"You're all right, Dick!" cried Matt. "Toss the rope, Carl."
Carl threw the line and Dick laid hold of it. The report of the rifle brought Gaines from the periscope room, Glennie and Clackett from the tank room, and Speake from the torpedo room in short order. All of them were on the deck just as Matt and Carl assisted Dick out of the water.
"What's the rumpus?" inquired Gaines.
Matt pointed to the shark, which was floating, belly up, on the water.
"Your rifle did it, Glennie," said Matt. "If it hadn't been for that, nothing could have saved Dick. I didn't think there was a shark within miles of us when Dick went into the water."
Dick was nearly fagged. The tremendous exertion he had put forth had tried him severely.
"It was foolish of me to go around that point," said Dick, leaning back against the conning tower, "but I'm glad I did."
"Dot's funny," returned Carl. "Glad you vent aroundt der point und shdirred oop dot shark! How you make dot oudt?"
"Well, I made a discovery," went on Dick. "If I hadn't made that discovery, like enough I'd have kept on swimming and have got so far away the shark would surely have nipped me before I could have got back close enough for Matt to shoot."
"What was the discovery?" asked Glennie.