In their excitement the men nearly upset the boat, and Rogers had to repress them sternly.
"Have a care, men, have a care! look at the sharks all about us. You don't want to fatten them, do ye?"
"Broach that cask," cried one among them. "Let the ile out, 'twill calm the sea."
"Ay!" said Rogers, "let it out."
Another hogshead was brought in now, and, strange to say, the oil being emptied did make the water smoother as far as it reached around them.
While the men in one boat redoubled their efforts to obtain more of these casks, old Wills and his mate Osborn connected the two empty ones by a spar laid across and firmly affixed to each end. They did this at the imminent risk of their lives, for it was necessary to get upon the spar, in a kneeling position, so as to secure the ropes firmly, and any slip into the sea would probably have been followed by a rush of white light to the spot, and the disappearance of the man, or at least of one of his members.
Those in the boats watched anxiously the while, crying out now and then, "'Ware shark!"
As these alarms were half of them false ones, the old fellows became too well accustomed to them for more than a passing glance from their work, which became safer for them as the casks were firmly fastened.
In the meantime a third cask was obtained, but it seemed all but impossible to attach a fourth. There was one within approachable distance, but it bobbed a little farther off with each effort to cast the noose over it. Seeing the impunity which had attended the efforts of Wills and Osborn, a man called Whittingham, a strong active young daredevil, got upon the spar, and made his careful way out to its far end, rope in hand, coiled up, ready for a cast.
He worked himself astride the spar with considerable difficulty, for the thing was up in the air at one moment, so that the lookers-on expected to see him flung backwards into the sea; then down the length would plunge, as if about to bury itself in some great green cavern, into which he must go headlong.