The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1866-07-07
STATE RIGHTS DEMOCRAT.
= SHARK sToRY.

Good gracious. what's that?p This
last exclamation of mine was caused by
my noticing that something very large
and very dark was Immediately below me
in the water, possessing movement just
pcrceptible by the phosphoric ripple.
It's a horrid great ground shark, said
my companion, with Il shuader, " look Al
his fin" There, sure enough, was hls
fin, just rising above the water at that
moment. and then his whole hldeous out
line Was made out out clearly, the inn
mense head, pointed nose, and large pee
toral fms. Csh. what brute" was
my exclamation, followed up by the ap-
repos reflection, land We have been bath
ing here, too. Lets have the shark
hook up, said my friend, and we may
catch himeI We accordingly had it up.
and duly bdited, ready for putting over.
But welIad passed the word down to the
gunroom and berths of what had happened,
aud the sending for the shark-hook was
enough warning to such. Of the blue jack
cts as had not gone to bed, 50 that We
soon had a goodly muster both of men
and officers abaft, ready TO take part in
whatever sport might Be forward | am
sure ! am not exaggerating when say
the line had not been over FIVE minutes
before first rubbing. then slight drag,
and finally determined pull WAS given it.
Ne immediately hauled in; whatever
there was on it was heavy. but not ac-
tive, However, the accustomed bowline
wus prepared, and the hauling part rove
through shcave in the end Of the spank
cr-boen. / should premise that this boom
Uas from atwelye to fourteen feet above
the water. Long before the hook could
have reached the surface we saw aud felt
that re had hooked an enormous ground
shark. for he tore fereely at the line,
turned his white belly up. and lashed his
monstrous tail with Vigorous sweeps from
side to side. Our excitement was tre-
inendnus. for he was certainly the largest
brute any of US had ever seen, and when
we got his head above water he regularly
shook the brig by his struggles. Howev-
er, n spite Of our excitement, We managed
to GIT the bovine over his shoulders, and
had Just got some hands on to haul it
tight, when with frightful plunge, the
brute tore himself away from the bait,
and leftit hanging bloody and nangled
behind him. s.Cenfound him. he's of,
was. the. disappointed exclamation of the
bystanders. Not a bit of it, cried the
party who we're attending the bowhne,
which was seen slipping through their
hands IN spite of their efforts. We all
clapped on to the bovine Immediately,
and we're soon rewarded By seeing the
monster helplessly dragged out Of the-wa-
ter, tail first, for the bowline had slipped
down over his body. and had nipped
close to his tail, SO that he was prevented
from struggling in the least, and came MP,
ike : dead carcass. We hoistea him
close up, and when We had done so, his
tail was well above the boom, while his
head and shoulders we're quite covered by
water The noise of the capture had been
so great, that we had nearly one in the
snib around as. and many and various
were the remarks passed on the horrible
looking brute suspended from the boom
end 1t length bright thought seemed
TO strike us all simultaneously Let US
put the bait over again. there may be
moTe.n No sooner said than done; and
almost no sooner done than repetition Of
every detail.of the previous capture was
repeated, and another monster. equally
larlSes.eanallv f;,nl snaell;ng and ea1,,alIy
h;deay,s1- huno head downward beside the
l.st s. FFbg ~ 49, ,,.,,st IS .l;,o
with tben, - > 9as e;tber The fbonght a.
excl,,rst;o,y, - everv one s,reeent The
SURGEON was lookine out toward the Slit
tersofs the moon on the water. when some
thing seemed to have caught his eve.
What are YOU looking at. doctor % |
said 5 Nothine he renl;ea. hut I
thonoht saw sometime cross the track
of moonlight coming toward us. How
ever, must have been mistaken No.
YOU sseres11et i cried out IN a state Of
intense cxcitemenf Z mo- ron were moi.
for here it is.elose to us I had seen.
anasw.. .,nis.t;;1z,s To = blaek@ sn,;no,,s fri
anrular ftts.i which was slipoed silently
ana swiftly toward the shin. There's an
other comm down t other Yay. Sir. cried
a bIae-iacket And here comes another
on the mort auarter cried another
Sure enough there we're not three. but
perhaps SIX OF eight horrid waving TRAN.
gafarsfns sweeping steadily down upon
che ship. We were all 50 a6rrified at this
unexpected result of our 5Gshiae. that we
could do little but stare 81 amazement AT
the diabolieai assesmlE,laoe7 which was sur.
rouas.s.fif ) was clear enoroh tha,
the scet,f ,,ff the Hood ef the two yietiYns
or some horrible iinstipcf had warned. tl,f
disonssino ,aa,,stes.s oa1f tbe nrpsence ol
49, H., 49, s,. ssss,5 fl;a., e,a,
sll ,,,srters ssr to stfcl = don't tb;nI
sve,a Sto9;S,.s :. ,.s-,s,,,,,' oo,,lJ era,. -
ean tle scene SOW saw bat Y;obt sssl,. enscted
nnder our stern wi;s4,out feei;1o ! , Green.