--"The creature's instinct speaks ill for our hopes!"
"There is a belief among seamen, that these animals feel a secret impulse,
which directs them to their prey;" returned the Skimmer. "But fortune may
yet balk them.--Rogerson!" calling to one of his followers;--"thy pockets
are rarely wanting in a fisherman's tackle. Hast thou, haply, line and
hook, for these hungry miscreants? The question is getting narrowed to
one, in which the simplest philosophy is the wisest. When eat or to be
eaten, is the mooted point, most men will decide for the former."
A hook of sufficient size was soon produced, and a line was quietly
provided from some of the small cordage that still remained about the
masts. A piece of leather, torn from a spar, answered for the bait; and
the lure was thrown. Extreme hunger seemed to engross the voracious
animals, who darted at the imaginary prey with the rapidity of lightning.
The shock was so sudden and violent, that the hapless mariner was drawn
from his slippery and precarious footing, into the sea. The whole passed
with a frightful and alarming rapidity. A common cry of horror was heard,
and the last despairing glance of the fallen man was witnessed. The
mutilated body floated for an instant in its blood, with the look of agony
and terror still imprinted on the conscious countenance. At the next
moment, it had become food for the monsters of the sea.
All had passed away, but the deep dye on the surface of the ocean.
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