Fight With A Shark

Some years ago, being in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, I one day waded into the sea to apear "stingarees, " a fish like a flounder, but with a curious rat-like tail. I had started up a good sized stingaree probably aboiit three feet in width to two in length, with a "beauty of a tail," and aoon the hunt became interestiiig. Twice had I pierced its body with the bont-liook, and the water in the immediate neighborhood became dyed with blood. The shoals extended out a mile in man;y directions in Charlotte Harbor, and I, in my exciteroent, had waded out full half that distance from the shore - at least a mile from my men. The thought of danger never once entered my head, thongh the harbor was full of sharks, many of them twelve to flfteen feet in length. My feet and lega were bare, my trousers being rolled up as high as possible. But I had gone out some distance from that depth, the water being up to my waist, and not dreaming of the peril, was bent upon the capture of the fish I was pureuing, Snddenly, but why I could never comprehend, I turned my eyes from the stingaree, and looked out into the harbor. I never Baw that stingaree again, for my heart almost ceased to beat, as I beheld a monstrous shark, that no doubt had scented the blood of the wounded fish coming in a direct line for the place where I was standing. Afeelingof horror pervaded me at once. Powerlesa, death stricken, it seemed, I gave one yell - "Shark !" - and giving one desperate, agonizing look towards my men a mile away, I turned my eyes, almost starting from their sockets, upon the monster from which I expected the most horrible death. The agony and mental torture of that fearful moment can never be described or f orgotten ; it makes me shudder now to recall it. As the shark approached me he lessened his speed, evidently reoonnoitring the position. His gracefiü evolutions, the perfect ease with which he glided through the water, the under jaw dropped just far enough to disclose the glittering rows of teeth, sharp as razors ; the careless, lazy movement of the powerful tail ; and above all, the cold, horrible glare of those small, yellow eyes, fascinated me with a deadly terror. ín those short seconds I lived years of horror. To see that ravenous demon so leisurely confident of his power, and I almost powerless, waist deep in water, and no weapon of defence but a common boat-hook ! I seemed to shrink into nothingness when compared to my enemy. He gave me but a few seconds tothink or prepare for death, for quick as a cat he faced directly for me, and seemed almost to spring clear from the water as he dived for my legs. I could scarcely hold the boat-hook in my trembling grasp, but as the body came within reach I struck at it with the energy and despair with which a drowning person would catch at a straw. In a breath I committed my soul to Providence, and for the next few seconds became nearly unconscious. Whether the monster feit the point of my spear or not, of course, I eau not teil. I presume, however, that he did, for he missed me, his ponderous jaws coming together with a rush and snap. Passing full around me, he dashed out into the harbor again, but not far, when he turned and began the same manoeuvres as before. My f eelings as he sprang for me, and the revulsión consequent upon my unlooked-for respite, seemed to inspire me with new courage, and I feit that the cowardly shark might yet be balked of his prey. I gained an astonishing feeling of coolness and nerve, and determined to present a firm front when he attacked me again, which I knew he would. I began a retreat, stepping cautiously backward, with my eyefl fixed on the shark. Steahng a look towards the boat, I saw with joy that the men had got it off the beach, &nd were manning the oars. That look ncvly proved my last, for I had hardly turned towards the shark before he was upon me. I cannot describe minutely what occurred, for I was taken completely by surprise, and lost my wits as well as nerve. I saw the dull glare of those terrible eyes, the almost white, shining surface of the belly as it was partially turned upwards, and the waters dashed into my face. A deadly cold feeling went over me like an eleotric shock, as I feit theslimy bodybrush my bare legs ; something struck me on the chest, and for an instant I believe I became unconscious. The shark seemed to twist his body completely around me, the boat-hook dropped from my hand, and I feil over the monster's back, my feet and legs being thrown entirely out of the water, as my head and body were wholly submerged. Mj escape from death was wonderful. The shark failed for the second time in catching me between his maasive jaws. The water restored me a little. I scrambled to my feet, and, almost wild with terror, looked fór the shark, and none can imagine the joy I feit as I saw him swimming at full speed towards the entrance of the harbor. I turned my face to the shore, and staggered along till within a few yards of the beach, when I ■was wholly overeóme, and swooned from the effects of the dreadful ordeal I had undergone. Falling in water only four feet deep, after such a remarkable escape from a horrible death, I came within a hair's breadth of drowning. The boat's crew arrived not a moment too Boon, as it was over an hour before I was resuscitated, and then only after the most itnwearied exertions. - Saturday Evening l'ost. "Some men." raid a stone masón, "become useful citizens, and others become vagabonds ; just as some slabs of marble become usaful doorsteps, nd others become lying tombstones."