Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-08-31

4 WHALE N THE NET.-"Once upon
time" as Mr. Smith, one Of the most eX-
perienced of the Folkestone fishermen, tells
me. "a large whale appeared Oft eymouth,
and was seen by several fishermen. The
affair was talked over at night in the pubic
houses, and one of the company, who nap
nened 10 have a new seine net which he EaI
never used. was much tainted about 1t, ana
he was dared to 90 and net this whale with
his new net. At first he took 1t as
a Joke, but, under the influence Of
beer and chaff Of his comrades, he
SLAPPED his hand on the table and SAID,
"Well, dine, if don't 90 and shoot the
net after him, catch or not catch. Accord
inglv sentry was posted. and the next
morning the whale was slgnalled as being In
the ofing. So the owner OF the new seine
put it into the boat, and, rowing quietly
along. shot the net round the unsuspIci0us
whale At last Master Whale put his nose
into the net, and feeling something strange,
charged against it, dragging mon, boats anu
all along with him. He then plunged and
Owed, suddenly took the new seine net,rolleI
about his body, right away with him. ln
spite of all the fishermen could do. They
looked after the whale who had gone Oft
with the net, much as an angler looks INTO
the water when fine fish has escaped from
his hook; but, however, the whale was gone,
and the would be captOrs rowed home DIS
consulate and whalelesS'
some three OF four days afterwards, as
coastguard was going his round IN the dead
of the night, he saw huge black mass come
rolling,in with the tide it did not look like
a wreck for a wreck has not u tail where
with to Aop the water a. the object had.
The coast CuardsmaE waited TIL the tide
turned. and as it went down he got near TO
this strange object, which had got hard and
fast among the rocks. lie then saw 1t was
a whale. and what was exceeding strange,
the whale had a net eutangled round about
him in the most complicated manner. "tTst
come. first served. said the coast guardsman
TO himself. as he pulled out his knife and cut
two great elashes in the whales fat sides,
during which operation, (mark 1t, Q reader)
the 1r4q7c fptCd and culuccd 0qHS OF hte.
The finder then shut up his knife and posted
off with the news. OF course. as there was
anet round the whale, his identity was es-
ta5lshed directly, and the owner Of the net
claimed the carcass because his net had
caught him: the coast guardsman claimed 1t
because he had found him Meanwhile when
the dispute was still going on, the lord Of the
manor put in his claim as it was found be-
tween high and low water mark. gained it,
and took possession of the whale, cut HIM up
and boiled ali the oil out Of him, getting
forty barrels, worth a lot Of monv; and there
the matter ended.
Some weeks afterwards,as the c0astguard
was sitting on his donkey (the term applied
to the portable stool used by these men) a
respectable looking gentleman walked to
him, and said, My mon, don't you recollect
the whale that you found hereabouts some
| time since - ''Ies. sir. SAID the man, lit
was me as found him" 'Well, now, can t
you recollect whether, when YOU cut him
las they tell me you did), he kicked and
WINGED under the knife ?'' I'm course he
did 80 was the answer; he nearly Knocked
the knife out of my hand with his tail.
Well, then, >" said the old gentleman brist-
ling up all Of sudden, now L am a lawyer.
and mind that you tell me the same story
tomorrow, sir; for, as sure as tomorrow
comes, you will have to S,cear that in court.
On the morrow the coast guardsman svOre
that the whale was alive when first he saw
him on shore, and that he knew it by the
knife test, as stated above 1t was now the
lord of the manor's turn to sing small for he
could not claim thing if cast up aire. lie
had to refund the money he got for the oil
having taken all the trouble for nothing; so
that, after all, the owner Of the new seine
caught his while. got bis new net back and
nearly hundred pounds besides. BUCK
land.