rived in time to see him pull alongside a shark about eight 

 feet long. 



This was an occasion to be celebrated, for ever since 

 Vital had first joined us in Marathon five years before, he 

 had been angHng for a shark. Night after night he had 

 made his preparations, fastening a large hook to a length 

 of strong chain and then to a heavy line which he strung 

 out behind the boat, well baited with whatever choice bit 

 he thought might attract a shark. Sometimes the bait was 

 gone in the morning. Twice the hook and chain had both 

 disappeared, leaving the frayed end of the heavy line. But 

 never had he pulled in his line with a shark on the other 

 end. This time, when he finally had the shark safely on the 

 deck, we had a drink of Barbincourt with him in cele- 

 bration. 



Early the next morning Vital caught a nearly fifty- 

 pound barracuda on his hne. We began to think that we 

 were indeed in the center of an area of big fish, even 

 though we had not seen any in our searching the previous 

 afternoon. 



I could feel the goose pimples rise as I watched Vital 

 pull the creature over the side and still its powerful thrash- 

 ing with a few blows from an iron bar, and I glanced aloft 

 to the top of the deckhouse, where the shark's head was 

 impaled with its wide-open mouth and sharp, gleaming 

 teeth. Vital was preserving it as a souvenir to take back 

 to his home town of Maniwaki, Quebec. I could see him 

 upon his return, displaying it with a carefully cultivated 

 unconcern to his woodsmen friends, who thought a big 

 fish was an eighteen-pound lake trout or pike. 



We hadn't spent a very comfortable night there in 

 that harbor surrounded by reefs. The mental hazard was 

 probably the worst, for we realized that it was a dangerous 

 place to be caught in any kind of storm. We also knew that 



258 Sea Diver 



