Chapter 44 - Page 2

ready the boatswain began to think about bait; and, talking
rapidly to himself, ransacked every corner of the raft, as though
he expected to find some dead body coming opportunely to sight.
But his search ended in nothing; and the only plan that suggested
itself was again to have recourse to Miss Herbey's red shawl, of
which a fragment was wrapped round the head of the hammer. After
testing the strength of his line, and reassuring-himself that it
was fastened firmly both to the hammer and to the raft, the
boatswain lowered it into the water.

The sea was quite transparent, and any object was clearly visible
to a depth of two hundred feet below the surface. Leaning over
the low parapet of the raft we looked on in breathless silence,
as the scarlet rag, distinct as it was against the blue mass of
water, made its slow descent. But one by one the sharks seemed
to disappear, They could not, however, have gone far away, and it
was not likely that anything in the shape of bait dropped near
them would long escape their keen voracity.

Suddenly, without speaking, the boatswain raised his hand and
pointed to a dark mass skimming along the surface of the water,
and making straight in our direction. It was a shark, certainly
not less than twelve feet long. As soon as the creature was
about four fathoms from the raft, the boatswain gently drew in
his line until the whirl was in such a position that the shark
must cross right over it; at the same time he shook the line a
little, that he might give the whirl the appearance, if he could,
of being something alive and moving. As the creature came near,
my heart beat violently; I could see its eyes flashing above
the waves; and its gaping jaws, as it turned half over on its
back, exhibited long rows of pointed teeth.

I know not who it was, but some one at that moment uttered an
involuntary cry of horror. The shark came to a standstill,
turned about, and escaped quite out of sight. The boatswain was
pale with anger.

"The first man who speaks," he said, "I will kill him on the
spot."

Again he applied himself to his task. The whirl again was
lowered, this time to the depth of twenty fathoms, but for half
an hour or more not a shark could be distinguished; but as the
waters far below seemed somehow to be troubled I could not help
believing that some of the brutes at least were still there.

All at once, with a violent jerk, the cord was wrested from the
boatswain's hands; firmly attached, however, as it was to the
raft, it was not lost. The bait had been seized by a shark, and
the iron had made good its hold upon the creature's flesh.

"Now, then, my lads," cried the boatswain, "haul away!"

Passengers and sailors,