"I dessay," said Kashie, "I'se looking radder pale, cause I 'llow I'se a kind o' sceered."
The idea of Cassia-bud turning pale with fear was so ridiculous, that both Fred and Frank burst into a fit of hearty laughing, and so happiness was restored once more.
After shaking another gallon of water out of his splendid coat, and making another rainbow, it seemed suddenly to occur to the noble dog that his little friend Cassia-bud really was saved, that the sharks had not eaten him up; and he was so overjoyed that, after taking his tongue across the nigger-boy's ear, he set off to allay his feelings in a mad circular gallop all around the silvery sands. Round and round he flew, and when he was too tired to run any longer, he sat down beside Cassia-bud and barked at the sea.
It really looked as though he was barking defiance at the sharks, for between every volley of "wowffs" he turned round and licked Cassia-bud's face, as much as to say, "Those awful fishes were going to eat my little Cassia-bud; but they haven't got him yet, nor won't."
It is needless to say that the negro lad was one of the heroes at dinner that day, and Hurricane Bob another. For it was evident that Cassia-bud had meant to hold on to the last fish; and it is just as evident that this resolve on his part would have cost him his life, had not Hurricane Bob dashed bellowing into the water at the moment he did.
However, all's well that ends well.
About an hour afterwards the boat and the oars also were picked up on the sands.
CHAPTER XXIV.
STINGAREE.
The love for adventure, which four years of a roving life in so many parts of the world had engendered in both Fred and Frank, was not to be bounded by the coral reef that shut in the bay near which they were encamped. So whenever there was a breeze with perhaps a bit of sea on, the Crusoes hoisted sail and, steering through the gap, went off on a long delightful cruise around the island or far beyond it.