248 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



there could be no thought of escape by flight. I 

 crouched close to my wisp of sea-fan, although hid- 

 ing behind it was as effective as an attempt to con- 

 ceal oneself behind a handful of ostrich feathers. 



The shark appeared enormous — thirty feet came 

 to my mind. Then, like Dunsany's ghost-watcher 

 at the Castle of Oneleigh, I sought to distract my 

 fear with geometry. I estimated the shark's length, 

 I compared it with other fish near it, and I was 

 more composed by the time my mind settled on 

 eighteen feet as the extreme length I could assign 

 to it. I had already faced scores of sharks and 

 even other tiger sharks in my diving, but never so 

 large a one, nor in such unprotected surroundings 

 nor without at least a grains in my hand. The great 

 elasmobranch came on until I could see the black 

 veins in its yellow, cat-like eyes, and the loose, 

 adenoid-gape with its lining of triangular teeth. 

 The mighty tail swept farther to one side, the shark 

 veered — and passed. An unusually heavy surge 

 once carried it far back toward me, but it never 

 turned and soon vanished beyond the shadow of the 

 boat. 



When I breathed slowly again I braced myself 

 and with all my might dragged the animal bush 

 from its moorings, and waving it like a purple ban- 

 ner, I returned, leaning hard back against the cur- 

 rent. With no take-off except a low crouch I 

 leaped upward and slowly rose through eight or ten 

 feet of water and seized the lowest rung. For a 

 while I hung there, soothed by the lift and settling 

 of the deeper curve of successive surges — surges 



