The flesh of the shark, and the stock of water so singularly obtained
and so deftly stored away, might, if properly kept and carefully used,
last them for many days; and to the preservation of these stores the
thoughts of the sailor and his young companion were now specially
directed.
For the former they could do nothing more than had been already done,--
further than to cover the tarpauling that contained it with several
folds of the spare sail-cloth, in order that no ray of the sun should
get near it. This precaution was at once adopted.
The flesh of the shark--now dead as mutton--if left to itself, would
soon spoil, and be unfit for food, even for starving men. It was this
reflection that caused the sailor and his _protege_ to take counsel
together as to what might be done towards preserving it.
They were not long in coming to a decision. Shark-flesh, like that of
any other fish--like haddock, for instance, or red herrings--can be
dried in the sun; and the more readily in that sun of the torrid zone
that shone down so hotly upon their heads. The flesh only needed to be
cut into thin slices and suspended from the upright oars. The
atmosphere would soon do the rest. Thus cured, it would keep for weeks
or months; and thus did the castaways determine to cure it.
No sooner was the plan conceived, than they entered upon its execution.
Little William again seized the cord of sennit, and drew the huge
carcass close up to the raft; while Ben once more opened the blade of
his sailor's knife, and commenced cutting off the flesh in broad
flakes,--so thin as to be almost transparent.
He had succeeded in stripping off most of the titbits around the tail,
and was proceeding up the body of the shark to _flense_ it in a similar
fashion, when an ejaculation escaped him, expressing surprise or
pleasant curiosity.
Little William was but too glad to perceive the pleased expression on
the countenance of his companion,--of late so rarely seen.
"What is it, Ben?" he inquired, smilingly.
"Look 'ee theer, lad," rejoined the sailor, placing his hand upon the
back of the boy's head, and pressing it close to the edge of the raft,
so that he could see well down into the water,--"look theer, and tell me
what you see."
"Where?" asked William, still ignorant of the object to which his
attention was thus forcibly directed.
"Don't you see somethin' queery stickin' to the belly of the shark,--eh,
lad?"
"As I live," rejoined William, now perceiving "somethin'", "there's a
small fish pushing his head against the shark,--not so small either,--
only in comparison with the great shark himself. It's about a foot
long, I should think. But what is it doing in that odd position?"
"Sticking to the shark,--didn't I tell 'ee, lad!"
"Sticking to the shark? You don't mean that, Ben?"
"But I do--mean that very thing, boy. It's as fast theer as a barnacle
to a ship's copper; an' 'll stay, I hope, till I get my claws upon it,--
which won't take very long from now. Pass a piece o' cord this way.
Quick."
The boy stretched out his hand, and, getting hold of a piece of loose
string, reached it to his companion. Just as the snare had been made
for the shark with the piece of sennit, and with like rapidity, a noose
was constructed on the string; and, having been lowered into the water,
was passed around the body of the little fish which appeared adhering to
the belly of the shark. Not only did it so appear, but it actually was,
as was proved by the pull necessary to detach it, and which required all
the strength that lay in the strong arms of the sailor.
He succeeded, however, in effecting his purpose; and with a pluck the
parasite fish was separated from the skin to which it had been clinging,
and, jerked upwards, was landed alive and kicking upon the raft.
Its kicking was not allowed to continue for long. Lest it might leap
back into the water, and, sluggish swimmer as it was, escape out of
reach, Ben, with the knife which he still held unclasped in his hand,
pinned it to one of the planks, and in an instant terminated its
existence.
"What sort of a fish is it?" asked William, as he looked upon the odd
creature thus oddly obtained.
"Suckin'-fish," was Ben's laconic answer.
"A sucking-fish! I never heard of one before. Why is it so-called?"
"Because it sucks," replied the sailor.
"Sucks what?"
"Sharks. Didn't you see it suckin' at this 'un afore I pulled it from
the teat? Ha! ha! ha!"
"Surely it wasn't that, Ben?" said the lad, mystified by Ben's remark.
"Well, boy, I an't, going to bamboozle ye. All I know is that it
fastens onto sharks, and only this sort, which are called _white
sharks_; for I never seed it sticking to any o' the others,--of which
there be several kinds. As to its suckin' anythin' out o' them an'
livin' by that, I don't believe a word o' it; though they say it do so,
and that's what's given it its name. Why I don't believe it is, because
I've seed the creature stickin' just the same way to the coppered bottom
o' a ship, and likewise to the sides o' rocks under the water. Now, it
couldn't get anything out o' the copper to live upon, nor yet out o' a
rock,--could it?"
"Certainly not."
"Then it couldn't be a suckin' them. Besides, I've seed the stomachs o'
several cut open, and they were full of little water-creepers,--such as
there's thousands o' kinds in the sea. I warrant if we rip this 'un up
the belly, we'll find the same sort o' food in it."
"And why does it fasten itself to sharks and ships,--can you tell that,
Ben?"
"I've heerd the reason, and it be sensible enough,--more so than to say
that it sucks. There was a doctor as belonged in the man-o'-war where I
sarved for two years, as was larned in all such curious things. He said
that the suckin'-fish be a bad swimmer; and that I know myself to be
true. You can tell by the smallness o' its fins. Well, the doctor, he
say, it fastens on to the sharks and ships so as to get carried from
place to place, and to the rocks to rest itself. Whenever it takes a
notion, it can slip off, and go a huntin' for its prey; and then come
back again and take a fresh grip on whatever it has chosen to lodge
itself."
"It's that curious thing along the back of its head that enables it to
hold on, isn't it?"
"That's its sticking-machine; and, what be curious, Will'm, if you were
to try to pull it off upwards or backwards you couldn't do it wi' all
your strength, nor I neither: you must shove it forrard, as you seed me
do just now, or else pull it to pieces before it would come off."
"I can see," said William, holding the fish up to his eyes, "that there
are rows of little teeth in that queer top-knot it's got, all turned
towards the tail. It is they, I suppose, that prevent its slipping
backwards?"
"No doubt, lad,--no doubt it be that. But never mind what it be just
now. Let us finish flensin' o' the shark; and then if we feel hungry we
can make a meal o' the sucker,--for I can tell you it's the best kind o'
eatin'. I've ate 'em often in the South-Sea Islands, where the natives
catch 'em with hooks and lines; but I've seen them there much bigger
than this 'un,--three feet long, and more."
And so saying, the sailor returned to the operation, thus temporarily
suspended,--the _flensing_ of the shark.