Big Game at Sea 



washed or thrown by the waves. Four or five deep 

 wounds penetrated the body. In one rush the sword 

 had entered the eye, coming out at the gills ; another 

 cut a furrow along the top of the head; another still 

 had entered from below ; but the real cause of defeat, 

 the reason why the splendidly-equipped despoiler had 

 shown the white flag, was evident its sword was 

 splintered and broken against its enemy. Helpless, 

 it had been struck, carte and tierce, rammed repeat- 

 edly, and left for dead by the other, which, doubt- 

 less, was desperately wounded and with difficulty 

 escaped from the large sharks which lurked in the 

 vicinity. The dead swordfish was about nine feet in 

 length when its sword was complete, its barrel-shaped 

 body powerful, hard, and muscular, its mackerel-like 

 tail suggestive of a dominant force a swordsman 

 well calculated to demoralize an enemy of any kind. 



Fishes soon recover from their wounds, even of 

 the most desperate character, and doubtless the win- 

 ner in this duel, surly, ugly, constantly on the alert, 

 swam slowly on keeping inshore for a few days, until, 

 its wounds represented by scars, it again turned into 

 the open sea. 



For days it met no prey. It swam along the sur- 

 face, sometimes chased by sharks, then leaping clum- 

 sily into the air, and one day perceiving a dense black 

 mass ahead and possibly remembering its late encoun- 

 ter, it dashed forward, taking the initiative, and 

 plunged its long keen rapier into the soft yielding 



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