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Big Sharks as Game 



upon the chain. As my companion lifted the coral 

 hook I paid out the line until perhaps ten feet had 

 been taken, and then jerked the steel point into the 

 monster's throat. 



The response nearly carried me overboard. 

 Though well prepared for it, I was thrown against 

 the rail upon my knees, and was elbow-deep in the 

 water before I could relinquish the line, which went 

 over the side with an ominous hiss. The stout 

 manila rope, carefully coiled forward, went leaping 

 into the air like an endless snake as my companion 

 turned the boat in the direction of the flying fish 

 and stood ready with the oar to steer her directly in 

 its wake. The shark would have taken the entire 

 line had I not seized it with a piece of canvas when 

 about two hundred feet had gone, stopping it with 

 a turn, first seeing that it had slipped into the notch 

 in the bow made for the purpose. 



The first rush of the shark, indicating its alarm, 

 was in the nature of a stampede, in which every shark 

 in the vicinity, apparently, joined; so that for a while 

 our boat seemed to be the center of a shark brigade. 

 I could distinctly see their forms beneath and on 

 each side of the boat flying along with us. The 

 effect of checking the line was possibly to enrage the 

 stricken shark; it crowded on more speed and pulled 

 the light boat down almost bow under, so that the 

 deck was nearly flush with the surface, and on each 

 side rolled a wave of foam as though from a launch. 



153 



