With his strong hand he bent
me to the ground, his companion doing the same to Conseil.
At first I knew not what to think of this sudden attack, but I
was soon reassured by seeing the Captain lie down beside me,
and remain immovable.
I was stretched on the ground, just under the shelter of a bush
of algae, when, raising my head, I saw some enormous mass,
casting phosphorescent gleams, pass blusteringly by.
My blood froze in my veins as I recognised two formidable
sharks which threatened us. It was a couple of tintoreas,
terrible creatures, with enormous tails and a dull glassy stare,
the phosphorescent matter ejected from holes pierced around the muzzle.
Monstrous brutes! which would crush a whole man in their iron jaws.
I did not know whether Conseil stopped to classify them; for my part,
I noticed their silver bellies, and their huge mouths bristling
with teeth, from a very unscientific point of view, and more as a
possible victim than as a naturalist.
Happily the voracious creatures do not see well. They passed without
seeing us, brushing us with their brownish fins, and we escaped by a miracle
from a danger certainly greater than meeting a tiger full-face in the forest.
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