The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-10-22

eIeO on, ne observed that the smaller
inhabitants of the place fled from him.
He suddenly came upon a very high
and beautifully fish twice his
own size, and was about to drop to
the bottom and hide, when he was
amazed to see the angel-f1sh dart away.
Then for the first time there crept into
the man-eater's brain the idea that he
was power, that for some reason
he was dreaded and feared, and at
once his side swing became a swagger
and he shot through the water with
such rapidity that he rose up the side
of the sandy slope and came into a
region of delights, his home or ranging
| ground for many a day.
For several months he lived this life,
slowly making his way over the splen-
did tropical floor = the ocean, sleeping
at times in the crevices of rocks, or
between coral heads, or under them,
foraging where he could, darling clum-
| SLY upon octopi, crabs, even starfish-
! es, Or any miserable creature which
could offer no resistance, thus early in
life displaying his sordid nature. The
young shark never left the shadows,
and at the end of a year, nurtured on
! good diet, had materially enlarged. He
/ was now three feet in length: his tail
long and powerful his body noticea bly,
bulky. But the greatest change was
! in the mouth. The first row of teeth
were well defined, sharp and serrated
| The eye was little larger, but still
the color of sand paper, with no ex-
preston. He had begun to change his
! diet. He discovered that crayfish and
! other crustaceans went out on the shall
/ low flats at night to feed, and that
rays came there to hunt them; so one
night, instead of coiling up in a coral
| head, the man-eater, following a little
channel through the reef at high tide.
swan across a lagoon of sand over
grown by short sea-weed. Conchs were
numbering along on this grassy floor.
and in the submarine heritage were big
yellow crayfish, tough and dangerous.
Suddenly there came floating along
e. ray with it's birdlike motion. AS it
drew near. the shark rushed blindly
upon it and by sheer bulldog ferocity
seized and held it. The ray doubled,
dashed the enemy with its whip-tan,
then doubled and flung its sharp SER
rated spines against the shark, inf1ict-
ing a wound that was followed by a
pink cloud that slowly permeated the
water. The beadlike expressionless
eyes of the man-eater turned inward
almost out of sight, but in no way did
he exhibit pain; he held on, gripping
harder, seeming the blood fiercely, tast-
ing the flesh CT his victim. When the
ray became passive he swung it, grip
ed it again, and bearing down upon
it, tore and lacerated it, striking down
the weed with powerful blows of his
tail. sending the crayf1shes dashing
across the submarine mesa.
Engaged in this fierce attack, the
man-eater was suddenly struck. knock
ed aside by a sand-shark twice his
size; but he circled about with savage
menace, retreating only when fairly
put to fight by his opponent. Every
night now he forage learning that
nearly all animals feed at night in this
land of plenty. In all his wanderings
the man-eater never exhibited any in
terest in certain locality; he never
returned to the same place twice He
had no sense of location, no mental
action that gave him an interest in a
locality sufficient to produce a desire to
return, no memory beyond that which
blood produced. He slept or rested when
he grew weary, and often swan eontin-
ously for days; at times at the sur
face when his fin would make broad
showing above the water, cutting it
like a knife. He swan on, eternally
on. but generally in a circle-an in
stinctive movement, which kept him
near the lagoon.
AT the end of three years the man
eater was six feet in length. He had
increased prodigiously in bulk, was es-
pecially heavy just behind the head,
which was enormous and threatening.
When his jaws gaped, as they some
times did to throw out some parasite
an array Of teeth would be seen, the
front row upright, pure white, larger
than mans thumb-nail and perfect
triangles, their edges like saws. Back
of these were ten or twelve rows of
similar teeth lying fiat in the mouth,
but called into action
when blood was tasted and these fierce
knives sprang erect and sank into the
flesh of the enemy, making escape i'm
possible
The shark had changed in many es-
sentiaIs. He was lighter in color, near
w white beneath; the upper lobe of
the tail was longer, 1.-THE and capable
Of remarkable power; but the eyes now
appeared smaller and were, df anything,
more inexpensive. and gray The mo-
ton was dignified, yet there was the
same peculiar swing given by the tail,
and when he wished to turn the mas
sive head was jerked slightly in the {
given direction and the tail swung to
meet it. He had now several boon COM
1anions. Three or four remoras had
oined partnership with him, fishes
about a foot in length, black, with
peculiar sucker on the top of the head
When weary of following the shark
hey merely attached themselves by
he sucker to his back and were towed
long. The others were several little
striped pilot fishes. which hid ben
ath the sharks head. They were very
urfous and darted out at every strange
bject that appeared. +
The man-eater at this time had de-
eloped a remarkable power of scent +
. dead animal half mile away could d
q traced up the wind or current with
marvellous quickness and fidelity. His n
Ian when a scent was found was to T
eat up against it like ship against s
ne wind. swimming with great rapid a
:, turning the instant ii was lost; b