‘Well, you may be sure that, after such a run as the ship had had across the Atlantic, she wanted refitting, and the crew wanted vegetable food, and rest; so that when the usual trade wind came to blow, and they found from one or two fishing canoes that they were amongst the most northern of the Windward islands, they cruised about, looking for a convenient beach to land at, and to refresh themselves. All this time, mates, the sharks kept their places as steadily as the very masts. Ned fished for them in vain. He even baited the hook with the choicest pieces of pork and beef aboard, but they would not as much as push the morsel with their snouts. “No, no,” said the men, when they saw this; “the creatures have their orders, and they obey them.” Then Ned tried the harpoon, but though he had often speared porpoises and dolphins, he could not make a hit at the sharks; either the ship lifted or lurched, or the ravenous animals glided aside, or the water made the spear glance; but, however it was, Ned confessed that he could not even scratch their dingy backs. ‘Upon this, there was little but black looks and murmuring words in the ship. Poor old Captain Purvis was at his wit’s end, and the crew, although they used to love poor Ned, now began to look at him as though he were a Jonas, and Ned knew it. ‘“The curse,” said the men, “is following us in a visible shape. There can be no good luck for ship, or crew, or cargo, with such a couple of attendants swimming astern.” ‘Well, Ned tried hard to laugh it off, but he could not succeed, and his arguments were of as little avail. “Why,” he would say, “they can’t jump aboard, messmates; the ocean is theirs as well as ours, and if a cat may look at a king, I don’t see why a shark may not look at a ship.” ‘But though he spoke in this tone, I can tell you that Ned was but ill at ease himself. Well, this lasted three days, and all that time they were cruising about among the islands, looking for a place which would be snug to anchor in, and out of the way of Spanish ships. On the third day, when the ship was about a league from a small sandy isle or key, the men noticed that the sharks came closer to her than ever, as if they were getting more and more watchful of their prey. This made the pot boil over, and the boatswain and three-fourths of the crew went to the captain in a body, and said that Ned must leave the ship that hour, for that he was a doomed man, and that a doomed man made a doomed ship. There was land close to, they said. Mr. Purvis would get plenty of water and provisions, and he might soon get his passage off in another ship, but whether he did or not, he must go ashore now. Old Purvis tried to argue the thing, but the men would not hear his words, and in the middle of the hubbub, Ned comes forward, frankly, and says— ‘“Messmates, I have brought misfortune on the ship, and spoiled the voyage; I am willing to land.”