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Show MI Eh, BE-TWEED? SMR1L ami MSTOMSH ''rSSS For nearly five minutes the two ''"g combatants appeared almost motion- ' -JBaiSgsas ... less in the water. From the sides of ajjgS?agg" .gSjffil i each little crimson eddies ascended, 7 rfS?Zztf showing how badly both had been OUR fishing t'TitfSS: Injured. It was a drawn battle, and smack, anchor- Sif both seemed disinclined to renew the ed off the Flor- ""SKfe conflict. But clearly one of them had OUR fishing , rfr? smack, anchor- T ed off the Flor- y" ida coast, was lazily rolling in the gentle swells of the sea, with its idle sails flapping and anchor chain squeaking dismally. A small boat had put off from the vessel and two of the rowers were watching several of the crew disporting in the warm water. With them was a powerful Newfoundland Newfound-land dog whose thrashing and barking bark-ing added to the interest of the scene. Suddenly one of the rowers- glancing glanc-ing toward the distant shore caught sight of a peculiar trail of foam that seemed to be advancing rapidly, ior a moment he was silent and thoughtful thought-ful but when the flnlike projection above the water came into full view he set up a yell of warning. I "Sharks! Sharks!" That was sufficient to electrify the ' swimmers. With one accord they i swam with all their might toward the small boat. They reached it and were ! hauled aboard by their companions i before the shark could get within RfriTrine' distance. But not so the dog. Not realizing the danger, the Newfoundland barked and swam around the boat, accepting the calls of the men as a part o the game. Meanwhile the sharp approached ap-proached rapidly, and the men could see the great dorsal fin clerving the water like a knife. But It seemed impossible to rescue the dog in time. The great man eater eat-er knew this, and never for an instant in-stant checked its course. When within with-in a few yards of the frantic dog the fin disappeared below the surface and every man knew that the shark was sinking to make the fatal lunge. At the very moment one of the men caught the dog by the collar the open jaws of the shark, with their double row of incurving teeth swept upward. There seemed no chance to prevent a tragedy, but one of the sailors, quickwitted quick-witted and alert, thrust a long oar , straight down at the terrible jaws More through luck than premedita-I premedita-I tion the heavy oar struck the lower , jaw a glancing blow and then slipped , directly into the mouth. There was a snap and jerk which nearly threw the . sailor overboard. When he raised the oar from the water it was to find it snapped in 1 two a's cleanly as if cut by an ax. The a next minute the men hauled the drip-- drip-- ping, panting Newfoundland dog into the boat. They tried to frighten the big man pwav with their oars, splashing and shouting vigorously, but the shark was not frightened by this demonstration demonstra-tion It was too enraged by the wound it had received from the blade of the oar and too hungry to retreat at once. While these tactics were going on the rowers were so intently watching watch-ing the shark that they took little note of anything else. Suddenly another long powerfully built creature swam leisurely between the boat and the angry an-gry shark. It looked for an instant like another huge man eater. Apparently attracted by the commotion com-motion the newcomer swept close to the boat to get a good view. The shark at the same instant, having defeated of its attempts to get at its prey, turned viciously upon the other fish. Its anger and blindness apparently made it less cautious than usual. With swift movement it lunger toward the other fish, and its powerful jaws snapped snap-ped together just as its prey caught sight of it and darted forward. The next moment a long, powerful swordfish leaped a foot out of the water wa-ter and began thrashing the sea into a white foam. The water was instantly in-stantly dyed crimson. In its upward leap the sailors had seen that part of its tail was missing. The shark had caught the swordfish off guard and snapped off fully six inches of its tail. It was from this wound that the blood came. Now, the swordfish is usually a quiet creature, rarely ascending to the surface, and disposed to let other finny inhabitants of the deep alone if they do not moliest It. But when in search of food or when its anger is aroused by an attack it is capable of executing some pretty rapid and long sustained motions. With a movement so swift that the eye could barely follow it through the water, the giant swordfish dashed toward to-ward the shark with its powerful lance aimed for the other's vitals. But sharks are quick acting fish, too, and the big man eater thrown suddenly on the defensive dodged and completely turned over. The sword struck it a slanting blow on the side and ripped a surface wound a yard long. At the same moment mo-ment the jaws of the shark snapped viciously, and another portion of the lacerated tail was snipped off. The two combatants remained thus for ten seconds facing each other and waiting for the next round. The sailors, iorgetung tneir own uuubc watched the two fighters with fascinated fascin-ated gaze. Once more the swordfish began the attack. With incredible swiftness it turned and darted away, as if disgusted with the fight, and then swung around and came for the shark at the speed of a railroad train. The shark knew that it was powerless power-less to avoid that terrible sword except ex-cept by dodging. When the sword-fish sword-fish was within a yard of it the man eater sprang upward and tried to escape es-cape the deadly weapon. Fully two feet out of the water the shark leaped. But once more the sword raked Its side, cutting and tearing throush skin and flesh until the blood