218 THE COCAL. 



expected; when he got back to the river-mouth it was quite 

 dark, and the tide was full high. He must either sleep on 

 the sands, which with fever ujDon him would not have been 

 over safe, or try the passage. So he stripped, swam the mule 

 over, tied her up, and then went back, up to his shoulders in 

 surf ; and cutlass in hand too, for that same shark might be 

 witliin two yards of him. But on his second journey he had 

 to pile on his head first his saddle, and then his clothes and 

 other goods ; few indeed, but enough to require both hands 

 to steady them : and so walked helpless through the surf, 

 expecting every moment to be accosted by a set of teeth, 

 from which he would hardly have escaped with life. 



To have faced such a danger, alone and in the dark, and 

 thoroughly well aware, as an experienced man, of its ex- 

 tremity, was good proof (if any had been needed) of the 

 indomitable Scots' courage of the man. JSTevertheless, he 

 said, he never felt so cold down his back as he did during 

 that last wade. By God's blessing the shark was not there, 

 or did not see him; and lie got safe home, thankful for 

 dinner and quinine. 



Going back the next morning at low tide, we kej)t a good 



look-out for M 's shark, spreading out, walkers and riders, 



in hopes of surrounding him and cutting him up. There 

 w^ere half-a-dozen weapjons among us, of which my heavy 

 bowie-knife was not the w^orst; and we should have given 



