Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/42

 A few days after leaving Massafuero we got into the trade winds, which wafted us on at an even steady rate, varying from four to seven knots an hour. A curious incident occurred on Sunday the 23rd of February, early on the morning of which day a hog had been killed; a practice which had been generally observed every sabbath morning during the voyage.

After breakfast, the weather being calm, a number of the crew and passengers amused themselves by bathing around the vessel. Some of them had returned on board, when a sailor on the forecastle discovered a large shark gliding slowly and cautiously under the starboard bow. With great presence of mind, he instantly seized a small rope called a clew-line, and with characteristic dispatch made a running knot, which he silently lowered into the water: the monster unwarily passed the head and upper fin through the noose; on observing which, the sailor jerked the rope round the cat-head, and, with the assistance of some of his messmates, succeeded in hauling it on deck. In the mean time, those who were still sporting in the water were almost paralysed on hearing the cry of "a shark! a shark!" and not knowing on which side of them lay the dreaded danger, some made for the ship, and others swam