ion had put the question,
however,--and also to satisfy his own curiosity,--he appealed to Ben.

The latter, raising his eyes above the top of his chest, and looking in
the direction pointed out by the lad, at once recognised the animal
which appeared to have attached itself as an escort to the _Catamaran_.

"Hammer-head!" said Ben; "a shark he be; an' the ugliest o' his ugly
tribe."

Saying this, the sailor once more ducked his head under the lid of the
chest, and continued his exploration,--altogether heedless of the
"hammer-head," from whose proximity they had nothing to fear.

So believed Ben Brace at the moment.

It proved a feeling of false security. In less than ten minutes from
that time the sailor was within six feet of the "hammer-head's" open
mouth,--in imminent danger of being craunched between those quadruple
tiers of terrible teeth, and taken into the monster's capacious maw.

By the phrase "hammer-head," so laconically pronounced by the captain of
the _Catamaran_, little William recognised in the fish a creature which,
although never seen by him before, he had read of in books, both of
travel and natural history. It was the "hammer-head" shark, or
_balance-fish_, so-called from the peculiar formation of its head,--the
_zygaena_ of the naturalists, and one of the most voracious of that
devouring tribe to which genetically it belongs.

The individual in question was, as is already stated, about a cable's
length from the raft, right ahead; and through the translucent water its
form could be distinctly traced in all its hideous outlines. Swimming
in the same direction, and at a like rate of speed, it preserved a
regular distance from the raft; and appeared like some guide or _avant
courier_ conducting the _Catamaran_ across the Atlantic!

William and Lalee watched the fish for a considerable time; but as no
change took place either in its movements or the position it held in
relation to the raft, their curiosity at length became satisfied, and
their eyes were turned in a different direction.

But the gaze of the boy-sailor soon became fixed; and upon an object
which caused him to give utterance to two distinct exclamations,--
distinct in point of time, as different in signification. The first was
an ejaculation, or rather a series of phrases expressing a jocular
surprise,--the second a cry of serious alarm.

"Ho!" cried he, on turning round and glancing towards the stern of the
_Catamaran_, "Sn