Before the monster could recover itself and make a fresh onslaught, Moggridge said, the chief mate caught it a pretty tidy whack over the head with a boat- hook, while Jackson was hauled into the gig at the same time by the other men.
It was a wonderful escape, however, and nothing else was talked of on board for days after.
Strange to say, too, the shark, as if determined not to be easily balked of its prey, followed the ship steadily; and this fact, of course, kept the incident fresh in our minds, even if we had been at all inclined to forget it, the hideous creature's bottle-like fin ever perceptible in our wake being a constant reminder! "He's bound to hab somebody for suah," said the captain's mulatto steward Harry, who by the way was the person who had given out that agonised shriek which I had fancied to be poor Jackson's death knell.
"Shark nebber follow ship for nuffin'!" "No," observed Captain Miles grimly; "this beggar sha'n't at all events, if I know it!" and he paced up and down the poop, as if revolving the matter in his mind.
This was the third day after the affair had happened, and the captain was quite incensed at the shark's pertinacity; for, morning, noon, and night, whenever we logged over the side, there could be seen the sea- pirate's long sinewy body, floating under our stern and always keeping pace with the ship whether she was going fast or slow--although, as we had little or no wind, the latter was generally the case.
"I fancy, Mr Marline," said the captain, soon after replying to Harry's rather frightened observation, the mulatto being very timid and of a cowardly nature, as the fact of his fainting when the cow invaded the cabin would readily tell--"I say, Mr Marline, I think it's time for us to give that joker down there a lesson, eh ?" "Perhaps you'll find him too artful to take a hook, cap'en," answered the mate.

"He seems to me an `old sojer,' from the look of him and the regularity of his movements.

Just see him now looking up, as if listening to what we were saying!" "Well, we'll try him anyway," said Captain Miles, telling Moggridge to bring the shark hook aft, as he wished to attempt the capture of our unwelcome attendant.
"Aye, aye, sir," replied the boatswain, going forwards and presently returning with a large steel hook, much about the same size as those they use in butchers' shops for hanging meat on.

A piece of chain was attached to this by a swivel instead of rope or a line, which, although good enough for other fish, the saw-like teeth of the monster of the deep would quickly have bitten through.
"Is the tackle all sound ?" asked the captain.
"Aye, aye, sir; sound enough to catch a whale," responded Moggridge, proceeding to bait the hook with a four-pound piece of salt pork which completely concealed the barbs; and then, a stout half-inch rope having been fastened on to the end of the chain, the whole apparatus was thrown overboard close to where the shark was patrolling the water under our stern.
He sheered off a bit on hearing the splash; but afterwards soon swam up to where the baited hook was towing in our wake, smelling at it cautiously as if to see whether it was advisable for him to bolt the savoury morsel or not.

Then, with a disdainful swish of his screw-like tail, he turned round in the water and resumed his station further astern, as if he saw through our attempt to entrap him, and despised it.
"I thought so," said Mr Marline.