FISHING IN INDIAN WATERS, 359 
Ymperceptibly he will fall back, untilhe is a few yards away, and then 
Sradually he will sink out of your sight, and you may think that he has gone. 
Well perhaps he has; peradventure thete has suddenly flashed through his 
dull brain some faint reminiscence which has come back to him at the very 
last moment of another fine fat piece of pork very similar to the present one 
Which he once upon a time in the long gone days before had tried to sample, 
and which had brought him nothing but labour and sorrow, and which, when 
he had got rid of it, had left him curiously enough (as he thinks) with a sore 
jaw. If such has ever been the case, then indeed will he have gone, but it 
may be otherwise. If he has made up his mind, upon the reports of his 
small friends, to try his luck, his behaviour would be such as I have attempted 
_ to describe. As his mouth is so to speak placed under his chin, he requires 
to get quietly underneath whatever it may be that he may wish to seize, and 
then with an upward dart, during which time he turns half round upon his 
back, he is in full sight open-mouthed, and if in earnest, has closed his terri- 
ble jaws upon the bait before you have had time to realise what has 
happened, The subsequent proceedings interest the pilot fish no more, 
There is a firm belief among sailors that if a shark is once hooked and gets 
off, that he metes out condign punishment upon them for having misled him ; 
they are therefore off and you will never see them again. Once hooked, it 
is purely a matter of brute strength ; you hang on to your fish, getting in the 
rope little by little in spite of his struggles, until his head is hove up out of 
the water, when either a running bowline is put on the line and lowered down 
over his head until in position near the tail, then tightened up as soon as it is 
possible, then heave away on both lines and drag him struggling on board ; 
or else before attempting to lift him, you quiet him once for all with a rifle 
bullet through his brain. I give the above asa typical instance of howa 
large fish of this sort is usually caught and killed, but often enough instead 
of taking the bait offhand as described he will play around, make false 
rushes, and dally and toy with it in a most aggravating manner, pushing it 
with his nose,and sometimes turning round and lashing out at it with his 
tail until your patience is well nigh exhausted; and then when you have 
almost given up all hope of seducing him into committing the desired 
indiscretion, he makes up his mind, makes his rush, and with a thrill of 
excitement you realise that after all you have really got him, But even in 
this fishing, there is still often the proverbial “slip between the cup and the 
lip” and in his struggles he may break loose, and you cannot count upon 
your fish until he is landed. 
Once in board he is triced down as soon as possible, and if still alive a 
coup de grace is given him by cutting off his tail with an axe, and until this 
is done, he is a most awkward customer to go anywhere near. Sailors seem 
to have an inborn hatred of sharks, and nothing pleases them so much as 
the death of sucha one as I have described. Once dead, his head and tail 
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