the lips of the drifting carcass, were doubtless 

 members of this school. Nothing now could be 

 plainer than the reason for the interruption in the 

 playing of our rays: it was because of the close 

 activities of these corpse-eating killers. 



Ill 



It was now high time that we began upon the 

 business that brought us to the bight. But, in a 

 way of speaking, although the scientific spirit was 

 willing, the thrill-loving flesh was weak. It would 

 seem that the side-plays in the moving drama of 

 the water had conspired to keep us from focus- 

 ing our attention on the main action of the piece. 

 Therefore, the actual start of our watchful enter- 

 prise was not yet. Hardly had we turned toward 

 our intended task when we became aware of a 

 subdued slapping sound coming from out of the 

 darkness, somewhere forward of our bow. With 

 an ear grown acute to the various accents in the 

 spoken language of the sea, I interpreted it at once 

 as some creature struggling at the surface. 



And now that the matter of the dead shark no 

 longer concerned us, it came to me that I had heard 

 this sound before. Softly and only at intervals it 



[202] 



