The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-11-04

FINALLY We saw his white belly as he turned
on his side. Then the slack OF the line ran
out. and with jerk we drove home tha
hook.
Now. We naturally supposed shark
when treated In this manner would raise
the biggest kind of rumpus. But this
fellow didn't. He suffered himself to be
pulled to the side Of the schooner, and he
was nothing but dead weight. NV hen we
had taken in aii IF the line that we could
and had brought him under. the vessels
quarter, he kicked little.;W tried to slip
a moose down the line over bis head. This
necessitated lifting his nose out OF the wa
ter. Then he lashed the water into foam,
and the line cut our fingers. But his
paroxysms were short and spasmodic. He
gave up with not half fight. The moose
was drawn tight just in front OF his tali'
and we hoisted him on deck.
A few persons were asleep on the cabin
roof. The shark aGghted in the stern sheets
He thrashed from side to side, thumped the
cabin with his tail, banged the ships bell
and created the commotion OF a cyclone.
The people on the house leaped In all direc-
items. The moon was so low that her light
was only sickly glare; hence the dream
ers, with senses confused and eyes heavy
with sleep, could not distinguish friend
from foe.
One man jumped squarely onto the
shark His bare feet slid along the crea-
ture's cold, wet back. He gave horrib bic
yell, bolted blindly to the port side, and alb
solutely crazed by the fright struck his
head SO violently against the main boom
that he was stretched senseless on the deck.
A little water brought him to conscious
ness, but he was nervous for several DAYS.
When the captive had exhausted himself.
the cook came aft with a lantern and an Ak
and gave Mr. Shark his quietus.
A shark dies very hard and will live out
of water for long time. We skinned this
victim. He was a small specimen, about
20 feet long We threw the refuse over
board, SO as to attract other members OF
the family Our efforts were rewarded by
the sight of half q score of the animals
swimming around the vessel the next day.
We caught six. One was big 10 footer.
He gave us more trouble than any of the
others-so much so that We did not at
| tempt to lift him on deck until well di
| rected rifle bullet made him cease his strug
| giles. A ID foot shark Is pretty big hsh
| and YOU are surprised when he is laid be-
| fore YOU to see how much bulk he has.
| A sailors hatred for shark is implaca
| BILE An Indian takes no more pleasure IL
| torturing an enemy than does a sailor IN
working his pleasure on man eater. 1he
! crew ON board Of the schooner caught sew
eral good sized sharks. They propped open
| the mouth of one of the fish and poured
! down his throat q shovelful OF live coal:
from the galley fire. Then they drove 6
great wooden wedge into his gullet as tight
| ly as a mallet could effect.
| A shark 5 teeth slant back, SO that he car
! with difficulty disgorge anything that h
/ once grasps But he got rid OF the plug
! and when last seen was lashing vigorously
rendered frantic by the pain IN his insldes
| doub OF not that he soon swallowed enough
water TO ouench ais fires. The sailors con
| nected two other sharks by the talis with
rope and large timber In the miduie
. This timber held the animals near the sur
| face. They swan away. but oi course the,
eventually died OF starvation
The natives OF the country in thetropics
where sharks abound. are careless OF tL'
| creatures Men and boys frequent the wa
ters in the harbors aud around the reefs
and do SO with impuniiy. never heard
any one being bitten. Il Is said that wheI
shark once tastes human blood, ike TIL
tiger. be prefers that to any otner. Bu
usually a shark Will avoid a swimmer. ii
has an inherent suspicion OF mankind. Ii
can obtain plenty OF food in the fish tia
fill these seas
The raate ordered the cook to Try sic
from the back OF blue shark that we has
captured and ate IL He pronounced Il ex
celIeut. The flesh is a little coarse, put
do not see why it should not De paistabi
il il is taken from those animals caught L
the clean ocean. draw the line al thos
caught in the harbors.
A sharks uglsness has never been ove7
rated. His sharp snout and little pigglsi
white eyes, set on each side, and curved 81
of a mouth make his countenance mos
repulsiye- I'D IL SABiS-