It was highly improbable that they could not swim—all, or nearly all, of them. No, this was not the cause of their hesitancy.
And what was?
This question was answered by one of the sailors—though all of us at the same moment perceived the cause.
“Look yonder!” cried the man, pointing along the water; “look yonder; yon’s what cows ’em—the sharks!”
Chapter Fifty Eight.
The stretch of water that lay between the raft and the burning vessel glittered under the yellow light like a sea of molten gold. On its calm surface the blazing barque was mirrored, as though another was on fire below; but the perfect image was broken by occasional rippling, as if some living creatures were stirring through the water. The very intensity of the light, dazzling our eyes, prevented us from scanning the surface with any degree of minuteness. It was like looking against the sun as the bright orb rises or sets over the sea. The strong light glancing along the water produced a sheen and a sparkle that half-blinded us; and, although we had observed an occasional eddy or rippling motion upon the surface, we had not thought of the cause until that moment.
Now, however, that our attention was called to this moving of the waters we had no difficulty in making out the cause. It was the sharks that were darting about—now rushing impatiently from point to point; now lying in wait, silent and watchful, like cats, ready to spring upon their prey. Here and there we could see their huge dorsal fins standing like gaff-topsails above the surface, now cleaving the water like huge blades of steel, anon dipping below to appear again at some point nearer to their expected prey.
From the number of these fins that we observed above water, we came to the conclusion that there must be hundreds of these voracious creatures around the blazing barque. In fact there was a perfect “school” of them, like porpoises or minnows—for the longer we gazed the greater number of fins and rippling eddies were detected, until at times it appeared as if the whole surface was thickly covered with these preying fish!