Oh! he is quite safe now."
Such, however, was not the case. The boat had been beating on the rocks
of the reef, and had knocked a hole in her bottom, and as soon as Ready
had forced the boat into deep water, she began to fill immediately.
Ready pushed as hard as he could with the boat-hook, and tearing off
his neck-cloth, forced as much as he could of it into the hole. This
saved them; but the boat was up to the thwarts with water, and the
least motion on the part of Ready, or even Tommy, would have upset her
immediately, and they had still to pass the deep water between the reef
and the beach, where the sharks were swimming. Ready, who perceived his
danger, called out to them to throw large stones at the sharks as fast
as they could, to drive them away. This was immediately done by Mr.
Seagrave and William, aided by Juno and Mrs. Seagrave.
The pelting of the stones had the desired effect. The sharks swam away,
and Ready passed through to the beach, and the boat grounded just as
she was up to the gunnel in water, and about to turn over. He handed
out Tommy, who was so dreadfully frightened that he could not cry.
As soon as Ready landed, William sprang into his arms, crying, "Thank
God, you are safe, Ready!" Mrs.
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