Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/126

 LOADED rifle lay on one of the hatches, near where Keith stood, and he reached for it quickly. In that moment, however, Isa had turned on his back and was splashing furiously with his legs, at the same time propelling his body toward the boat. The three other divers each took an oar and began to beat the surface. As suddenly as they appeared, the fins vanished below the surface, and a minute later Isa was nonchalantly getting into the whale-boat, uninjured. To him sharks were dangerous only if they were ignored. If he did not see one in time he would probably have a leg or an arm nipped off, but so far he had never been too late, and he had been swimming in shark infested waters for the greater part of his life.

With a horrified expression Joan had watched it all, every trace of colour gone from her face.

"If you two men insist on pearling," she said quietly as the black reached safety, "and if this sort of thing is likely to happen frequently, I shall stay ashore and attend to the more humble if less exciting duties of home. Sharks are my bete noir." The girl shuddered. 114