"He had swum probably fifty yards, when, as silently as a ghost, there slid up to his very side a great shark. Tom could just see it with the tail of his eye. Indeed, he says its cold, smooth nose touched the back of his hand. At the same moment he made the horrible discovery that this was not the shark.
"Thinking it was all up with him, he was just about to draw his knife, when dashing through the water came the ship's shark himself. There was no mistaking him. He made straight for the first comer.
"'That's Tom Finch,' he seemed to say. 'He's my man and my meat, if he's anybody's.'
"There was no fight between the two sharks, but there must have been a long race, for it was some time before the huge monster returned.
"Now, Jack," continued Sturdy, "I must tell you the rest of the story as old Tom Finch himself related it to the ancient dames in the almshouse not four years ago. I must premise, however, that the poor people are allowed a drop of beer at Christmas, and Tom Finch had drunk his own and had a sup from everybody else's mug.
"'"An' did the shark come back, Tom?" said old Sally.
"'Ah! that he did, Sally, and I was main glad to see him too. There was pork enough in my bag for him, but not for a score, you know.
"'"Good-evening," says Mr. Shark, quite polite like. "It is Tom Finch, isn't it?"
"'"That's me," says I. "I hopes I sees you. How's the wife and all the little 'uns?"
"'You see, ladies, I wanted to keep him talking as long as I could, to make the pork last.