shell-covered beach. Here we soon unrobed; and I was the first to
rush at full speed into the inviting waters. Before I got up to my
middle, however, I saw something before me that looked like a dark
rock just below the surface. I made towards it, intending to get
upon it, and dive off on the other side; but lo! as I approached, it
stirred; then it darted like a flash of lightning towards one side of
the bay, whilst I, after standing motionless for a moment, retreated
with the utmost expedition.

It was a ground-shark, of which there are numbers on that coast.

We lost no time in putting on our clothes again, and returned in
rather a fluttered state to the inn.



CHAPTER 3.

THE MUTINY.

We remained a week at St. Jago, the captain being busily engaged in
taking in water, and quarrelling with his crew. One day, at the
instigation of our friend, the French waiter, we made a trip of seven
miles into the interior of the island, to visit a beautiful valley
called Trinidad. Mounted on donkeys, and attended by two ragged,
copper-coloured youths, we proceeded in gallant style up the main
street, and, leaving the town, crossed the valley beyond it, and
emerged into the open country. It was a rough, stony, and hilly
road, through a barren waste, where there scarcely appeared a stray
blade of grass for the goats which rambled over it in anxious