"Come!" said she, "let us leave this fearful place!"
Turk shook his head.
"It is our only salvation, Miss, I'm afraid."
"Not much of a salvation, either," said Brand, pointing down at several of the ferocious creatures, which had begun to gnaw at the lashings of the raft.
Vainly the men endeavored to drive them away; they clung with steady tenacity to the lashings, biting with demon-like intelligence at the rope strands, as if aware that the severing of these would put the party in their power.
Finally the seamen were obliged to get off the raft on the rocks, and draw the planks after them, as the only means of pulling the lashings away from the teeth of the troublesome monsters.
The water, however, kept rising, so that it was necessary to get away as soon as possible.
The men did their best to strengthen the planks, then once more launched their raft, actually driven away by the sharks.
The tendency of the current and the wind now was to the westward.
"At such a rate," said Turk, "shouldn't wonder if we find ourselves, before two days, on the volcanic island."