1938-09-09 — Page 11

LIVES OF MEN

(Continued from Page 1)

arms.

from getting into a panic. He flapped with his against the heavy water, making as much commotion as he could, and at the same moment hơ closed the air-valve to assist his ascent. The shark, disconcerted · by these manoeuvres, sheered off a little, then followed well be- hind. Saung Lo expected this, and was not surprised to find thẻ dis- tance between them gradually diminishing. Curiosity over- comes fear-it was the law of men as well as of sharks.

When the creature was again a few yards away Saung-Lo re- opened his air-valve and caused a rapid volley of bubbles to de- tonate into the water; this lost him a little of his height, but it served to scare away the shark once more. It might; with luck, have scared the marauder away. altogether, but such luck was not Saung Lo's. After his big haul of pearl-shell he could not, per- haps, expect it. But he might reasonably have expected the shark to be stared for more than a few seconds,

.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. It came on after him again with redoubled curiosity, only to be scared afresh by a new outflow of air bubbles. And suddenly Saung Lo, with that headpiece of his which the Australian had so often derided, realised that his life most probably depended on that running battle between fear and curiosity. For he noted that each time the air-bubbles spout- ed they had a smaller effect upon the threshing fins and the wide, half-gaping -mouth. Even in the very eyes of his adversary Saung Lo Imagined he could read puzzlement that was rapidly be- coming contemptuous.

a

Suddenly the jaws leapt at him, and he felt their Baw-like teeth

· grate on the metal of his helmet and drag down to his shoulder and arm. The graze was tenta- tive, experimental, and insuffi- cient to break through the can- vas and rubber. But it was enough to make contact in Saung Lo with something that fused. mind and body into elemental decision.

He swung his arm and struck with the knife into an obstruc- tion that was

apparently hard and impervious; yet with such effect that in an instant the whole under-sea world was alive with leaping and lashing fury. His vision darkened; he could not see anything at all; he was buffeted about in sudden eur- rents; once the rough, scaly car- case struck him like the blow of a huge fist and lifted him high.

His mind still functioned; he knew that he must, amidst all these commotions, preserve the thin tube through which the air reached his lungs . he must postpone, somehow, the discovery of flesh and blood behind the steel and rubber. He waited, half- blind, with the knife poised in his hand. His head was bursting, but he felt his body dissolve in a fear that was partly an ecstasy; he was alive, as the shark was alive; they were both of them leaping, living protection,

things.

And now, with passion, he wished that his limbs were com- pletely free. If he could, he would have thrown away his div- ing-dress and air-dipe and flung himself to the surface. His slim, naked body was like oiled silk and be felt confident that he could dodge a shark, for he was a superb swim-diver. He felt that his cumbersome garments, though, physically a

were in too many ways a handi- cap, and he doubted, before many. moments had passed, whether he could reach the surface before the shark had conquered its fear and had reached him.

+

Still he watched, feeling the lift of his body through the lightening water, sensing the nearness of the great fish as it circled around. He could see the rows of serrated teeth in the open jaws, and the large, unswerving eveballs. These were the perils of that secret world that was his "own" he must fight, and fight to the last He had once battled with an octonus. and several times he had had obscure struggles with things he could not name, but this was his first enemy shark- the first of the species that he had not easily scared away,

Through the xlnäs panes of his helmet he viewed it with a warm bodily fear, vet still with chis. mind racing sweet and cool: Hễ must fight It would come to that in a moment, and to be read for it with his two hands. dromond his loaded net of. shell and drew from an pocket: a knife that he prising open the shells, good kalfe. But he was

have had to let go the net.

1

"

.

And then, in sudden bloodfury, he ran amok-slashing and rend- ing and stabbing as so many of his race were wont to do on land

An hour later, on board the lugger, the Australian stooped with some curiosity over the prone figure of Saung Lo. He had been hauled aboard, unconscious, though apparently uninjured.. Strangely, however, he had lost his shell-net.

Saung Lo regained conscious- ness, but he did not tell the Aug- tralian about the shark. It was the sort of thing the Australian would laugh at and only half- believe. He just said, in the clip- ped pidgin English he had learn- ed from the Kanakas. "Plenty big feller shell down below, Tuan. Bimeby I fetch him to morrow.”

But by the morrow Saung Lo was dead of heart failure.

gets most of 'em sooner or later, commented the Australian

his visitor. iland.” “All these too long and go

fro

dow warning

heed

nd it's no use.

they don't take any

Not a bad little Tell-

Spectators and judges during the Army swimming championships. ("Mail" photo).

Ten thousand miles away, about the same time, another man died: of heart-failure. · ́` He was 75 years old, a millionaire, and head of the great firm of Amalgamated Ocean Products,

'Inc.

Indirectly he employed Saung Lo, though neither had ever heard of the other's exis- tence. For some weeks before his death this old man had been try.

ing to frame a merger between his company and a rival one, with a view to economies in the pro- duction and marketing of pearl- shell. He attended a board meet- ing in defiance of his doctor's or- dera; he made speeches, drafted figures, and went to Chicago for a conference. Then he died sud- denly, one night, in his sleep.

All the newspapers had columns about him and about the winderful work he had done for the pearl industry. One of them said: "It would be no exaggera-` tion to say that he gave his life for it."

"I can tell

WHITE

HORSE

blindfold

it's equal to a fine liqueur

er for a Malay, but a dam fool Sole Agents for South China JARDINE MATHESON and company LTD when all's said and done.