The blowing of a whistle and the ringing of a bell sounded even as he spoke, and the steamer began to move slowly.
Then a mate, or one of the captain’s helpers, came running along the deck with some sailors. They began to lower one of the lifeboats, and the Bobbsey twins and the other passengers watched them eagerly. Out on the sea, which, luckily, was not rough, the men in the small boat were still fighting the shark.
“Are you going to help them?” asked Mr. Bobbsey of the mate who got into the boat with the sailors.
“Yes, I guess they are in trouble with a big shark, or maybe there are two of them. We’ll help them kill the big fish.”
When the mate and the sailors were in the boat it was let down over the side of the ship to the water by long ropes. Then the sailors rowed toward the fishermen.
Anxiously the Bobbsey twins and the others watched to see what would happen. Over the waves went the rescuing boat, and when it got near enough the men in it, with long, sharp poles, with axes and with guns, began to help fight the shark. The waters foamed and bubbled, and the men in the boats shouted:
“There goes one!” came a call after a while, and, for a moment, something long and black seemed to stick up into the air.
“It’s a shark!” cried Bert. “I can tell by his pointed nose. Lots of sharks have long, pointed noses, and that’s one!”
“Yes, I guess it is,” his father said.
“Then there must be two sharks,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, “for the men are still fighting something in the water.”