avoided the open jaws of the shark, but not the stroke of his tail, for he received a blow in the chest which stretched him on the ground. This was the work of a few seconds. The shark came again to the attack, and, turning on his back, seemed about to cut the Indian in two, when Captain Nemo jumped up, poinard in hand, and, rushed straight at the monster, ready for a “hand-to-hand” encounter.
The shark perceived this new adversary just as he was about to snap up the unfortunate diver, and, turning on his belly, he went for the captain.
I can still see Captain Nemo, as he stood.
With wonderful self-possession he coolly waited the attack of this enormous shark, and, when it rushed at him, the captain, jumping aside with surprising dexterity, avoided the contact and plunged his dagger into the belly of the animal. But all was not over. A terrible fight ensued.
The shark seemed to roar, as it were. The blood poured in torrents from the wounds. The sea was tinged with red, and through this opaque liquid I could not perceive how the fight was waging.
I saw nothing more until the moment when, as the ensanguined waves cleared away, I perceived the undaunted captain holding to one of the shark’s fins, and dealing him blow after blow, but unable to deal a mortal one at the heart. The shark in its struggles so agitated the water that I could scarcely keep my position.
I wished to get to the captain’s assistance, but I was nailed by horror to the spot.
I looked on with haggard eye. I saw the varying fortunes of the combat. The captain fell upon the ground, overturned by the enormous mass that weighed upon him. Then the shark’s jaws opened like enormous shears, and would have made an end of the captain, had not Ned Land,
