ough to resist the teeth of the
monster, and a common log-line was made fast to the wire, with a second
line in case of his requiring much play. Over the stern went the hook,
baited with a most tempting piece of pork; the ship was just moving
through the water at the time, the whole sea looking like a vast lake of
molten silver.

We watched our cannibal as the bait came near him, he did not keep us
long in doubt, but with a rush put his nose against the pork, pronounced
it good, turned on his side, and both pork and hook disappeared. We
gave a smart tug at the line, and found him fast.

I expected a tremendous trout-like rush, or some great display of shark
force; but he merely gave a wag of his tail, lowered his dorsal fin
under water, and steadily dragged back on the line. We met him with a
firm pull, and brought him near the ship, when he made a sudden dive
directly downward, nearly carrying out both our lines.

I feared now that we should lose him, but he seemed to have gone deep
enough to suit his taste, and turned slowly up again; all his movements
could be seen as distinctly in this transparent water as those of a bird
in the air. One or two more dives of a similar character at length
tired him, and he was brought close to the vessel. One of the seamen
then sent a harpoon with deadly aim right through him, which caused a
furious struggle, by which the hook was snapped short off from the wire.
The harpoon, however, held firm, and its rope served to guide a
bowling-knot, which caught under the shark's fins, and he was dragged on
to the deck. A storm of blows and a chop on his tail soon reduced his
strength, which had shown itself in struggles and leaps; his demise was
then peaceful. He was fully seven feet long, and seemed a string of
muscles. He disappointed me by his craven surrender; a salmon would
have given far more play.

Great interest was shown in inspecting the shark's interior; a button
marked VR or RN might have caused endless speculation, and wonderful
tales to be invented. Alas! his stomach contained nothing but a bundle
of feathers! A roar from the whole crew was given at this discovery.

What could he have been about?--acting a fishy pantomime as a pillow, or
turning himself into a comfortable resting-place for Mrs Shark's head?
The fact was, that there had been a great deal of poultry plucked within
the last few days, and the feathers were thrown overboard. Sharky being
unable to gra