"Ach, shood, shood!" implored Carl, watching the black fin zigzagging nearer and nearer. "Don'd vait, Matt!"
But Matt paid no attention to Carl. He knew what kind of a target he wanted, and that the shark would give it to him if he waited.
When Dick was about a dozen feet from the boat, the right moment came. With a flip of its tail the shark leaped partly out of the water and turned on its back, its great jaws opening.
Matt had braced himself firmly and lifted the Marlin repeater to his shoulder.
"Fire avay, kevick!" clamored Carl, and just then Matt pulled the trigger.
It was a bull's-eye hit. Straight to its mark leaped the murderous bit of lead, and the shark, stunned by the impact of the bullet, snapped its jaws harmlessly together and sank downward in the reddening water.
"You're all right, Dick!" cried Matt. "Toss the rope, Carl."
Carl threw the line and Dick laid hold of it. The report of the rifle brought Gaines from the periscope room, Glennie and Clackett from the tank room, and Speake from the torpedo room in short order. All of them were on the deck just as Matt and Carl assisted Dick out of the water.
Matt pointed to the shark, which was floating, belly up, on the water.
"Your rifle did it, Glennie," said Matt. "If it hadn't been for that, nothing could have saved Dick. I didn't think there was a shark within miles of us when Dick went into the water."
Dick was nearly fagged. The tremendous exertion he had put forth had tried him severely.
"It was foolish of me to go around that point," said Dick, leaning back against the conning tower, "but I'm glad I did."
"Dot's funny," returned Carl. "Glad you vent aroundt der point und shdirred oop dot shark! How you make dot oudt?"
"Well, I made a discovery," went on Dick. "If I hadn't made that discovery, like enough I'd have kept on swimming and have got so far away the shark would surely have nipped me before I could have got back close enough for Matt to shoot."
"There's another cove around the point, a good deal like this one. The _Pom_ is there, close inshore, and----"
"Der Chaps!" breathed Carl, thunderstruck.
"Here's a piece of luck!" ground out Gaines. "Who'd have thought we'd moor ship alongside the same island picked out by the Japs! There seems to be a fatality about our dealings with these Sons of the Rising Sun. Even after we dodge them we have the knack of dropping right into their hands again."