John Perry decided it was time to go home. It had been a perfect day. He had filled his bag with all sorts of seashells, enough to study for a month. The island had been a good place to find shell but mow the sun was going down, he must leave before it got dark. He came to the sand reef that connected the island and the shore of the mainland. He stopped for a moment to enjoy the sunset on the ocean water, Then he began to walk along the sand reef toward the shore.
He hurried on. Then, suddenly he stepped into the water Before he knew What had happened, he dropped down and down. The water was covering his head. He rose to the top of the water, struggling to get back on to the dry sand, surprised. To his horror he saw long grey sharks there in the sea, but where was the sand reef? What had happened to it?
He began to walk back toward the island. While he had searched for shells on the island, the strong ocean waves had washed a large part of the sand reef away. He did not know much about Sharks/but he was a good swimmer. He tried to remember what he had read about sharks. Did sharks find their food by smelling it? If they did, it meant they looked for food at all times, even during the night, ① Most of the night he lay down and looked up at the stars thinking. He thought of the people in the village. He was their doctor, the only doctor in the village. K felt good to be needed. He thought of wood for a fire, wood to signal for help, but there was no wood. At last he thought of sleep. He slept until the sun rose.
② The sharks were there because the fish were there. The same waves that had washed the sand reef away had somehow pushed large schools of fish into the area , He watched the sharks kill.
He looked at the sea, if he swam to shore, he would be in the water 5, 6 minutes. A lot could happen during that time.)A wind blew across the water. Small waves rushed across the top and stopped him from seeing the bottom. He hoped the wind would stop Somehow, clear water seemed less dangerous.
③ But first, he looked all around before he took off all his clothes He kept only his belt and his small knife. He silently slipped into the water. He went deep down and looked around. He was about to rise to the top and start swimming when he saw a long grey body below him. He kicked himself up to the top and struggled to the sand.
④ He stood up and looked around again. How could he make the sharks move out to sea? He put the knife against his leg and cut deep into the flesh, blood running out, He caught it on his white shirt. When the shirt was red and wet, he tied some cloths around his leg to stop the flow of blood. He tied a long piece of cloth to the shirt, then he threw the shirt into the water and pulled it with a piece of cloth.
The sharks smelled the blood; they came racing toward the shirt. He was leading then away from shore, Suddenly he dropped the cloth turned toward shore and ran as fast as he could He jumped into the water and swam, He kicked and shouted as loud as he could. He touched the shore with his fingers and pulled himself up the stones.
The shark was excited by the smell of blood and the chase went after him; its great body crushed against the stones. The other sharks jumped on it. The end came quickly as the sharks blood turned the water red. The injured shark was eaten alive as it tried to escape.
Perry slowly got to his feet. So, he said," you did not get me."
He looked down at the sharks still eating even though they were full of food.
