n number; they stick to
the shark while he is floundering about in the water with a hook through
his jaws, but as soon as he is hoisted above the surface of the sea they
immediately disappear. Nobody knows what becomes of them.

I have had several good opportunities of studying the habits of sharks,
and have always been curious about them. As a matter of fact, very
little is known concerning the ocean variety, which is quite distinct
from that of the shore.

No sooner had the pork plashed into the sea than one of the rapacious
monsters made a rush for it. The remarkable velocity of this fish was
surprising to me, who had never before seen a deep-sea shark in his
native element. The water was so beautifully limpid that his every
action could be accurately observed. I thought he would gorge the bait
immediately, but he did not. When he came up with it, he made a sudden
stop. Then he sniffed at it with an air of expectant and suspicious
curiosity. The next thing he did was to turn his tail to it
contemptuously, and swim away a considerable distance.

[Illustration: "WATCH HIM MAKE A DART FOR IT NOW," SAID THE SKIPPER.]

"Watch him make a dart for it now," said the skipper, who was an old
hand at shark-catching.

Like a flash the hungry fish went for the tempting bait, turning over so
that he might grasp it more conveniently with his wide and cruel jaws.
In an instant it was engulfed in his maw. And then there was such a
floundering and threshing in the water as I had never before seen. The
fierce shark, maddened with the pain of the sharp hook, made frantic but
fruitless efforts to escape. He snapped savagely at the strong chain
attached to the hook, with the sole result of damaging his own
cruel-looking teeth. Meanwhile the fish had been dragged forward to the
starboard gangway in spite of his wild struggles. A running bowline was
sent down the line that held him, and as the shark was hoisted over the
side it was passed over his body and hauled taut round his tail, in
order to control the movements of this his most formidable weapon.
Instances have been known of a blow from a shark's tail breaking a man's
leg on the deck of a vessel immediately after being hauled in over the
side.

This fish in question was gigantic. It took eight men to hoist him
in-board. "Chips," the carpenter, stood by with a keen axe, and as soon
as Mr. Shark's struggling carcass was landed on the deck, with one
powerful blow he severed his ta