Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-11-18

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were despatched by blows of the axe
and lance. Harper was rs much
clated over each capture rs General
would be to win battle, and u careful
record was made OF weight, length,
and species. We were at it whole
week before he tired of the slaughter,
and might have held on longer IL
sharks had been more plenty. They
finally became suspicious of us, or
took alarm from some unknown cause,
and Mt the end of the week the baited
hooks were no longer temptation.
Our catch was from seventeen to twcn-
ty.eight a day, making total for the
week of one hundred and siSty-eight,
each one of which was large enough to
bite a man in two, while score or
more were monsters which could have
got away with horse in two or three
bites.
1--WE then ran around to the Georges
10 fish for s,ingarccs. This fish, or rep
tile, or whatever you may call IL
haunts the sand bars. and feeds most
" on soft-shell clans We had TO
anchor the schooner and so out in
small boats. and we made but eight
captures during the week we lay
there. Irather expected that couple
OF weeks would cool Harper oil, but
the ease was just the opposite. Every
fresh victim seemed TO add TO his zeal,
and we ran further into Appalachec
Bay, and put in another week at shark
ing. The fish were there rs thick rs
flies around sugar bowl, and in the
seven days we captured one hundred
and eighty. When one had been
drawn aboard and despatched we had
no further use for him. The remains
wcrr thrown overheard. and the living
would fight for him before our eyes.
We got one chap there fully twenty
feet long, and whenever coaster
came near Us Harper would have u
,, boat sent oil to tell her what luck we
were having in killing oil the common
enemy. At the end of the third week
he became restless with desire 10 capt
urc an octopus, and we set sail across
the gulf for Cuban waters. had
heard of the creatures being plenty to
the south Of Cape Antonio, and made
for that locality. We ran in pretty
close TO the Isle Of Pines. found safe
anchorage. and the iron was hardly
down before Harper had our boats in
the water 10 examine the reefs there
about We were searching three days
before we found one. and he was Il
small fellow who was more anxious To
gct away than to fight back. Then 4
wreckcr recommended the islands TO
the east Of Santa Cruz, and we up
anchor and stood for the new grounds.
I'VE passed to the south of Santa
Cruz, and brought up among the An
tigua group, fishing for sharks and
catching u matter of fifty on the way.
We soon had cause 10 believe that We
had struck the right place. The very
first boat out discovered II devil fish on
a reef within II quarter of n mile of
the schooner, and, rs Il harpoon was
darted into him, he flung four or tive
of his terrible feclcrs into the boat,
| and would have taken one of the men
overheard had the fcelerS not been
severed with u hatchet. The man
who was gripped was partially para
lyzed. for couple of days, and un-
questionably suffered much pain.
Harpcr'S first act on returning TO the
schooner was to present the man with
a twcnty-dollar gold piece, while the
rest OF the boats crew received half
the amount Ii was plainly under
stood that the engineer, cook, stew
ard, mate and myself should be ex-
cmpt from these boat excursions. but
Harper still had seven active men left
him. We were not idle. however, in
their absence. The shark hooks were
always out, and it was poor day
when we did not have at least dozen
sharks aboard.
1--WE cruised around the islands for
matter of six weeks, having the best
of luck. and we should have put in sew
eral weeks more but for what happened
TO Harper one day. He had become
perfectly crazy on the subject of devil
fish, and would have hunted them by
night had the men been able to stand
it, We had killed about thirty. large
and small. when the boats put of one
afternoon 10 inspect reef on the east
side of Guadeloupe. There were nu-
merous channels cut through the reef
and rs the boat was working through
one Of them monster octopus was
discovered in four feet of water. Har-
per himself hurled the harpoon at him.
and next moment five or six of those
terrible feelcrs were over the gunwales
of the boat making fast TO the men.
Harper fell down and rolled under
thwart, but one Of the feeler found him
and fastened to one Of his hands and
across his face. The men were provided
with sharp knives and hatchets. and
they speedily cut themselves loose. but
they were used-up lot when they re-
turned TO the ship The feeler which
caught Harper had to be cut of piece
by piece. and for thirty-siS hours l
looked upon him as a dead man. When
he began to mend he was sick of that
sort Of fishing. and as soon AS he could
crawl about we went back TO the Flori-
,Ja onast for sha-ks We work oil mn tn