94 ALBACORA 



shark and leapt onto its back. He wrapped both legs 

 around the creature's body, thrust his two thumbs into 

 the shark's nostrils and, clinging like a leach, he rode 

 the shark. The ride ended only when shark and man were 

 both exhausted. 



"Do you do that sort of thing often?" I asked him 

 later when we met this man on the dock. 



"No," the man admitted, "but a friend of mine wants 

 sensational movies of fish and I wanted to see if that 

 stunt would really work before we started shooting." 



Introductions were made and the man told us his 

 name was Al Pfluger. He owned a fish taxidermy shop 

 in Miami. 



"You could get killed trying a stunt like that," Lou 

 said. 



"Not very likely," Pfluger said. "With my thumbs up 

 his nose, he can't sound. He can only run on the sur- 

 face. Besides, those sharks are pretty sluggish now, any- 

 way." 



Later, when we and the Mannings went to Florida to 

 get ichthyological instruction under Luis Rivas at the 

 University of Miami, we visited Al Pfluger's shop. We 

 had Jane Thuet, our field secretary and the wife of Cap- 

 tain Thuet, along. As we headed toward the mainland, 

 Lou said to Jane, "Look, when we get into the place, 

 we're going to get some scientific pointers. Do you have 

 your notebook with you?" 



Fortunately, she did. 



"Great," Lou said. "Take notes on everything." 



