Litchfield enquirer., 1867-06-06
ALONG SWIM.

Peyton Jones"
 Dear me! lam very sorrow to hear it. Stunning fellow was Peyton Jones. Thor roughly good fellow. What did he die oE ? 1t would take 6 good deal to kill Jones'
 '' Influenza"
 "No! You dont mean to say that ilitiiu- enza killed Jones? Cad! fancy g man who'd had yellow fever three times, dying Of infuenzar'
 'Ay, and who had been chewed for hais an hour by a tiger in 3 jungle"
 ''Yes, and who awolze one morning with q boa constructor round his neck"
 "Just so, and who took that tremendous | swim at Antique"
 "Ah! what was that?"
 1 "Did you never hear of that? Why, it vas one of the pluckiest things that was ever done. l am surprised you never heard Of that. Surely | must have heard of 1t my self. Goodness knows am never likely to forget it: for but for Peyton Jones, 1 might not be here now to tell 1t. Jones was in the Briureus when the affair occurr- i ed, and the ship was lying in the harbor of Antique. 1 was out here at the same time and saw good lot of naval men, and bet ter set Of fellows I wouldn't wish to know i You never were in the East Indies, think;
 
 harbor of Antique there is a sort of second harbor-a large bay the shore of which, on one side, after taking wide sweep, runs out into the sea a great distance. We'll, one fine day 1t was arranged that We should have picnic, so, four or five of the officers among whom was Peyton Jones, with an Irish doctor and myself for guests took the 1 ships pinaDce and three men, sailed out of the harbor and across the bay to an eligible spot on the opposite shore, and there pie niced to our hearts content. The doctor was an invaluable man at festivities of this kind. His tales used to follow one anoth- CT like string of sausages; the head of one joined to the tail of another by Faith, and that reminds particularly funny to listen to, from the absence of anything in the first story that could by any possibil- ity have suggested the second l 'On the occasion I am speaking of, he kept us in roars of laughter all day telling stories and singing songs necessarily till 1t was time to think about returning. So af- ter one more tale, which, being of an ex- ceedingly comic character, reminded the doctor of very distressing case in hospi- 1 tal we finished the bottle and in short time were adoat. No sooner were we un- der way, than Dr. O'Grady got up an argu- ment with Jones, who was at the helm up on the subject of steering; and in short time requested, on the ground that illustra- tion was necessary to render his views clear, to be allowed to give practical ex- ample of his powers as steersman. This Jones first objected to; but public feeling running strongly in favor of the doctor be- ing allowed to try his hand and the doctor giving this feeling voice with force and eloquence peculiar to himself, the end of the matter was, that he was soon seated comfortably at the helm, singing the Groves of Blarney."
 ''For short time the voyage went very | smoothly; but just as O'Grady was in tEe middle of an amazingly funny comparison between Arion, whose singing attracted the dolphins, and himself, whose voice appear ed to possess certain charm for sharks, 8 sudden gust of wind took us and we laid ion our beam ends.
 "Port your helm" shouted Jones, jump ing up, and making for the tiller. ''Port, O'Grady, port!'
 "The same t you, and plenty of it., re- piled the doctor, still facetious though fur ried. Port 1t is. "
 ''But unfortunately, port it wasn't. By little error of the doctors it was starboard instead and the result was that in another moment all were struggling in the water, and the pinnace was keel uppermost. As several of this party could not swim, the first thing to do was to look after them, and help them to scramble upon the keel. Pey- ton Jones, who was magnificent swimmer and all of us that could swim at all worked zealously at this, splashing as much as pos ible, the while, in order to keep the sharks away, and in short time long row of most uncomfortable bodies ornamented the bottom of the capsized boat.
 "Are we all here now?' cried Jones who was at the head at the time. 'One two, three-Good heavens, where is the doctor.
 "'Helpr shrieked man who was at the other end of the boat-help help! Here's a shark at me leg. He's got my foot in his mouth" "
 "'Faith and if it is a shark said the voice of the doctor from the water, ''ye'l never be troubled with corns on that foot again. But this is not fish, but an Irelan- der, fortunately for you, Thompson. Lend hand, bhoys. It's myself and no mis take. That's right. An, ye ungrateful baste-apostrophizing the boat-what did ye go turning over in that way for afthel I'd been steering you so carefully and all?'
 By love, I thought we'd picked all up, said Jones. I'd forgotten you O'Gra- dy."
 "'Upon my conscience said the doctor, frankly, and you were justified in that same for, faith! forgot myself when I under took to steer. But who would have expect ed that boat which was going on sc mighty pleasant, would have turned sud denly over on it's stomach in that uncrate full fashion?' II did not know you could swim, doc tor, some one said.
 ' I'm not, perhaps, what ye'd call alto gether fine swimmer O'Grady returned but Ii it's diving ye want, I'm the bhoy Bedad 1t was that detained me just now No sooner did not come up than I wen down again; and if my attention had no been caught by Thonpson's foot, faith! can't exactly say to the minute when should have stopped.''
 Well, we're all here now at any rate said Jones; but what's to be done next Has any one any suggestion to make?"
 And IS 1t suggestion you mean? said O'Grady, then it's myself that has, an, here 1t is; If any gentleman is in posses sion of brandy flask let him pass it dow here" ''
 No gentleman was. All the brandy lief undrunk was in the hamper, and where th hamper was, the sharks knew better tha, we.''
 Bad luck to the hamper!' said the doc