ssful was I, that, in three
descents, I managed to place upon the tray as many oysters as it would
hold. It was now hauled up, its contents carefully transferred to the
cutter's deck, and the anchor or tray again lowered to the bottom.

This operation had been repeated five times, with the result that a
goodly pile of bivalves now graced the deck; and I had gone down a
second time on the sixth _round_ (if I may so express myself), when
suddenly a dark shadow fell upon the spot on which I was at work. I
glanced upward, and, to my unspeakable horror, saw an enormous shark
floating motionless within a fathom of and directly above me.

Why he did not attack me at once I could not imagine; but I conjecture
that it was because, lying flat upon the ground as I was, he had not
room to turn, as sharks invariably do when seizing their prey. My blood
seemed fairly to congeal in my veins as I realised my appalling
position.

I _must_ rise to the surface in a very few seconds, or drown where I
was; and I felt convinced that the moment I was far enough from the
bottom to permit of the monster making his rush, he would do so.

Suddenly, the remembrance of my sheath-knife flashed across my brain.
There was no time to hesitate; my powers of endurance were almost
utterly exhausted, and I felt that I could hold my breath but a second
or two longer; so I quickly drew the knife, and darting suddenly
upwards, succeeded in grasping the shark with my left hand by his
starboard fin, whilst with my right I plunged my weapon to the hilt in
his gleaming white belly, extending my arm to its full length as I did
so, and thus inflicting a wound nearly _or_ quite two feet in length.

Remembering the wonderful vitality of the shark, I did not content
myself with this; but thrusting my armed hand into the gaping wound, I
drew the knife two or three times rapidly across his interior
arrangements, inflicting such severe injuries that in less than a minute
after I rose to the surface blood-stained from head to foot, and
speechless with exhaustion, the shark also appeared, floating dead
within a dozen yards of the cutter.

Bob's strong and ready hand was promptly extended to assist me in over
the cutter's low gunwale; but so thoroughly exhausted was I, that I felt
utterly unable to make the slightest effort in aid of my shipmate's
exertions, and he was obliged to drag me bodily inboard, where, after an
unavailing effort to stand, I sank upon the de