The Shadows Attack 3 



defeating him. It was not about sharks, or the death of an obscure young 

 man at a rather unfashionable beach resort 45 miles away five days before. 

 Infantile paralysis dominated the conversations at Spring Lake just as it 

 dominated the headlines in the New York City newspapers . . . 



In the democratic sea, a bellboy was as good as a millionaire. Perhaps 

 that was why Charles Bruder loved the sea. Charles was a bellboy at the 

 Essex and Sussex Hotel and when he was not working could usually be 

 found swimming. He was 28 years old, personable, and well liked by 

 hotel guests, who considered him part of Spring Lake. Even people who 

 had been coming to Spring Lake for much of their lives could not re- 

 member Spring Lake without him, for it was said that he had appeared 

 there when he was 8 years old and had been working at various hotels 

 every summer since. From the tips he earned he supported himself and 

 his only known relative, his mother, who lived in Switzerland. 



Bruder had the afternoon off on July 6th, and ebb tide or not, he was 

 going swimming. He walked out through the surf, nodding and smiling 

 at hotel guests he recognized. When the water reached his waist, he dived 

 in and began to swim. He was soon beyond the life-lines. George White 

 and Chris Anderson, the lifeguards on duty, did not call him back as 

 they would have summoned most swimmers, for everybody knew that 

 Charles Bruder was a strong swimmer. 



A woman's scream shattered the air of Spring Lake. Instinctively, 

 White and Anderson turned narrowed eyes seaward. Bruder had disap- 

 peared. 



"He has upset!" the woman screamed. "The man in the red canoe is 

 upset!" 



Even as she screamed. White and Anderson were racing toward their 

 boat. They knew that it was not the reflection of an over-turned canoe 

 they saw, for even now the red blot was spreading, and in the midst of it, 

 for one awful moment, Bruder's agonized face appeared, and he flung 

 up a bloodied arm. The boat reached him. White leaned from the bow and 

 held out an oar to Bruder. Somehow, he grasped it. They pulled him 

 toward them. His face was sickeningly white and his eyes were shut. 

 "Shark— shark got me— bit my legs off^l" he gasped and, mercifully, 

 fainted. White hauled him over the gunwale. His body was not heavy. 



Mrs. George W. Childs, one of the principal envoys of Philadelphia 

 society at Spring Lake, was standing on the private balcony outside her 

 suite at the Essex and Sussex when she heard the screams from the beach. 

 She turned to her maid and asked for her spyglass. 



Below on the shore, she saw White and Anderson beaching their 

 boat. She saw them hesitate to lay Bruder on the sand. From the crowd 

 a woman darted forward and put down her linen coat, turning her eyes 

 away as she did so. Several women fainted. Mrs. Childs, 74 years old and 



