THE INCREDIBLE SHARKS 343 



nurse sharks and the coral castle of the ground shark and was in- 

 teresting myself in some huge razor shells that jutted out of the 

 sand. I was down quite a depth, nearly forty feet. These shells 

 were larger than any I had seen washed up on the beach. Al- 

 though they were imbedded in soft sand they were fastened 

 firmly by the strands of their byssus and I had quite a time 

 prying them loose. My bare hands, softened by the water, were 

 not equal to the task so I returned to the dory and secured a 

 hook of iron. After warming myself in the sun for a while I 

 dropped down again with the instrument and made my way 

 over to the spot where several huge shells were clustered to- 

 gether. Carefully, so as not to injure the delicate shell I inserted 

 the curved iron bar in the sand until it engaged the tangled 

 byssus threads, and then pulled. To my disgust the shell crum- 

 bled to pieces and the hook emerged with the flesh of the mol- 

 lusk adhering to its point. I tried another, being exceedingly 

 careful, but the result was the same. Another fared likewise as 

 did a fourth before I began casting around for another method. 

 It then occurred to me that the most satisfactory attack would 

 be to excavate the creatures complete. With the iron I began 

 scraping at the bottom and was soon surrounded by so dense 

 a cloud of silt that I could not see. Nevertheless I continued. 

 On my hands and knees I dug at the chalky close packed soil 

 until, with a slight heave, the shell came loose and I rose holding 

 it in my hand and tried to peer through the murk. There was 

 very little current at this spot and the cloud hung around like 

 a pall. 



I was about to turn and climb up the life-line when I dis- 

 covered that I had dropped it during my digging and it had 

 drifted out of sight. This did not particularly disturb me, for I 

 knew that if necessary I could climb the hose curling up from 

 under my shoulder. Preferring to locate it, however, I groped 

 around in circles waving my outstretched arm back and forth. 



