In Search of the Castaways | Page 5

in all latitudes and in all seas. It is the 'balance-fish,' or
hammer-headed shark, if I am not much mistaken. But if your Lordship has no objections,
and it would give the smallest pleasure to Lady Helena to see a novelty in the way of
fishing, we'll soon haul up the monster and find out what it really is."
"What do you say, McNabbs? Shall we try to catch it?" asked Lord Glenarvan.
"If you like; it's all one to me," was his cousin's cool reply.
"The more of those terrible creatures that are killed the better, at all events," said John
Mangles, "so let's seize the chance, and it will not only give us a little diversion, but be
doing a good action."
"Very well, set to work, then," said Glenarvan.
Lady Helena soon joined her husband on deck, quite charmed at the prospect of such
exciting sport. The sea was splendid, and every movement of the shark was distinctly
visible. In obedience to the captain's orders, the sailors threw a strong rope over the
starboard side of the yacht, with a big hook at the end of it, concealed in a thick lump of
bacon. The bait took at once, though the shark was full fifty yards distant. He began to
make rapidly for the yacht, beating the waves violently with his fins, and keeping his tail
in a perfectly straight line. As he got nearer, his great projecting eyes could be seen
inflamed with greed, and his gaping jaws with their quadruple row of teeth. His head was
large, and shaped like a double hammer at the end of a handle. John Mangles was right.
This was evidently a balance-fish-- the most voracious of all the SQUALIDAE species.
The passengers and sailors on the yacht were watching all the animal's movements with
the liveliest interest. He soon came within reach of the bait, turned over on his back to
make a good dart at it, and in a second bacon and contents had disappeared. He had
hooked himself now, as the tremendous jerk he gave the cable proved, and the sailors
began to haul in the monster by means of tackle attached to the mainyard. He struggled
desperately, but his captors were prepared for his violence, and had a long rope ready
with a slip knot, which caught his tail and rendered him powerless at once. In a few
minutes more he was hoisted up over the side of the yacht and thrown on the deck. A
man came forward immediately, hatchet in hand, and approaching him cautiously, with
one powerful stroke cut off his tail.
This ended the business, for there was no longer any fear of the shark. But, though the
sailors' vengeance was satisfied, their curiosity was not; they knew the brute had no very
delicate appetite, and the contents of his stomach might be worth investigation. This is
the common practice on all ships when a shark is captured, but Lady Glenarvan declined
to be present at such a disgusting exploration, and withdrew to the cabin again. The fish
was still breathing; it measured ten feet in length, and weighed more than six hundred

pounds. This was nothing extraordinary, for though the hammer-headed shark is not
classed among the most gigantic of the species, it is always reckoned among the most
formidable.
The huge brute was soon ripped up in a very unceremonious fashion. The hook had fixed
right in the stomach, which was found to be absolutely empty, and the disappointed
sailors were just going to throw the remains overboard, when the boatswain's attention
was attracted by some large object sticking fast in one of the viscera.
"I say! what's this?" he exclaimed.
"That!" replied one of the sailors, "why, it's a piece of rock the beast swallowed by way
of ballast."
"It's just a bottle, neither more nor less, that the fellow has got in his inside, and couldn't
digest," said another of the crew.
"Hold your tongues, all of you!" said Tom Austin, the mate of the DUNCAN. "Don't you
see the animal has been such an inveterate tippler that he has not only drunk the wine, but
swallowed the bottle?"
"What!" said Lord Glenarvan. "Do you mean to say it is a bottle that the shark has got in
his stomach."
"Ay, it is a bottle, most certainly," replied the boatswain, "but not just from the cellar."
"Well, Tom, be careful how you take it out," said Lord Glenarvan, "for bottles found in
the sea often contain precious documents."
"Do you think this does?" said Major McNabbs, incredulously.
"It possibly may, at any rate."
"Oh! I'm not saying it doesn't. There may perhaps be some secret in it," returned the
Major.
"That's just what we're to see," said his cousin.