Big Game at Sea 



The shark had, either by chance or from knowl- 

 edge, turned into the outer channel, which led directly 

 out to sea, and was momentarily edging into the 

 deeper blue channel which was one of the arteries 

 of the atoll. It became necessary, therefore, to 

 slack away the line. I was doing this when, without 

 warning, the monster made a terrific lunge. Per- 

 haps it had been attacked by some even larger shark, 

 or had suddenly awakened to its danger; in any event, 

 it bore away about fifty feet of the line with a rush; 

 then, turning quickly, jerked the rope from the slot 

 and over the gunwale amidships. 



It was a trick well devised if, indeed, it was a 

 trick and well carried out, and had I not been able 

 to slack away the line at once, the boat would have 

 filled. As it was, the water poured in as we sprang 

 to the weather side, now in air. As I let go the line 

 the boat righted and the rope went whirling and 

 hissing out. It was a moment's work to slip it into 

 the notch again, and away we went in the original 

 direction, the boat a third full of water. 



The channel ran to the north for half a mile, then 

 turned to the westward and spread out into a wide 

 passage of unknown depth. The shark, apparently, 

 was making for the open sea, and once it got where 

 the water was five or six hundred feet deep it would 

 sound, and nothing could stop it. It was necessary, 

 then, to turn it, if possible, before it reached deep 

 water; so we took up the line and heaved, bracing 



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