THE DESTINY OF A BLUE SHARK 



any to think of it. The movement is wholly without 

 effort: it is impossible to say where upon its body 

 there is stress and where there is rest. The whole ad- 

 vance is along the line of rhythm of a wave length, 

 which, for grace and efficiency, seems peculiar to 

 these beings. If there is need for an instantaneous 

 shooting ahead or a right-angled turn to left or 

 right, the long, arched tail waves somewhat more 

 quickly or in a wider swath, and we see that the blue 

 shark is master of the three planes of space after a 

 fashion which makes darius-greens of birds. 



Throughout most of his existence the progress of 

 this shark had been a wonderful, slow, undulatory 

 weaving, through miles and miles of blue water, his 

 species circling the globe in the warmer parts of 

 the oceans. No blue shark may have been visible for 

 days and yet at the death of a whale, they converge 

 like vultures, hundreds of them, the first by sight 

 and smell, the others by suspicion of the actions of 

 some fellow shark who is doing what they would 

 do if they had scented or sighted a prospective 

 banquet. 



Essentially, however, they are solitary wanderers 

 on the face of the waters. They seldom approach 

 land, and when the shallows bring the bottom 

 nearer, or the roar of the breakers comes to their 

 chalky earbones, they sheer off to sea again. But 

 occasionally they find manna ready for the picking, 

 where some unlucky fisherman has stretched his 

 great length of mackerel net. Up and down the 

 meshes goes the blue shark, snatching a bite every 



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