Bert Wilson, Wireless Operator

by Marion Ames Taggart

  CHAPTER VII

  A SWIM FOR LIFE

  It was a hot day, even for the tropics, and everybody felt the heatintensely. Awnings had been stretched over the deck, and under theirinviting shade the passengers tried to find relief from the burning sun,but with little success. A slight accident to the machinery had causedthe ship to heave to, so that they were deprived of the artificialbreeze caused by the vessel's motion. The oppressive heat rivaledanything the boys had ever felt, and for once even their effervescentspirits flagged. They lolled about the deck in listless attitudes, andwere even too hot to cut up the usual "monkeyshines" that gave thepassengers many a hearty laugh. Dick looked longingly at the green,cool-appearing water, that heaved slowly and rhythmically, like somevast monster asleep.

  "Make out it wouldn't feel good to dive in there, and have a good, longswim," he exclaimed, in a wistful voice. "Just think of wallowing aroundin that cool ocean, and feeling as though you weren't about to melt andbecome a grease spot at any moment. Gee, I'd give anything I own to beable to jump in right now."

  "Go ahead," grinned Bert, "only don't be surprised if we fish you outminus a leg or two. Those two sharks that have been following the shipfor the last week would welcome you as a very agreeable addition totheir bill of fare."

  "Yes," chimed in Ralph, "and that's not the only thing, either. I'vefelt sorry for those poor old sharks for quite a while. Here they followour ship around for a week, hoping that somebody will fall overboard andfurnish them a square meal, and then everybody disappoints them. I callit pretty mean conduct."

  "That's my idea exactly," agreed Bert, "and I think it would only bedoing the gentlemanly thing for Dick to volunteer. You won't disappointyour friends on a little point like that, will you, Dick?"

  "No, certainly not," responded Dick, scornfully. "Just ring the dinnerbell, so that the sharks will be sure not to miss me, and I'll jump inany time you say. Nothing I can think of would give me greaterpleasure."

  "Well, on second thought," laughed Bert, "I think we'd better save you alittle while, and fatten you up. I'm afraid you haven't got fat enoughon you at present to give entire satisfaction. We might as well do thisthing up right, you know."

  "O, sure, anything to oblige," grunted Dick. "Just dispose of me any wayyou think best. Naturally, the subject has little interest for me."

  "Aw, you're selfish, Dick, that's what's the matter with you," saidRalph. "I'd be willing to bet any money that you're thinking more ofyourself than you are of those two poor, hungry fish. Gee, I'm glad I'mnot like that."

  "All right, then," responded Dick, quickly, "as long as you feel thatway, and I don't, why don't you serve yourself up to the sufferingsharks? Besides, you're fatter than I am."

  Apparently Ralph could think of no satisfactory answer to this profoundremark and so changed the subject.

  "Well," he exclaimed, "all this doesn't get us any nearer to a goodswim. I wish this were one of the steamships I was on not long since."

  "Why, how was that?" inquired Bert.

  "Well, on that ship they had a regular swimming tank on board. Ofcourse, it wasn't a very big one, but it was plenty large enough to givea person a good swim. Gee, I used to just about live in that tank on aday like this."

  "I suppose that was what you might call a tank steamer, wasn't it?"said Bert, and his remark raised a general laugh.

  But now an elderly man among the passengers, who up to now had listenedto the boys' conversation with a smile on his face, but had not spoken,said, "Why don't you ask the captain to rig up the swimming nets? I'msure he would be willing to do it for you, if you asked him in the rightway."

  "Swimming nets!" exclaimed Dick, "what's a swimming net?"

  "Why, it's simply a sort of a cage that they rig up alongside the ship,and anybody that wants to can swim to their heart's content inside it.The net keeps sharks out, and makes it safe."

  "Say, that would certainly be great," exclaimed Ralph. "Come along,fellows, and we'll see if we can't persuade the captain to fix us up.The idea of a good swim certainly hits me where I live."

  The rest were nothing loath, and they jumped to their feet and rushedoff in search of Captain Manning. He was soon found, and listenedsmilingly to Ralph, who acted as spokesman for the others.

  "I guess we can arrange that, all right," he said, after Ralph hadfinished. "It will be at least two hours before our repairs arefinished. Between you and me, I'd like to jump in myself," he added,regretfully.

  He gave orders accordingly, and the crew soon had the netting rigged.Before they had finished, news of what was going on had flown throughthe ship. All who felt so disposed or had bathing paraphernalia withthem, appeared on deck attired for a dip. Needless to say, Bert, Dick,and Ralph were among the first to put in an appearance, and great wastheir impatience while the crew were putting the finishing touches tothe "cage." While they were waiting, Ralph said, "Look at that, fellows.Those two sharks that we were talking about a little while ago havedisappeared. I guess they must have overheard our conversation, andgiven us up for a bad job."

  "They're certainly not in sight, at any rate," said Dick. "However, Ithink I shall manage to control my grief at their desertion."

  "It always gave me a creepy feeling," said the passenger who had firstsuggested the swimming nets, "they hung on so persistently, just asthough they felt sure that their patience would be rewarded some time.It seemed uncanny, somehow."

  "It certainly did," agreed another. "I guess they're gone for good, thistime, though."

  This seemed to be the general opinion among the crew, also, and theboys felt relieved in spite of themselves, for swimming in closeproximity to a couple of hungry sharks, even when separated from them bya net, is not a particularly cheerful experience.

