Barracuda 



the sun to dazzle the eyes of the fish. I then assumed 

 that my guide had been given the name of this fish, 

 perhaps, on account of his skill in taking it, but this 

 was not so, as I learned later. He was away from 

 camp one day when a sloop came down to anchor off 

 our key. The crew rowed ashore to inquire after 

 Barracuda, and from them I learned the man's singu- 

 lar experience. Some years ago he lived on Sea 

 Horse Key, one of the Bahamas, and during one of 

 the terrible hurricanes that sometimes pass over that 

 region in September, a brig was driven on the reef 

 and broken up. The crew and every one on board 

 were, one by one, washed away and swallowed up by 

 the sea, with the exception of a woman, who must 

 have been lashed to the spars. While the little bunch 

 of fishermen were watching her, helpless to aid, Mc- 

 Nally that was his name came down to the shore 

 and began to take off his clothes, announcing that he 

 was going to swim out to the wreck and bring the 

 woman in. The fishermen tried to dissuade him, as 

 the sea was so rough and threatening, but, fastening 

 about his waist a stout cord that was in turn made fast 

 to a rope, he plunged into the water. Several times 

 they lost sight of him, and once they saw him turn 

 and strike at something, and feared a shark had bit- 

 ten him, but he kept on and finally reached the wreck 

 and succeeded in attaching the line to it by which the 

 woman was brought to the shore. When McNally 

 was coming back he was seen to sink near the shore, 



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