ook, father, one--two--three sharks, here, close to
us. He has no chance. See, he is again in deep water. God protect
him!"

In the meantime, Mr Seagrave, whose wife was now by his side, after
glancing his eye a moment at the sharks, which were within a few feet of
the beach, had kept his gaze steadily upon Ready's movements. If he
passed through the passage of deep water between the rocks he might be
considered safe, as the boat was now beating on a reef on the other
side, where the water was shallow. It was a moment of intense anxiety.
At last Ready had gained the reef, and had his hands upon the rocks, and
was climbing on them.

"He is safe, is he not?" whispered Mrs Seagrave faintly.

"Yes; now I think he is," replied Mr Seagrave, as Ready had gained a
footing on the rocks, where the water was but a little above his ankles.
"I think there is no deep water between him and the boat."

In another minute Ready was over the rocks, and had seized the gunnel of
the boat.

"He is in the boat," cried William. "Thank God!"

"Yes, we must thank God, and that fervently," replied Mr Seagrave.
"Look at those monsters," continued he, pointing to the sharks; "how
quick they swim to and fro; they have scented their prey on the water.
It is fortunate they are here."

"See, he has the boat-hook, and is pushing the boat off the reef into
the deep water. Oh! he is quite safe now."

Such, however, was not the case. The boat had been beating on the rocks
of the reef, and had knocked a hole in her bottom, and as soon as Ready
had forced the boat into deep water, she began to fill immediately.
Ready pushed as hard as he could with the boat-hook, and tearing off his
neck-cloth, forced as much as he could of it into the hole. This saved
them; but the boat was up to the thwarts with water, and the least
motion on the part of Ready, or even Tommy, would have upset her
immediately, and they had still to pass the deep water between the reef
and the beach, where the sharks were swimming. Ready, who perceived his
danger, called out to them to throw large stones at the sharks as fast
as they could, to drive them away. This was immediately done by Mr
Seagrave and William, aided by Juno and Mrs Seagrave.

The pelting of the stones had the desired effect. The sharks swam away,
and Ready passed through to the beach, and the boat grounded just as she
was up to the gunnel in water, and about to turn over. He handed out
Tommy, who w