A STORY OF SIX SHARKS. 105 



of our conversation, we heard a number of screams 

 intermingled with bursts of laughter. Captain Scott 

 opened the windovr which faced a small creek which 

 was opposite the fort, and we saw a dozen soldiers, 

 some throwing lassoes and others harpoons into the 

 water, wherein was a fish of strange form and extra- 

 ordinary size. 



"The men have taken a shark prisoner," cried the 

 captain; " and that's the fifteenth this month.'* 



"By Jove!" 



" I wish it were the last ; for we can't get into 

 the water without danger, and, considering what 

 warm Aveather it is, that is rather a bore." * 



" Let us go and have a look at the shark," said I 

 to my friend. 



" If you please. Moreover, I am rather curious 

 to know how the men send a shark to sea." 



" Send it to sea ! Are they going to let it free 

 then ?" 



" Not exactly. Come and see for yourself." 



A few moments afterwards, Captain Scott and 

 myself were on the shore of the little bay in which 

 the shark was struggling with the soldiers. One of 

 these, after many failures, had succeeded in getting 

 a rope around its tail; with this, he had managed to 

 fix a couple of casks to it, which the shark was 



* New York Bay, and the major part of the creeks of the Atlantic, 

 are so infested with sharks as to render any shore-bathing dangerous. 

 The presence of these horrible brutes in the American ports is attri- 

 buted to the abundance of food collected there. 



