Chapters 19 and 20 Summary and Analysis

To See Its Body Drawn Up on the Shore

Wire nets were placed at the mouth of the creek so the shark could not escape. Men all over the region were reaching for their rifles and harpoons to hunt the beast down and kill it. A one-hundred dollar reward was offered by the mayor of Matawan for the person who killed it. Men on the banks prepared dynamite explosives that would surely end the man-eater's days. The men thought once the shark was killed, it would surface, not aware that sharks have no flotation capability and sink when they die.

Dr. Herbert Cooley at Keyport tended to Joseph when he was brought ashore. Joseph's calf muscle received a large bite. The doctor treated the wound and had Joseph rushed to the hospital. The men began launching dynamite blasts in...