Phil, Adam, and Mr. Pitman had been standing on the shore, watching with breathless anxiety the rapid course of the events recorded in the previous chapter. As the panther neared the boat, they were almost wild with terror, but they could offer no help, and the two boys seemed to be doing all that could be done.
Their eyes were now so accustomed to the obscurity of the night, and there was so much reflected starlight from the water, that they could plainly see the panther’s head as it swam, and Phœnix’s form was very distinct as he stood with uplifted hatchet.
They saw that Chap had the gun, and each in his heart hoped that he might fire it and frighten away the beast.
When the gun was fired, and the triumphant cries of the boys were heard, Adam shouted across the water,—
“Look out! he’ll be at you again!”
The good sailor had no idea anything had happened, but that the panther had been frightened away by the discharge of the gun. The dark reflection of the boat made it impossible for him to see what was going on in the water close to its side.
Chap, however, was not to be discouraged by Adam’s shout or Phœnix’s warning.
“The thing is dead!” he cried, “and I’m not going to lose it. It’ll sink again before you know it. There’s its tail close to you. Can’t you take hold of it?”
Phœnix hesitated. To take hold of the tail of a wild beast which a minute before had been full of angry life, seemed to him a risky piece of business. The animal might be merely stunned, and, reviving, might object to have its tail pulled. Still, Phœnix was as loath as Chap to lose the panther, and as the body seemed about to sink again he reached out and seized the floating tail.
Chap was so excited that he would have gladly clutched the panther by the back of the neck, but it was just a little out of his reach.