e
water.

He was not altogether captured yet, however, and his struggles to get
free were tremendous. Really, his jaws must have been pretty tough to
have not given way under the furious flings and writhings he made to
release himself; for the strong half-inch manilla rope that held him
tethered was stretched like a fiddle-string, its strands all quivering
with the strain upon it.

First to one side of the ship and then to the other the brute bounded in
turns, making the sea boil around him like a whirlpool, until finally,
after half an hour's fight of it, he gave in and lay quiet, although not
dead yet by any means.

As soon as the shark began to flounder about, I noticed that the pilot-
fish went away, leaving him alone in his extremity; and on my mentioning
this to Mr Marline he took the opportunity of pointing a moral for my
especial benefit.

"It's just the way in the world, Master Tom," said he. "Foolish
companions lead many a young fellow into a scrape; but as soon as they
see him in the mess into which they were the means of inveigling him,
they scuttle off, abandoning him to his fate and probably laughing at
his troubles too."

"Aye," put in Captain Miles, wishing also to improve the occasion; "and
if that shark had not been so madly impetuous in rushing at the hook he
would never have been caught; in the same way as somebody told me of a
certain young gentleman, who, not looking before he leaped, as the
proverb says, and only thinking of the end he had in view, galloped down
a hill and came to grief--getting a tumble which laid him up for weeks!"

"Oh, Captain Miles," said I, "you don't think I'm a shark, do you?"

"Well, not quite so bad as that, youngster," he replied with one of his
cheery laughs; "but, quite as impetuous sometimes, eh, Master Tom?"

I made no answer to this thrust, knowing there was some truth in it, my
mother having frequently to call me over the coals for doing things on
the spur of the moment, which, as she was aware, I always regretted
afterwards.

This thoughtless impulse is a great fault, as I know to my cost; for, it
has led me into many a scrape--sometimes to the danger of my life!

While we were talking the shark was still struggling in the water; but
when he grew tolerably composed, only an occasional splash of his tail
showing that he yet lived, the men began to make preparations for
hauling him on board.

The bight of a rope was made into a running knot and hove