"Sharks!" shouted Harry.

Attracted by the number of animals that had taken to the water to
escape the fire the creatures had gathered in great numbers about the
island and were devouring the fugitives right and left. Fully a dozen
of the monsters rushed at the panther which, formidable as it was on
land, was, like most of the cat tribe, at a great disadvantage in the
water.

It could make no resistance but a few feeble snaps to the avalanche of
sharks that rushed at it, and a few seconds after the onslaught the
water was crimsoned with the blood of the panther and the boys were
safe from that peril. But the sharks now offered almost as great a
danger as had the land monster.

Made furious by the taste of so much food they cruised alongside the
rickety raft gazing with their little eyes at its occupants till
shudders ran through them. The boys tried to scare them away by
flourishing the branches used as oars, but this, while it scared them
at first, soon lost its effect on the sea-tigers, who seemed
determined to keep alongside the raft, evidently hoping that sooner or
later they would get a meal.

All the afternoon the boys took turns paddling with their branches and
by this means, and impelled also by one of the ocean currents that
abound in this latitude, the smoking island gradually drew further and
further away. But the sharks still cruised alongside and now and again
one bolder than the others would turn partly on his back and nose up
against the raft, showing his cruel, saw-like teeth and monstrous