VISITORS FROM OVER THE SEA 205 



hypnotized me more than the shark sixty feet below, unless 

 the line carried that atrocious flattery to the fish. The master 

 garnished his invitation by holding the line with a delicate 

 touch and staring at the water with beaming eyes. The line 

 was obviously transmitting thoughts, apprising him that the 

 shark had now been tempted and was getting bolder. The 

 Yemenite dropped his arm into the water, stretching himself 

 and hanging over the gunwales so that his intended victim 

 might find the titbit that he had been snifiing with his snout 

 now lying level with his jaws, and decide now . . . to . . . 

 bite . . . and with a dizzy leap into the air he hooked it, 

 dragging the line flying over his head. If the hook was un- 

 successful he did not get annoyed but broke the incantation 

 with a smile, changed the bait and kept on smiling. But if he 

 did hook it, a spectacular battle followed. 



He would let out ten yards of line in a flash and then take 

 it in, slowly, inch by inch, a bit at a time, holding, feeling the 

 weight, then wildly draw in yards, stop, resist for a moment 

 and let a little out. He was a rope dancer, a variety turn, 

 the gratified soloist who had found his public. 



When it had lost the match, foot by foot, over a distance 

 of sixty yards, the shark erupted on the surface lashing out 

 with its tail and biting the air, twisting mad with terror and 

 rage. This was the most difficult moment, because the fish 

 was no longer on a vertical line where it could be controlled. 

 The Yemenite himself broke out into firework movements 

 like a maniac. He shouted, jumping on to the ice chest and 

 down again on to the deck, continuing shouting in that 

 gibberish of his without losing a point. Worn out, the shark 

 ended up under his feet swamping the boat with its tail. At 

 that stage the Yemenite stooped behind, picked up his 

 cudgel which was as hard and as heavy as iron, and whanged 

 the shark three times on the skull. The tragedy was at an end. 



