The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1881-07-28

| II moved aIOunu lle 4ulk, Dut QIu not
venture 10 come in at the gaps.
/ For fully half an hour it ogled Us and
watched our operations; and almost
fancied / could detect an expression of
curiosity in its large, cruel, unwinking
eyes. Its ugly mouth would work into
/ what might have been taken for fero-
I cious grin.
/ Still we were not much afraid Of the
monster, and went on with our work.
! After while it went away. But Walters
said that he saw it in the afternoon.
Like true beast Of prey, it remained
near the wreck on account Of the other
fish which were attracted to the place.
| During the next two or three days it
frequently made its appearance, dashing
into view whenever a school of fish gath
cred in the vicinity Of the hulk. At
length it began to evince cunning by "
ing in ambush for its prey. 1t selected,
as lurking place, dark hole down by
one side Of the hull, where the currents
had quilted out the sand beside the Shiny
planking.
In this shadowy recess, it would lie
motiOnless, hour after hour, like spider
waiting for flies. But the other fish had
become shy; not many of them now came
about the wreck; and it may have been
because Of this that the shark paid his
respects TO Walters.
Walters and one Of our associates nam
ed Casenove went to work one morning
and had been below the surface of the
water five minutes perhaps, when Case
move came up in great haste, and said
that the shark was attacking Walters. [
was myself tending Walters line and air
pipe; and I instantly signalled him to
know if he was in trouble.
Oar signals We're: one pull on the life
line, by the man tending it above, meant,
''Are you all right?" One pull in response
meant, 81 am ali right" Two pulls on
the line by the diver meant, "Give NE
moro air. Three pulls meant, "Haul
me up" -Four pulls, 81 an struck or
lost; send me assistance" etc.
Promptly, when I signalIod, came back
the response, 'sAIl right" Ikuew Wal
ters SO well that I held steady, despite
Casenove's assertion. But I felt quite
anxious, for I knew by the swaying Of
the line and the pipe, that some sort of
scIimmage was going on.
After brief intervals, 1 continued to
signal The same question. The answers
came back regularly, ''All right" So I
kept steadily pumping the air down to
him.
In about half an hour, Walters CAME
up Of his own accord. When I took off
his helmet, he seemed tired, but was
laughing. In reply to our questions, he
said that when lie first went down to the
wreck that morning and began work, the
shark swan in at one of the gaps in the
ribs, and stationing himself ten or twelve
yards away, remained there apparently
watching him. No doubt the creature
was hungry and tired of waiting for its
breakfast.
Il, after while, moved up nearer to
him.
To frighten it, Walters darted a strip
Of board at the monster.
Disturbed by that, it swan out of the
wreck, but soon went hack to its old po-
sition, and then a moment later, my
friend saw If turn on one side and open
a huge mouth that looked unpleasantIy
suggestive. "Iknew then that he meant
business" said Mat, "and tell you,
boys, it did not take me long to step
aside and slip between two of the ships
ribs to the outside Of the wreck.
"The monster swan along where I had
stood, and eyed me through the crevice.
There he remained moving backwards
and forwards"
To tease the monster, Walters would
move his body up near the narrow open
space between the ribs Of the vessel,
when the shark would turn and Instant
ly open its mouth. But the space be-
tween the ships ribs was too narrow for
! the creature to come through.
Il then became enraged, and dashed
out through one of the gaps and came
round on the outside Of the wreck. The
diver then passed quickly back through
the crcyiee to the inside of the hull again.
So the hunter and his game played bo-
peep with each other for some time. At
last the shark became so infuriated that
it would dash its head violently at the
aperture, showing every symptom Of
baflied rage.
At length, watching his chance when
the savage monster opened its jaws, Mat
drove his crowbar into its mouth so that,
rs he relates, the bar went two-thirds It's
length down the monsters ravenous gull
let.
With that il tore away at a tremendous
rate through the water, leaving a stream
of foam behind it. Walters then signal.
ed, and cane hurriedly to the surface.
For while. not one Of the other divers
would descend after hearing this story;
but Walters went down again the same
afternoon. He did not see the shark, but
found the eCowbar about one hundred
feet from the wreck bent like a rainbow,
For two days our troublesome neigh
Dor did not make an appearance. The
third morning after, however, Casenove,
who had descended first. came hurriedly
up to say that the would-be man eater
was back in his old lurking place, down
| under the forward quarter.
He had grown so bold that none of the
party cared to descend to the wreck. At
| length We concluded we yould trv to kin