Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1886-08-26
CAUGHT BY A BIG CLAM.
A Thrilling Story Told by a Navy LicE-
tenant-Dangerous Situation.

A Thrilling Story Told by a Navy LieE-
tenant-Dangerous Situation.
The following swimming story is told byc
lieutenant in the navy: Il kept my eyes f--cd
on my companion, Brown, who was act
ing in singular manner After every few
seconds his head would disappear beneath the
water in which he stood, then it would ap-
pear again. He seemed to be struggling vio-
lently. As | approached him he throw up
his hands and cried out, in accents that haunt
me still: For heavens sake, lieutenant,
quick, and help lne.' / dashed out to him
through water UP TO my waist What is it
what has hold of you?" l exclaimed. Its q
big oyster or 4 big clam" he groaned. II
was wading here and stepped into it, l ex-
pect. It's shell closed, gripped ny ankle,
and, to save my life, can't get away; and
the tide viii soon be over our heads here he
added, with something almost like sob He
had been struggling here for fifteen or twenty
minutes. had heard of the tridacna gigas,
or monster clam, of this coast, ard instantly
realized tho danger of his situation "Cour-
age, old fellow l said, I'll stick by you
Here, hold this.paddle and the Ratchet I
then duclled down under the water and with
my hands felt about his foot.
The huge molusk had what might be
termed q death grip on him. The creatures
shell was severe feet long and of proportion
ate breadth, and the weight Of the shellfisll
must have been at least 800 pounds The
creature was attached to the coral rock by a
grisly byslls as thick as ny arm. Raising
myself, l got breath, then seizing the paddle.
thrust the shaft of it between the convergng
edges of the two valves of tho shell, and,
ot+o ,go1 IL.
shell apart. But l could not open it. Brown,
too, ducling down, seized hold with his
hands and pulled with all his strength, but,
exertirg al our power, we could not release
the monsters hold. Again and again |
elrew my whole weight on the shaft of the
paddle, and at length broke it. BY this time
the water was up to my shoulders when /
stood up Fully realizing that whatever l
did must be done in q few minutes more, else
the poor fellow would drown, | snatched the
Ratchet from Browns hand, and, diving, tried
to cut under the shell. to break the creatures
anchorage on the rock. With might and
main l cut and haclzed-then rose an instant
for breath-then down and at it again But
it seemed as though l could not cut through
the tough muscle.
-Four times | dived, and with frantic haste
cut at those tough byssi. 1T stirs." at length
Brown cried, bracing his weight upon his free
foot and lifting at it. Then, with final
blow, the byssus was severed, and the buoy
ancy of the water aiding US, we dragged the
great mollusl-still fast to Browns ankle
back to higher ground on the reef. Here the
water was waist deep, however and looked
anxiously around for Mac in the lakatoi
To my inexpressible JOY he was close a.
hand. and between Us we lifted Brown. witt
his now captured captor, into the canoe.
Even then we could not-both of us together
-pry the valves of the shell apart enough
to release Browns foot, till with a knife we
had reached in and completely divided the
tridacna-sawing asunder the hinge muscles
at tie base of the bivalve It was truly
gigantic clam, and as a poetic retribution
upon it for the attempt on the life of one
of our party, we ate Il portion of its flesh
for our supper. but found it rather tough
Browns ankle was severely bruised and
wrenched, and he suffered for many day
from the vicelike gripof the huge moliusk-
The Argonaut.