TOM AND THE MAN-OF-WAR. 175 



pirate's gold before night, you had better be- 

 gin." 



Tom thought the prospects scarcely promis- 

 ing. " I believe I'd rather take a swim," he said. 

 This suited the rest also. Long John, who had 

 just rowed around in his dinghy, hauled it up 

 on the beach, and he and the doctor threw them- 

 selves on the sand, while the boys went into the 

 water. The beach shoaled off here, as on the 

 other side, with a hard coral bottom, coming to 

 the living coral about a hundred feet off shore. 

 The boys had become expert divers from con- 

 tinued practice, and now arranged themselves in 

 a row, four or five feet distant from one another, 

 in order to see which of the party could swim 

 farthest under water. 



" Are you ready ? " asked the doctor. 



" All ready, sir," they replied. 



"Well, then go!" he called; and at the 

 word " go " the row of boys disappeared beneath 

 the blue waters in a simultaneous dive. Less 

 than half a minute brought two of the swim- 

 mers to the surface for breath. A few seconds 

 after, Tom's head appeared quite near the coral 



