Chapter 21
CANNIBAL FISH
Those who watched anxiously from above, suddenly saw Jack’s short-cropped head appear above the rippled water. He was thrashing wildly.
“Something must have attacked him!” War exclaimed, preparing to dive to the rescue of his friend. “He’s hurt!”
Jack was grasping his left arm, trying to staunch the flow of blood. His face was agonized by intense pain.
“Keep out, War!” he called. “Caribe fish!”
Still grasping his injured arm, Jack scissored to the rock ledge. War pulled him to safety. Blood kept gushing from the wound in his forearm.
Thoroughly alarmed, Ken lowered the vine rope. War boosted from below, and Jack was hoisted to the rim.
“The wound isn’t very deep,” he muttered as Ken examined it anxiously. “That savage little fish would have taken off a finger if I hadn’t swerved! His teeth sunk into me like a razor!”
“Teeth!” Ken echoed incredulously as he bound Jack’s wound with a handkerchief. “A fish with teeth?”
“That’s right,” supplied Mr. Livingston. “Caribe fish sometimes are under-rated because of their small size. But in large numbers they are exceedingly dangerous. That’s because they’re equipped with teeth which work like shears, opening and closing by means of powerful jaw muscles.”