One of the pirates replaced the two prisoners’ bonds. The opportunity had passed for the midshipman to carry out his intention.
A few minutes after the captives had been properly secured, one of the men on the poop shouted something. Instantly there was a commotion in the waist. A mob rushed aft and commenced to tail on to a rope. Raxworthy could see their outlines silhouetted against the starlit sky, and thought that they were hauling on to a sheet or a halliard.
“ Yay-hai . . . yah-hai . . . yah-hai,” the pirates sang in chorus, as they heaved and hauled.
Then there was a tremendous thump on the poop. The midshipman could not see what caused it, owing to his position almost under the break of the poop. Several of the pirates, still tailing on to the rope, descended the ladder. Others in the waist also assisted in the hauling process, while the monotonous Yah-hai continued.
Foot by foot the rope came in. More men descended the poop ladder.
Then Raxworthy saw the cause for the commotion.
At the end of the rope was an enormous shark. Its captors had hauled it up over the taffrail and were dragging it amidships to dispatch it. The brute was lashing out furiously with its tail.
Rather apprehensively the midshipman wondered what would happen to him when the shark toppled over the edge of the poop. He and the doctor were unpleasantly close to the foot of the ladder.
There was a crash of broken wood. The shark, with a terrific sweep of its tail, had partly demolished the railing and part of the handrail of the ladder. The next instant the brute, weighing perhaps a ton, landed in the waist, luckily well clear of the two prisoners.
Now half a dozen electric torches—part of the booty from the Ah-Foo —threw a strong light upon the scene. Armed with knives and axes the pirates swarmed round the struggling shark.