poured forth in a stream. This second wound brought all the fighting blood of the shark to the surface. Taking advantage of the muddled water created by the commotion, it plunged downward to a great depth, and then sprang upward with the huge jaws extended. The swordfish lost sight of it for an instant, and barely escaped being cut in two as the double row of teeth closed. There was another swift and dexterous dex-terous move on the part of the sword-fish sword-fish to escape. But this time the teeth grazed its side and ripped a piece of skin from it. The shark, taking advantage of the situation, made a frantic close quar ter attack. It snappea ana mngeu viciously, missing the swordfish each time by only a fraction of an inch. The latter dodged and leaped sideways side-ways to escape the cruel jaws. The fight was so fierce that neither combatant could keep up the pace for long. At one moment the two big creatures floundered around on the surface of the water, and the next dropped entirely out of sight, but the foaming water rising to the surface showed that there was no letup in the struggle. Suddenly the swordfish swept toward to-ward the boat, as if it intended to plunge straight through it, but it dipped dip-ped at the critical moment and disappeared dis-appeared under it. Close behind it the shark came, and followed beneath the boat. But it was less accurate In its movements, move-ments, and its body struck the bottom bot-tom of the boat a resounding whack. Temporarily disconcerted by this accident, ac-cident, the shark turned to snap angrily at the thing that had struck its head. That interruption, short as It was, , gave the swordfish the time to gain . on its pursuer. When it reappear-I reappear-I ed on the opposite side of the boat ' it swerved 6harply and darted away to a safe distance. it was out of harm's way now, for . jn a test of speed and endurance the i shark could not hope to win. Once more the watchers expected to see the i combat terminate by the retreat of ) the discomfited swordfish. For nearly five minutes the two combatants appeared almost motionless motion-less in the water. From the sides of each little crimson eddies ascended, showing how badly both had been injured. It was a drawn battle, and both seemed disinclined to renew the conflict. But clearly one of them had to be the victor. The swordfish slowly moved oft, with scarcely a perceptible swish of tail or fins. It seemed as If it was being moved by some under water force that had no connection with its body. ' Perhaps a hundred feet away It checked its movements and once more lay quiet, the shark watching it carefully care-fully and anxiously. It knew better than the sailors the meaning of these tactics. The swordfish began to circle around again in a quick, jerky way, as if trying its power of speed. The shark remained stationary, waiting for the attack. With ever increasing circles and speed the swordfish continued con-tinued its movements. Its speed at times seemed almost Incredible. It swept in a clean circle around the boat, plunged deep into the water, and then leaped up toward the surface. sur-face. Apparently satisfied that it still had the sned and strength necessary for a continuance of the fight, it approached approach-ed close to its waiting enemy. It I played tag with the shark for a few j moments, dashing in and away as If to test its courage, but at such a distance dis-tance that the shark made no effort to pursue. Then suddenly with a swish of Its fins the swordfish turned and darted straight for the shark. It never swerved once from a straight line, but shot forward like an arrow from a bow. The shark saw the approaching at-tack at-tack and once more sought to dodge the terrible sword. But this time, either eith-er through clumsiness or weakness it was slow in its movements. It delayed de-layed its jump a second too long. There was a thud, a violent impact of something hard against flesh, and then a mighty motion of the water. The two big fish thrashed about so violently that for a moment the watchers could not tell which had the advantage. Blood and foam were whipped together. to-gether. The waves created by the struggle rocked the boat. When for an instant the two combatants ceased their fighting the men got a glimpse of the true state of affairs. The sword of the smaller creature was sunk to the very hilt in the body j of the shark, the end protruding from ' the opposite side. The blow has been delivered squarely in the side of the snarK, ana it was aoomea. There was an ineffectual struggle on the part of the shark to pull away from its adversary. It threshed the water violently with its tail, gasped and spurted blood from its mouth and then lay quite still on the surface. The blow was mortal, and death came quickly. The big, heavy body was seen to jerk and move violently even after death, but the movement were caused by the swordfish trying to withdraw its long lance. Again and again it jerked and tried to back away from its enemy. But the sword was too deeply embedded in the flesh. Its loss of blood and the fearful wounds it had received from the shark rendered the swordfish helpless. help-less. Its own mortal wound had been delivered before the last attack, and it was now only a matter of time before be-fore it would succumb. Out of mercy for the victorious creature, the sailors rowed up to the two and with a few well directed blows on the head with their oars they put the swordfish out of Its agony. ag-ony. No strength which they could exert would serve to release the sword. Later the two carcasses were towed tow-ed to the side of the ship and the shark was cut in half before the sword could be removed. By actual measurement it proved to be nearly four feet in length, and the big man eating shark weighed a ton and a half in bone and flesh. |