  Soon everything was ready, and the swimmers descended the steps let downalongside the ship, and plunged into the water. It was very warm, but agood deal cooler than the air, and you may be sure it felt good to theoverheated passengers. Bert and Ralph were expert swimmers, and dove andswam in a manner to bring applause from the passengers up above. Dickwas not such a very good swimmer, having had little experience in thewater. He enjoyed the dip none the less on this account, however, and ifhe could not swim as well as the others, at least made quite as muchnoise as they.

  After half an hour or so of this the boys ascended to the deck to rest alittle before continuing their aquatic exercises.

  "My, but that felt good, and no mistake," said Bert.

  "It sure did," agreed Ralph. "The only objection I can find is that youcan't swim far enough in any one direction. I like to have enough spaceto let me work up a little speed. I've half a mind to take a chance anddive off here outside the net. There's no sign of those pesky sharksaround now. I'm going to take a chance, anyhow," and before anybody hada chance to stop him he had made a pretty dive over the side. He struckthe water with scarcely a splash, and in a few seconds rose to thesurface and shook the water out of his eyes. Bert yelled at him to comeback on board, but he only shook his head and laughed.

  Then he struck out away from the ship with bold, rapid strokes, and soonhad placed a considerable distance between himself and the vessel. Bertand the others watched his progress with anxious eyes.

  "The young fool," growled one of the passengers, "hasn't he got any moresense than to do a thing like that? Those sharks are likely to show upany minute. They don't usually give up so quickly, once they've startedto follow a ship."

  It seemed, however, as though Ralph would experience no bad results fromhis rash act. He had swum several hundred yards from the vessel, and hadturned to come back, when a cry went up from one of the womenpassengers.

  "Look! Look!" she screamed, and pointed wildly with her parasol. Alleyes followed its direction, and more than one man turned white as helooked. For there, not more than five hundred feet from the swimmer, ablack fin was cutting the water like a knife-blade. It was not headeddirectly for Ralph, however, but was going first in one direction, thenin another, s
howing that the shark had not yet definitely located hisprey.

  A few seconds later a second fin appeared, and there was little doubt inthe minds of all that these were the two sharks that had followed theship for the last few days.

  In the meantime, Ralph had drawn nearer the ship, but was swimming in aleisurely fashion, and evidently had no inkling of the deadly peril thatthreatened him. Bert was about to yell to him and point out his danger,when he thought better of it.

  "If he knew those two sharks were on his trail," he said in a strainedvoice to Tom, "he might get frightened and be unable to swim at all. Ithink we had better leave him alone and hope that he gets to the shipbefore the sharks locate him."

  "Let's go after him in a boat," suggested one of the sailors, excitedly,and this was no sooner said than done. Without even waiting for ordersfrom the captain, several of the crew started to launch a boat, but itbecame evident that this could be of no avail. For at that moment thetwo searching fins suddenly stopped dead for a second, and then startedstraight for the unconscious swimmer.

  A cry went up from the passengers, which reached Ralph's ears. Heglanced behind him, and for a second seemed paralyzed at what he saw.Bert yelled wildly. "Swim for your life, Ralph," he shrieked. "Here,"turning to the sailors, "get a long rope, and stand by. We'll need itwhen he gets near the ship."

  Now Ralph had recovered from his panic to some extent, and struck out ashe had never done before. At every stroke he fairly leaped through thewater, but the two black fins overhauled him with lightning-likerapidity. Closer and closer they came, and still the swimmer was a goodforty or fifty yards from the ship. Now he started a fast crawl stroke,and it was a lucky thing for him that day that he was an expert swimmer.

  He was soon almost under the ship's side, and one of the sailors threwthe rope previously secured in his direction. Ralph grasped it witha despairing grip, but now the two fins were terribly close, andapproaching at express train speed. A dozen willing hands grasped therope, and just as the two man-eaters were within ten feet of him theexhausted swimmer was swung bodily out of the water. There was a swishalongside, two great white streaks flashed by, and the passengerscaught a glimpse of two horrible, saw-like rows of gleaming teeth. ThenRalph was drawn up on a level with the rail, and strong hands pulled himsafely inboard.

  No sooner did he realize that he was safe, than he collapsed, and it wassome time before he recovered from the strain. When he was once morehimself, he grinned weakly at Bert. "Next time I'll follow your advice,"he said.

  "Oh, well, 'all's well that ends well,'" quoted Bert. "Just the same, itwas more than you deserved to have us work ourselves to death a hot daylike this trying to keep you from doing the Jonah act. It would haveserved you right if we had let the shark take a bite or two."

  "Sorry to have troubled you, I'm sure," retorted Ralph. "But say,fellows, just as soon as I can get enough nerve back to think, I'm goingto dope out some way of getting even with those man-eaters. I'll behanged if I'm going to let even a shark think he can try to make hash ofme and get away with it. In the meantime, you and Tom might set yourgiant intellects to work and see if you can think of a plan."

  A sailor had overheard this, and now he touched his cap, and said:

  "Excuse me for buttin' in, but I think me and my mates here can fix upthose sharks for you, if the captain's willin'. On a bark I sailed inonce we caught a shark that had been annoyin' us like these has, justlike you'd catch a fish. We baited a big hook, and pulled him in withthe donkey engine. If the captain ain't got no objections, I don't seewhy we couldn's sarve these lubbers the same trick."

  This idea met with instant approval, and Captain Manning was soonbesieged by a fire of entreaty. At first he seemed inclined to say no,but when he found that the majority of the passengers were in favor ofcapturing the sharks, he gave a reluctant consent.

  The sailors grinned in happy anticipation of a good time, and setabout their preparations with a will, while an interested group thatsurrounded them watched the development of their scheme with intenseinterest.