6i 



inhibited by my presence, a psychological fact in my favour 

 which I fully exploited. Furthermore, I thought, as I paddled 

 towards the surface, looking round to see if others had 

 arrived, the black-fin would consider that I was as good as 

 he was at catching fish, and it was therefore doubtful if he 

 would venture to come between my feet. 



The shark came back a second time. He did not try to 

 gulp the prey in passing, but stopped three yards away and 

 wagged his tail. Then he opened his mouth and with a 

 bound tried to seize the bream. This time I found it easier 

 to snatch it away from under his nose, although it was 

 tossing ever more violently. Anxiously I watched the wound 

 in its belly widening and the arrow slipping further and 

 further out. It was losing blood copiously and the shark 

 would certainly be feeling more excited. He had in fact 

 given up circling widely and now remained permanently 

 under my fins where he leapt repeatedly in short sharp darts 

 towards the poor fish. It was no good pulling any more, 

 although I continued to give swift tugs at the cord so as not 

 to be taken by surprise while dragging myself towards the 

 shore. I was already inside the barrier and felt the sea-floor 

 rising . . . twelve feet . . . nine feet. The shark, I thought, 

 would soon be finding himself at a loss in so little water. But 

 here my luck was out. Without realizing it I had taken the 

 wrong direction, and once again I found myself on a second- 

 ary shelf with a depth of eighteen to twenty feet. 



The shark, who was probably not so much enraged from 

 the checks he had received as from the abundance of 

 blood around, suddenly became bolder and approached to 

 within a yard of the bream and four yards from me. His 

 whole outward appearance manifested a desire to finish the 

 fish ofif. Swiftly I reasoned why his attitude had suddenly 

 changed. I realized that the shark was no longer put off by 



