70 DEVIL FISHIKG. 



tions were very erratic ; unlike some that I had 

 before struck, he did not take a direct course for 

 the sea, but sometimes drew the boat against the 

 tide then suddenly turned and ran directly to- 

 ward us, so as to give slack line. I inferred from 

 these signs, that he was mortally hurt. As often 

 as he approached the Middle Bank and shoaled the 

 water, he drew off in alarm, and would not cross 

 it until he had got to its tail ; his course was then 

 for Paris Bank, which suiting well with our inten- 

 tion to land him, if we could, at Bay Point, we 

 did not interrupt. About this time he came to the 

 surface without being pulled, and showed great 

 distress and we resolved, then, to draw upon him 

 and get a second harpoon planted. It was after 

 various fruitless efforts, and by shortening the rope 

 as far as we prudently could, that we at length 

 drew him so far up, that the dark shadow of his 

 body was indistinctly seen beneath. The second 

 harpoon was now driven, and the gush of blood to 

 the surface, showed that it had done its work. We 

 now drew mainly on this second, leaving only a 

 moderate strain upon the first and after a few 

 convulsive runs, brought him up helplessly to the 

 surface, and with a spear dispatched him outright. 

 With a hatchet we now cut a hole in one of his 

 feelers, and inserting a rope, passed it to the stern, 



