Big Sharks as Game 



back hard against the seat; but after working ten 

 minutes the only perceptible effect was that we were 

 going faster, while the line was so taut that it 

 hummed like the string of a musical instrument. We 

 then shipped the oars, my companion holding and 

 backing them against the fish, and a bucket was 

 tossed over and towed. 



These expedients seemed to urge the shark to fur- 

 ther efforts, and on we rushed, headed for the outer 

 sea. It was manifestly impossible to stop the shark, 

 and we had the alternative of being towed an indefi- 

 nite distance or of cutting the rope. Two miles 

 ahead was a fishing-boat, so we decided to continue 

 the struggle until she was reached hauling on the 

 rope; making a foot, now and then, but more often 

 losing two or three. 



After perhaps another mile the bucket and the oars 

 had evidently made themselves felt, and there was a 

 noticeable relaxation. The shark was rising; either 

 it had met a shoal reef and was climbing its banks, 

 or it was losing strength. We assumed the latter, 

 and hauled the boat upon it, foot by foot. Before 

 we had gone another mile I could see the dusky form, 

 not ten feet below, swimming sturdily along with a 

 powerful movement of its tail, the pilot-fishes and 

 remoras still alongside, as though nothing unusual 

 had occurred. I held the rope in the bow, with 

 knife between my teeth, ready for an emergency, lift- 

 ing when I could, and my companion, coiling the slack 



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