ws, and at his six rows of teeth, the remembrance of
which makes me shudder to this day.

As the shark disappeared with a savage whisk of the tail, poor Bob
turned to me; his lips quivered convulsively for a moment in an effort
to speak, and then he fell to the deck in a dead faint.

Two or three buckets of water dashed in his face, and a glass of neat
brandy, however, soon restored him, and it was almost pitiful to listen
to the poor fellow's heartfelt and reiterated expressions of gratitude
for his rescue.

"Ever since about half an hour after sunrise was that incarnate devil
alongside of me," exclaimed he; "and hadn't it been for my seeing the
cutter's sails, and knowin' as you was on the look-out for me, I _must_
have give in. Human natur' couldn't hold out ag'in' that sort of thing
for long. And now, I feel that weak and done up, that a child might
pitch me overboard ag'in, if he was so minded, I do believe."

The life-buoy came aboard again with Bob; so I unshipped the signal-
staff and took it to pieces, made it up in a bundle once more, stopped
it to the buoy, and slung the buoy itself in its old position on the
boom.

The cutter was still hove-to, and I allowed her to remain so, whilst I
went forward to see to the breakfast, Bob meanwhile changing his wet
clothes for dry ones, and hanging the former in the rigging to dry.

I was still busy over the cookery, when Bob came into the forecastle,
and observed:

"I say, Harry, there's that spiteful devil still alongside, and with a
most onchristian longing to make a breakfast off of your old shipmate,
I'll go bail! Couldn't we contrive somehow to put a stopper on his
tormentin' purpensities?"

"Ay, ay, Bob, old man!" replied I; "I think we may manage to do that
without much difficulty. You get one of the air-guns out of the
beckets, whilst I look after this coffee--it's just on the boil--and
we'll try the virtues of cold lead upon his constitution, and the powers
of the gun at the same time."

As soon as I could leave the coffee, I got a piece of pork out of our
small harness cask, and lashed it to a piece of line, whilst Bob, under
my directions, charged the gun. This done, the pork was hung just
outside the taffrail, and full in the shark's view, but not in the
water; and I lay down on deck with the gun ready for my gentleman,
should he make a rush.

This, however, he seemed indisposed to do; eyeing the bait longingly,
but keeping at a respectful