Down where he was at work the water seemed to be of a light-yellowish tint, caused by the refraction of the sunlight as it made its way to him. He noticed the mild glow, which, of course, would steadily diminish as the sun went down, when all at once it was eclipsed so suddenly by a dark shadow that he instantly suspected the true cause.
Looking upward, he saw an immense shark, certainly a dozen feet in length, that had halted and was evidently surveying with some curiosity this intruder upon his domains.
The man-eater being directly over the diver, was not in the best position to use his fearful jaws with effect, but he was evidently reconnoitering with a view to hostilities. Abe observed that this shadowy figure was motionless, its fins slightly moving back and forth as if it were using them like a balancing-pole, to maintain itself motionless in position, and he marked the horridly-shaped mouth which yawned over his head. Reaching upward with his long-bladed knife, he touched it against the white belly of the monster, and then gave it a strong push.
It was so keen and sharp that it entered deep into the yielding flesh and inflicted a severe wound. Just then the gigantic man-eater suspected he had committed a blunder, and with a lightning-like whirl of his huge body, he dashed out to sea, leaving a crimson trail after him.
Indeed, his charge was so sudden that the huge knife was wrenched from the grasp of Abe Storms, and he was drawn forward off his balance. Had it been in the open air, he would have been hurled to the ground with great force. But he managed to recover himself, and caught a shadowy glimpse of the great shark darting off, as the knife dropped from the wound and sank to the bottom. Not wishing to lose the valuable weapon, Storms walked forward, and seeing it lying on the bottom, at a point which seemed to be the edge of the oyster-bed, he stooped over and recovered it.
He had now been down a considerable while, and muttered:
"The captain promised to signal me if trouble came, and he hasn't done so. But, for all that, I don't believe it will be safe for me to stay down here much longer. I may as well----"
The sentence was never finished, for it received a startling interruption. The rubber pipes by which he breathed were suddenly closed, and Abe Storms knew it had been done purposely by some one above.