"I wish now that I hadn't," Ned replied.
"Say," Pat called out, "I can go and bring 'em back. They can't be very far away. Shall I?"
"Yes," was the hesitating reply, "and bring back all the news you can about what is going on on the island. There's something unusual taking place there, judging from the row the monkeys are making."
"How you going to get ashore?" asked Frank. "The boat is over there on the beach."
"I'll show you," Pat replied.
The next moment he was in the water, striking out with lusty strokes for the shore, only a few rods away.
"There's a crocodile coming!" Frank called out to him.
The call was designed to make Pat show a burst of speed, but it did indeed serve as a warning to the swimmer, for a huge crocodile separated himself from a point a few paces away and started to make a breakfast of the boy.
Pat saw the danger and hesitated an instant, uncertain whether to turn back to the Manhattan or to strike out for the shore. This second of hesitation would have cost him his life if Ned had not acted promptly.
When he saw that the crocodile was sure to win in the race, he fired one shot and the saurian disappeared beneath the surface of the water, shot through the eye. Pat turned back to the Manhattan, but Ned directed him to go on to the shore, find the boys, and return as quickly as possible.