62 DEVIL FISHING. 



thus, in his very last struggle ! A gleam of hope 

 shoots across us ! In this last struggle, he might 

 rise to the surface. It is possible yet to recover him. 

 Let us prepare for it. In a moment the harpoon is 

 straightened, the staff is refitted, and scarcely is it 

 done, when, " There ! by heavens ! there he is ! fifty 

 yards ahead, floundering on the water ! Now for it, 

 boys ! reach him before he sinks !" Alas ! he has 

 already sunk ! 



The turbid waters of the river have now given 

 place to the transparent green of the sea, through 

 which objects are distinctly visible for feet below ; 

 and look, he is rising again from his depths ! every 

 struggle and contortion of the agonized monster is 

 clearly to be seen, as he shoots upward to the light. 

 He is upon his back his white feelers thrown aloft 

 above his head, like giant hands upraised in suppli- 

 cation. There was something almost human in the 

 attitude and the expression of his agony and a 

 feeling quite out of keeping with the scene stole 

 over me while I meditated the fatal blow. It 

 passed away in an instant ; and as he emerges from 

 the water, the harpoon cleaves the air and is driven 

 home into his head. A shout of exultation bursts 

 from the crew. To have thus recovered him, was, 

 indeed, a gratification. The gun is once more 

 brought to bear another shot, and he is still ; all 



