THE POWER OF A SHARK'S JAW. 201 



THE POWER OF A SHARK'S 

 JAW. 



EIGHT bells had only struck a few minutes, and 

 the old watch had been relieved, when the cap- 

 tain came on deck and ordered a man into the 

 chains to heave the lead and obtain correct sound- 

 ings. For several days this order had been so 

 frequently given that it attracted little attention; 

 and only that I happened to be lounging near the 

 waist of the ship at the time, ruminating over a 

 Manilla cheroot, I should not have been an eyewit- 

 ness to the following incident. 



The weather was thick, blustering, and wet. For 

 a day or two we had been unable to obtain an obser- 

 vation, and as we were in a most dangerous part 

 of the Chinese seas, it was necessary to be more 

 than usually careful. Moreover, the barometer had 

 suddenly fallen, a warning not to be neglected dur- 

 ing the typhoon season ; so our cautious old Scotch 

 captain was not satisfied with bringing on deck the 



