round the body
of the animal; when, the men hauling away with a will at the other end
of the line, which was passed through a snatch-block hung in the
rigging, the captive was soon bowsed up to the mizzen chains.

No sooner, however, was he got out of the water than the hampered
monster appeared to be imbued with fresh vitality, lashing his tail
about and splintering the wood-work of the bulwarks as if it had been
brown paper; but when the slip-knot was drawn tighter this controlled
his frantic movements a bit, and Jackson, who was allowed precedence of
the rest of the sailors from his previous acquaintance with the savage
brute, then advanced with a sharp butcher's knife, which he had borrowed
from the cook, in order to give his old enemy his quietus.

Taking care not to get within reach of either the jaws or ponderous tail
of the shark, he leaned over the side of the ship and stabbed it in the
neck; after which, with two long slashing cuts he severed the head,
which quickly splashed down into the sea under the counter, sinking to
the bottom at once from the mere weight of the bone it contained.
Jackson then proceeded, by the captain's orders, to rip open the
animal's stomach; but it was found to contain nothing digestible but the
piece of pork which had led to the brute's capture, the shark evidently
having been lately on short allowance.

When, however, Jackson extracted the hook from the bait, he started back
suddenly as if he had received a blow, clutching hold of the shrouds to
steady himself.

I thought he was going to faint.

"Hullo!" exclaimed Captain Miles; "what's the matter?"

"See here!" replied the young sailor, holding up in his hand something
dark and soft looking, with a bit of ribbon fluttering from one end.

"Well, what is it?" repeated the captain.

"My cap," said Jackson solemnly; "and, but for the mercy of God I also
might have been in the same place!"

It gave us all a thrill, I can tell you, the sight of this old cap,
which must have floated off Jackson's head when he dived to escape the
rush of the shark. The brute had swallowed it, no doubt, greedily,
thinking it had got the owner.

As for Jackson himself, when he clambered up over the side again and
came inboard, his face was as white as a table-cloth. I did not hear
him, either, joking about the deck all day afterwards in his usual way;
although the young sailor, besides being the smartest of the hands at
his work, had hitherto