“Oh, look!” suddenly cried Nan. “There’s a small boat now—out there on the ocean. Maybe there’s been a shipwreck, Bert!”
Bert and the other Bobbsey twins looked at the object to which Nan pointed. Not far from the steamer was a small boat with three or four men in it, and they seemed to be in some sort of trouble. They were beating the water with oars and poles, and something near the boat was lashing about, making the waves turn into foam.
“That isn’t a shipwreck!” cried Bert. “That’s a fisherman’s boat!”
“And something is after it!” said Nan. “Oh, Bert! maybe a whale is trying to sink the fisherman’s boat!”
By this time Mrs. Bobbsey and a number of other passengers were crowding to the rail, looking at the small boat. The men in it did, indeed, seem to be fighting off something in the water that was trying to damage their boat.
“It’s a big shark!” cried one of the steamship sailors. “The fishermen have caught a big shark and they’re trying to kill it before it sinks their boat. Say, it’s a great, big shark! Look at it lash the water into foam! Those men may be hurt!”
“A shark! A shark!” cried the passengers, and from all over the ship they came running to where they could see what was happening to the small boat.
[CHAPTER VIII—THE FIGHT IN THE BOAT]
When the Bobbsey twins first saw the small boat, and the fishermen in it trying to beat off the shark that was trying to get at them, the steamer was quite a little distance off. The big vessel, though, was headed toward the fishing boat and soon came close enough for the passengers to see plainly what was going on. That is, they could not see the shark very plainly, for it was mostly under water, but they could see a long, black shape, with big fins and a large tail, and the tail was lashing up and down, making foam on the waves.
“Hi!” cried Freddie in great excitement. “That’s better’n a shipwreck, isn’t it?”