“All that to get only the liver?” said Steve. “Yes, sir; but then the livers are very large, and from some they get quite a barrel of oil, only that’s from the very large sharks.”
“What do you bait with?” said Steve. “Pieces of shark blubber, sir.”
“And isn’t the flesh good for eating?”
“Poor people eat it sometimes, sir, for it’s nice and white; but we sailors never care for it. It’s fine fishing, though, for you get your hold full of the livers, and take them back to port to be boiled down. Barrel of oil’s worth as much as seven pounds, sir.”
“What do they use it for, lamps or machinery?”
The Norseman stared.
“I thought you knew, sir. It’s a very fine, tasteless oil, and supposed to be very good for sick people. They make cod-liver oil of it.”
Captain Marsham burst into a hearty fit of laughter at the puzzlement and chagrin in his friend’s countenance.
“Stop a moment!” cried the doctor angrily. “Do you mean to tell me that this shark oil is used for—I mean, is sold for cod-liver oil?”
“Yes, sir, I believe so,” said the Norwegian.