into their sockets, slashed the oars
adrift, and made ready to unhook and give way on the instant that she
should touch the water.

But of what avail was it all? Even while working with the others at the
boat I never for an instant lost sight of the maniac swimmer. I noted
the splash of his plunge into the water, and saw the white swirl raised
by the startled sharks as he precipitated himself into their midst; I
saw, too, the vigour with which he swam, and my ears tingled with the
wild, horrible cry he uttered at every stroke. For a brief space,
perhaps ten or fifteen seconds, not a solitary shark's fin was to be
seen; the surface of the water was unbroken, save by the madman's long
and eager strokes. Then, all round about him the golden sheen was
darkened into blue and churned to hissing white by the simultaneous rush
of that horde of sea-tigers, and, with a single faint, hoarse, bubbling
cry, the swimmer was gone!

"Too late! too late! hold on with the boat," I cried. "The poor wretch
is gone; torn to pieces by the sharks! Now let us see if there is
anybody else--faugh! What on earth is the meaning of this?"