The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-09-14
An Ink.SU0uter.

"Wall. as I was sayin',r said . Maine
skipper, ..we sailed from Gloucester
and had tolable luck; then gettin' aout
o. bait we put intew Hare Bay-that's
on the coast o. New FouEdland, and /
reckon we jest got in in time, for it let
on tew blow from the east ard and
banged and hammered for q like o
three days. At the end o. that time
we got the water butt intew the dory
and me and my mate, Long Tom Sigs-
tree, pulled in for little cove tolu' ard,
where it was smooth water and good
landin'. In we went q hoopin', when
Jest as we was goin' through the gut o.
the cove it kind o. shoaled like and we
come to with q rush, and Long Tom
yells aout like he'd been called for, not
bein' ready. Well" and here the skip
per knocked his pipe against the wheel
so violently that he broke it, and con-
sequently reeled off line or so of in
vectives. Gin minute we was broad
side onter the worst looking creetur We
ever see or heard on.
First 1 thought it was a spider; its
arms was a-fyin' in the air over us and
some a-hangin' on tew the boat, and
the creetur seemed actual a-tryin' to
come aboard. Ye see it had grounded
on the shoal and we'd pumped right
into it, and I'm master hand at sight
seein', but was took all a-back, and
the first 1 knew one of its arms was
sraound the oar. Whish! came another,
taSin' Long Tom araound the boot and
~ oil off
whipped aout his knife and cut it Oft.
and it fell in the boat a-twistin' jest like
snake. Another come a-hyin' along
and took me ins the neck, cuttin' jest
like knife, and all this time we wur
a-whackin' and jammin' at the creeter
to keep him aout of the boat. But its
legs was kiyered with suckers and il
kind o came on. Right between the
legs we see pair o bills workin' up
and daown Just like these are, while
the creetur was a-pumpin' ink and
water from sort o spout just like a
steam engine, so't we was black from
head to foot and the water all araound.
I got my oar up like harpoon and was
Jest goin' to jam it in the head when a
wave took the dory. gave her lift and
over she went. chuckin' me right on tew
the creetur, and I'll swan tew life /
was never so near meetin' Davy Jones
afore nor sence. l tried to jump
clear but the boat knocked me
daown and the first / knew felt grip
on my boot and 1 see the animal had
me oy the leg; bit clean through leather,
leg and all, and for minute L was all
wound up, and 1 reckon if it warn't for
Tom I'd been cleaned aout sure. The
water wasn't over two feet and he
Jumped clear o. the creetur, and then
shown the boat clear he jammed the
squid in the head with an oar four or
five times and hauled me aout, and
yaou can bet yer port money was a
physical ~rack as far as looks goes-all
scratched up.
"Wall, we righted the boat, and then
I was bound tew see the creetur; so we
dragged it in shore and spread her aout,
and how long dye reckon it was?
Forty-eight feet tew an inch. and the
worst lookin' thing ever clapped my
eyes on. The body was jest like a big
bag, abaout twelve foot long and soft
like jelly. The tail looked like the
fiuke of an anchor. but the head was
what took me. The eyes on it were
black and as big as saucers, and from
araound 'em branched off ten legs,
kiyered on one side with suckers, with
edges on 'em jist like razors and saws,
and every time one struck We kind o.
air-pump piston arrangement sucked
the air aout and pressed the sucker
right intew ye. Two of the arms was
the longest reckon about thirty foot
and it was them the creetur was
hangin' by when we ran afoul o. him
kind o. swingin' by 'em like hawsers.
Wall. tew make q long story short, !
was laid up for a couple O. weeks with
the bite on my leg, and I reckon 1 can
show some of the scratchin' yet. We
cut the animal up for bait and it filed
abaout ten good cod tubs, and must
have weighed 1,S00 pounds. Cor.
Philadelphia Times.