He tried his plan at least a dozen times without result, and lost two good chances; but the man was too clever for the shark at last. Rogers had scanned pretty accurately the course the brute would pursue, and had noted that when once it gave a vigorous sweep with its tail to send itself forward, there was no variation in its course.
So waiting his time, standing in the middle of the cross-beams with the noose in his hand, he fixed his eye upon his enemy, threw the hat ashore as a useless bait, and depending once more upon himself, he waited.
It was not for long. The brute made at him, and as it glided out of the water to seize its prey, Rogers, by a quick leap, spread his legs wide apart and held the noose so cleverly that the shark glided into it as a dog leaps through a hoop; and it was so ingeniously adjusted that the rope tightened directly, almost before the young sailor could shout “Now” while the shark went over and down between two of the cross-beams behind his fisher, as, from a cause upon which he had not counted, Rogers took an involuntary header into the part of the water-logged vessel from which the shark had come.
The cause upon which the young sailor had not reckoned was the rope, which, at the shark’s plunge as soon as noosed, tightened the line which crossed Rogers’ leg, snatched it from under him, and down he went, to the horror of all present.
In a moment the water all about where the shark had plunged began to boil, and the next moment there was a quick splashing as Rogers’ head appeared.
“Hold on to him!” he shouted. “Don’t let him go. Where’s he ketched?”
“Don’t talk,” yelled Syd, running along the planks to stretch out a hand. “Here, quick, let me help you out.”
“Oh, I’m all right, sir, so long as the rope holds,” cried the young sailor, coolly. “He won’t think of me while he’s got that bit of line about him.” But he climbed out all the same, and stood rubbing his shin.
“Never thought of the rope hitching on to me like that,” he said. “Whereabouts is he ketched, mates?”
“The rope has slipped down pretty close to his tail,” cried Roylance, as he watched the creature’s frantic plunges in the limited space.