380 Big Game Fishes 
waters, the line tautened, and allowing a few sec- 
onds to pass, and as many feet of line to glide 
over, I jerked the hook into the shark. With all 
my care I was hauled to my knees, losing the 
line which rose from the carefully laid coil like a 
living thing. We were in water two hundred 
feet deep, and before I realized it the line was ex- 
hausted, and no flat-bottomed, broad-sterned skiff 
ever came so near being literally dragged bodily 
under water as did this. My boatman was utterly 
demoralized, and more than once I pressed the 
open knife which I had ready, upon the line, as 
the boat sank to the danger line. 
All this time the boat was moving directly out 
into the channel, carrying a big wave beneath 
her, the shark having sounded like a whale, the 
line being so stiff and taut that I could not move 
it. My companion now shipped the oars and 
held them, trying to row; but this had no effect, 
and the shark towed us a mile at the top of its 
speed before I made any impression on the line, 
and then it became evident that we should have 
to cut line or gain on the fish; so I manned the 
line and hauled, leading the line forward between 
my feet, my companion coiling it as I hauled, 
the boat being so light and unstable that but one 
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