CHAPTER XXIV
CHEATING THE SHARKS
An immensity of stars glittering in the sky, staring indifferently downupon an endless waste of water, and upon this waste of water, close uptoward the shore, a little clump of seaweed, agitated by the motion ofthe sea.
Inside the covering of seaweed which was so slight a protection againstthe danger that menaced him on every side, Phil made his tedious,nightmare journey toward the farther side of the lagoon.
The bodies of the sharks edged in closer. They were becoming bolder astheir suspicions grew. They could smell the unmistakable odor of humanflesh and they could not much longer be denied.
Knowing this, Phil had a mad desire to throw all caution to the windsand swim rapidly toward the safety of the beach. However, he knew thatthe moment he gave way to this desire the suspicion of the sharks wouldchange to certainty. And the instant that happened all chance of escapewould be gone.
He turned sick as he felt the hideous creatures nosing at his disguise.They were pressing so close upon him that it was all he could do to makeany progress at all. They were becoming bolder with each second. Just alittle while more and it would be all over. Over--Phil repeated tohimself, trying to gather fortitude to meet his fate.
He thought of the fellows, Jack Benton and poor old Bimbo. In oneagonizing moment there came to him the realization of what would happento them when he did not come to warn them of the danger lurking on theisland.
They would search for him, of course. His disappearance would always bea mystery to them. They would not have time to think much about himthough--again that blood-curdling, inquisitive pressure against hissides, his legs, his hands. They were closing in--closing in--his bodywas cold and numb--he wondered if he were dying--he could hardly movehis hand--closing in--closing in--he shivered convulsively--then--whatwas that?
He could not have been mistaken. His knee had struck bottom. He hadreached shallow water! The renewed hope that flooded him was like pain.If he reached his foot downward he could touch bottom--stand up.
Without stopping to think, acting merely upon a quick impulse born ofdesperation, he sprang upright, splashing madly about him.
The ruse worked. The sharks, momentarily puzzled and bewildered by hisquick action, drew back. That was all Phil wanted. With a wild shout hesprang forward, and a moment later felt the sand beneath his feet.
He staggered a few feet and then fell down in the sand, half-crazed withjoy. He stripped off the clinging seaweed and half-buried his shiveringbody in the sand, letting handfuls of it slip through his fingers forthe sheer delight of feeling it and knowing that he was safe. Neverwould he be again any closer to death than he had been in the lasthideous few minutes. His escape seemed a miracle. He could scarcelybelieve yet that he was safe.
For a long time he lay there, gazing up at the stars, the warmth of thesand comforting his chilled body, luxuriating in the mere fact ofliving.
Then as he became quiet and the strength came back to him, the faintgray of dawn coloring the horizon in the east warned him that he mustget back to the cave.
What had he been thinking of, wasting all this precious time when heshould be back there warning his comrades, putting them on their guard!
As he scrambled to his feet, brushing the sand from him, he wasconscious of a queer glow of exultation. The blood was pounding oncemore warmly through his veins. In spite of the tremendous odds againsthim he had come safely through that death-haunted lagoon. By means ofstrategy he had outwitted the monster fish, any one of which could haveended his life with one snap of his murderous jaws.
He had braved one of the worst dangers that can confront a man and nowhe was safe, free to warn his comrades of danger, free to ward off theattacks of Ramirez and his men, free to guard the treasure from allcomers.
No wonder he was exultant. He raised his arms above his head and gazedup at the star-gemmed sky.
"The treasure is ours," he cried aloud to the night. "I'd like to seeanyone get it away from us."
And with this challenge he turned and hurried toward the cave. By thetime he reached it, it was almost morning.
As he stopped at the mouth of the cave it seemed impossible, after allthat had happened to him, that the boys could still be sleeping soundly.While he had been making his tremendous discovery, been fighting hisfight with death, they had slept on without ever a worry to disturbtheir dreams.
"They're going to wake up now, just the same," he muttered. "They've hadall the sleep they're going to have for one night."
Whereupon he shook Dick by the shoulder, calling upon him urgently togive up slumber and come back to earth.
"Say, what's the matter with you?" groaned Dick, trying to shake offPhil's grip of his shoulder. "We only just got to bed. Don't you knowthat?"
"Snap out of it," retorted Phil and there was a note in his voice thatcaused Dick to blink at him owlishly. "When you hear what I have to tellyou, you'll agree with me that this is no time for sleeping!"
One after another, the boys roused up, helped no doubt by the urgentquality in Phil's voice. When they were awake enough to know what he wastalking about he began swiftly to tell them of his adventure.
At his first words, they forgot all about their desire to go back tobed. Bimbo had lit the one lamp their quarters boasted and in the lightof this they stared at Phil as though they thought he were weaving fairystories for their benefit.
"Ramirez--on this island," said Tom, dazedly. "How did he get here?"
"How many men were there with him, Phil?" asked Jack Benton quietly. Inthe light of the lamp his eyes glowed and his lips were set in astraight line.
"About nineteen or twenty, I should say," returned Phil, adding with agrim smile, "If the fellow is dead that Ramirez took a shot at thatmakes one less against us, anyway."
"It's--it's hard to realize yet," said Tom, softly. "How could they havebeen here all the time on the island and we not know about it? It seemsas if we must have heard something or seen something--"
"I did," Phil interrupted him. "But when I told you about it, youwouldn't believe me."
"You mean that shot you thought you heard?" broke in Steve excitedly.
"The shot I'm sure I heard, you mean," Phil corrected, and then went onto tell about the first time he thought he had caught sight of a manslipping from the cave. "I thought at the time, I must have dreamed it,"he finished. "But now of course I know it was as real as my adventureto-night."
"Well, what are we going to do about it?" asked Dick, who was alwayseager for action. "Why couldn't we make a surprise attack upon thoseruffians and clean them out--"
"It's nearly morning," Phil interrupted the wild scheme. "By the time wereached them they'd probably be up and stirring and your surprise wouldcome to nothing. Beside," he added with an unpleasant memory of thelagoon, "we would have to wait till the tide went out, anyway. We'd haveto swim a stretch of about fifty yards of water that's packed full ofsharks."
He had not told them yet about his narrow escape from death and now JackBenton leaned forward, intense interest on his face.
"Then how did you get here?" he demanded.
"I _swam_ that fifty yards of water," Phil answered, quietly.
The Radio Boys Under the Sea; or, The Hunt for Sunken Treasure Page 24
