Bahama Bill had just put the finishing touches upon his excellent work, and was resting, preparatory to swimming back to the Sea-Horse, where he knew Sanders and the rest were awaiting his arrival with some impatience. He had his bar jammed in a seam, and was hanging upon it, when the mate of the Sayonara happened to peer over the side.
The wrecker saw him just in time, and sank from view. In doing so he made a slight disturbance in the sea, and the phosphorus flared and trailed from him, giving him the long shape beneath the surface common to a fish of about his length.
"I reckon I'll take a whack at them fellers swimmin' around us," said the sailor to Smart, "seems to me there might be a barracuda, or jew-fish, loafing about. I'm going to get the harpoon."
Bill, instead of making good his getaway, at this moment, hung easily on to his resting-place and poked his head clear about the time the mate had ceased speaking. Seeing that the head over the rail had gone, the wrecker started to pull his bar clear, and had just shoved off from the yacht's side, when the mate arrived with the iron.
The long Yankee had been accustomed to spearing sword-fish upon his native coast in summer, and he hesitated not an instant, but hurled the iron at the form below him. As he did so Bill saw the movement and gave a mighty shoot ahead. It saved his life by a fraction of a second, but the iron struck him fair upon the ankle and passed through between his heel-cord, or tendon, and the bone. He was hung as securely as a quarter of beef upon a hook.
"I got him," yelled the mate. "Lend me a hand. Captain Smart."
"Killed him outright," said the captain. "He makes no flurry for a heavy fish. Must have struck his backbone."
They put their weight upon the line, and it came in easily, hauling as though a log were fastened to the iron. And in the meantime Bahama Bill was whirling over, trying to think of some way to cut clear.
Still holding to his bar, the giant wrecker came swashing alongside the yacht, making a lot of foam and fire, which completely hid his identity. By good luck the men above him stopped hauling just when his great weight began to put a heavy strain upon the line.
Captain Smart, not wishing to trust the thin runner, went for a heavy line to make a bowline to slip over the fish's tail and heave him aboard shipshape Bill jammed the jimmy into a seam and worked it far enough in to get a strong hold. His head was half-submerged, but he held on while the strain upon the harpoon lifted his leg clear of the sea. His leg was numbed from the wound, and when they slipped the bowline down upon it he knew there was no use of further resistance.