The Washington herald., 1911-08-27

parently devoid of life that none of US ever
thought Of danger. Yet a thrilling episode
had occurred while we were away. That it
had not resulted in a. fearful tragedy was
entirely owing to little Cyrils pluck and
presence of mind.
But let his father tell the story.
After you disappeared beyond the point"
said Mr.; Murray, 81 stripped off my clothes
edge. Then took header, and, on coming
up again, began to enjoy myself as only
good swimmer, long deprived of the pleasure,
can.
Of his birds, and had been swimming, div.
ing and cutting up all sorts Of capers for a
good while before noticed that ne had re.
turned and was sitting on the edge Of that
cliff, holding two young gulls, which he had
tied together, in his hands.
"At this time / was not more than sixty
yards from shore, and, as much for Cyril's
amusement-he is himself an expert swimmer
-as my own, proceeded to show off all my
accomplishments.
"How long / had been at these tricks I
don't know; but suddenly. while 'treading
water with my face toward the rock, / saw
Cyril drop the birds, spring to his feet and
wave his arms in frantic kind of way He
seemed to be shouting, too, but l couldn't
hear word.
"At first thought the youngster, full of
life and fun, was only cutting up some of his
old monkey-shines as sort Of set-off to my
own exhibition. But when l saw him dash
his hat to the ground kick off his shoes and
jerk off his coat, it occurred to me that he
was in dead earnest about something. What
Turning, as on pivot, I glanced sea-
ward. Nothing there except the old Hercules
Wheeling about again, / looked UP at Cyril,
thirty feet above the water. He was stripped
to his waist now and seemed about to Jump.
Stay there, boy-stay, there!' shouted,
actually believing that the little chap was.
going to make daring leap merely to ioin
i. "Ol lowering my eyes to the oceans sur.
face, however, l saw the meaning of it all:
Tor there, between me and the shore, cutting
the water keen as knife-blade and coming
tigss-sharkv' w nn Oh :
From where I stood" interjected Cyril.
II could see the whole Of the great fish, and
ne %ei SGisa to rs.m.S ms Twenty .MEy fss. % long"
was. And the boy Oe 'no"snt +"
Don't stir, for your life, Cyril!' I cried.
e .anSo,ns Ss upright in the water and beginning
IN the desperate hope of keeping the shark al
Day until the boat should return.
, All TINS since Cyril first rose to his feet
nad not occupied minutes space. The shark
va va WITHIN WITHIN twenty-five yards of me, and
little son caught up his coupled birds, whirled
them once or twice around his head to gain
momentum; and pitched them far out into
sne sne sea, & faly midway, think, between him
stants hesitation. when / screamed aloud IN
norror he sprapg from the cliff, and, with
Strengthened legs and arms pressed close to
ms side, came down squarely and true, feet
foremost, into the water!
hearing or feeling the double splash. the
snaIk turned slowly about and made for the
pros, which, Of course, had not sunk at ali.
put were now futtering in a most enticing
manner while myriads Of their enraged reia.
alarm. fs S'ies VI
A., Even before .Cyril's head reappeared on
tne surface bad struck out for him with all
my strength; but on coming up, he took
? Sngle 3reath OF air, marked my position,
ta tavea IKE seal and swan rapidly under wa.
The shark had perhaps twenty yards to 20
to reach the Birds while the interval between
me and my boy was about fifty, the ravenous
monster being nearly in the middle of this
Yet ne had barely seized his prey and
drawn it down when we two met and were
hnggmg each other like babies. But il was
no time Tor delay, Our terrible enemy had
lind MS feathered lunch rather hard to swai.
respite. ''' u 'H'
40 effect landing at the bottom of the
p verIcai ellf was clearly impossible, but the
from US. Could we reach that we would be
safe, as the water over it was too shallow for
the shark to swim in. -''
Like myself, Cyril is an exceptionally fast
swimmer, and said to him:
:" Make for the ledge, my son: we're all
right. Keep stroke with me and go as quietly
as possible. Wen win the race vet.
4 can't say. that felt quite so brave an
my words implied, for it was an awful thing
down at any moment Oh, how prayed t6st
it might not be my darling boy!
Had it not been for what aftervard oc.
Cured, should have said that Cyril felt no
fear whatever. for he actually laughed as
Why, of course we'll beat the shark, but
let's see which Of us can get to the reef first )
And away he went, skimming the water