St. Landry democrat., 1888-10-27

sort of work to bowl them over in sue
cession by off-hand shots. By our vol
| ley when attacked we had killed thre
and wounded fourth SO that he coult
not leaveEahe spot. That made TIL
strength Of the attacking party sixteen
| could.talk all the LIMOGES of the is
lands, and I asked the wounded maj
who they were and why they had at
tackled us. He said the boat was from
the Pindos, and the name of her Cap
tain Yves Abyan. They had attacked III
for the sole object of plumber The fell
low had several buckshot In his LEFT
groin and others III his leg, and I toli
him he was fatally wounded.
''lt was SO written" he calmly re-
piled. ''Be SO kind as to finish me-"
Kill you?''
Certainly. 1 would do as well by
YOU"
but can not do it."
"1Ehen [ viii. / waited for morning
III hopes my friends would kill yp,,, but
as they have not end as all must die, !
| will GO first
He had his naked knife in his hand.
and before I could move TO prevent he
drew e across his throat, and two min
utes later was dead, We now had the
living to look out for. As I toltt you, il
was only alotit sixty feet across the rip,
ahd we could look right into their eyes.
A more bloodthirsty dozen could not
have been scraped together in the East.
Had they been humbled by the situation
| should have at least hoped to see them
get away ; but they were not On the
contrary, they We're brazen and defiant.
Is soon as they saw us moving they ut
tered shouts of defiance and brandished
their knives, and because we did not
begin shooting they tainted us with
coWardice.
just what steps to take / did not
know. l stood guard while my com.
panion prepared breakfast, but there
was little fear Of any of them crossing
the channel. The sharks had come in
until they actually crowded each other,
and out beyond the surf we could see
their dorsal fins by the score. The ma
tives saw the situation i'll all its dan.
gers; but they continued defiant. ]
called to ask them why they had at.
tackled us, as we had done them no
harm and were not tresspassing upon
their domain, and the lender shouted
back:
''You are dog! You are not fit to
live! Yes, you are dog and a coward!
have wet my hands in the blood of
half a hundred white-faced dogs, and
am only sorry that haven't your heart
to throw to these tishesr'
well, what are you going to aoa' I
asked as | choked back my anger.
sWhat is it to you, dog! Come!
You are a coward. Now that it is day
light you tremble beforeus and dare not |
shoot! Ha! believe you will run
away!"
My companion was for killing them
,ff at once, but / was more merciful.
While / knew they thirsted for my
blood, and would kill me if they got the
chance, it seemed awful to shoot them
lown in their helpless situation. After
breakfast we sat down opposite them
With our guns in our hands, when those
Who had knives began to flourish them,
nd their taunts were renewed. The
eader finally worked himselfup to such
pitch OF anger that he threw his knife
cross at me. It came whirling and
through the air, and entered
ne sand beside me. / replied with
nap shot which stretched him dead.
lis fall only enragsed the others, and I
ad scarcely finished reloading when
~ companion said:
Take care! They are going to try
nd swin the channelr'
They scattered along the bar It's full
myth, like skirmishers going to the
ont, and at given signal all sprang
ito the water. Had there been no
larks we could have answered for
very black head crossing the channel.
y spreading out they hoped to distract
le attention of the monsters, and rea-
med that portion of them would get ,
7er to attack us. But there were too
any sharks. For about five minutes !
e sight was terrible. It seemed as if
ere were three Or four sharks for !.
cry victim, and they fought over the
asst like SO many tigers. Not a man
red to make twenty strokes toward
/. In ten minutes ate I fired my shot
? were rid of the whole gang and
ady to resume our labors, nor were
, annoyed again before the schooner
ok us of. N. 7. San. !