nd they were full of little water-creepers,--such as
there's thousands o' kinds in the sea. I warrant if we rip this 'un up
the belly, we'll find the same sort o' food in it."

"And why does it fasten itself to sharks and ships,--can you tell that,
Ben?"

"I've heerd the reason, and it be sensible enough,--more so than to say
that it sucks. There was a doctor as belonged in the man-o'-war where I
sarved for two years, as was larned in all such curious things. He said
that the suckin'-fish be a bad swimmer; and that I know myself to be
true. You can tell by the smallness o' its fins. Well, the doctor, he
say, it fastens on to the sharks and ships so as to get carried from
place to place, and to the rocks to rest itself. Whenever it takes a
notion, it can slip off, and go a huntin' for its prey; and then come
back again and take a fresh grip on whatever it has chosen to lodge
itself."

"It's that curious thing along the back of its head that enables it to
hold on, isn't it?"

"That's its sticking-machine; and, what be curious, Will'm, if you were
to try to pull it off upwards or backwards you couldn't do it wi' all
your strength, nor I neither: you must shove it forrard, as you seed me
do just now, or else pull it to pieces before it would come off."

"I can see," said William, holding the fish up to his eyes, "that there
are rows of little teeth in that queer top-knot it's got, all turned
towards the tail. It is they, I suppose, that prevent its slipping
backwards?"

"No doubt, lad,--no doubt it be that. But never mind what it be just
now. Let us finish flensin' o' the shark; and then if we feel hungry we
can make a meal o' the sucker,--for I can tell you it's the best kind o'
eatin'. I've ate 'em often in the South-Sea Islands, where the natives
catch 'em with hooks and lines; but I've seen them there much bigger
than this 'un,--three feet long, and more."

And so saying, the sailor returned to the operation, thus temporarily
suspended,--the _flensing_ of the shark.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE SUCKING-FISH.

The fish that had thus singularly fallen into their hands was, as Ben
had stated, the sucking-fish, _Echeneis remora_,--one of the most
curious creatures that inhabit the sea. Not so much from any
peculiarity in appearance as from the singularity of its habits.

Its appearance, however, is sufficiently singular; and looking upon it,
one might consider the creature as being well adapted for k