The Ocean Waifs Part 6

It was under this impression that their spirits became naturally restored; and once more they began to take counsel together about the ways and means of prolonging their existence.

It is true that their situation was still desperate. Should a storm spring up,--even an ordinary gale,--not only would their canvas water-cask be bilged, and its contents spilled out to mingle with the briny billow, but their frail embarkation would be in danger of going to pieces, or of being whelmed fathoms deep under the frothing waves. In a high lat.i.tude, either north or south, their chance of keeping afloat would have been slight indeed. A week, or rather only a single day, would have been as long as they could have expected that calm to continue; and the experienced sailor knew well enough that anything in the shape of a storm would expose them to certain destruction. To console him for this unpleasant knowledge, however, he also knew that in the ocean, where they were then afloat, storms are exceedingly rare, and that ships are often in greater danger from the very opposite state of the atmosphere,--from _calms_. They were in that part of the Atlantic Ocean known among the early Spanish navigators as the _Horse Lat.i.tudes_,--so-called because the horses at that time being carried across to the New World, for want of water in the becalmed ships, died in great numbers, and being thrown overboard were often seen floating upon the surface of the sea.

A prettier and more poetical name have these same Spaniards given to a portion of the same Atlantic Ocean,--which, from the gentleness of its breezes, they have styled "_La Mar de las Damas_" (the Ladies' Sea).

Ben Brace knew that in the Horse Lat.i.tudes storms were of rare occurrence; and hence the hopefulness with which he was now looking forward to the future.

He was no longer inactive. If he believed in the special Interference of Providence, he also believed that Providence would expect him to make some exertion of himself,--such as circ.u.mstances might permit and require.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

FLENSING A SHARK.

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 carca.s.s 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 t.i.tbits around the tail, and was proceeding up the body of the shark to _flense_ it in a similar fashion, when an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n 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. Pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE SUCKING-FISH.

The fish that had thus singularly fallen into their hands was, as Ben had stated, the sucking-fish, _Echeneis remora_,--one of the most curious creatures that inhabit the sea. Not so much from any peculiarity in appearance as from the singularity of its habits.

Its appearance, however, is sufficiently singular; and looking upon it, one might consider the creature as being well adapted for keeping company with the ferocious tyrant of the deep, on whom it constantly attends.