Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-05-04

NEA1Ehs
jerk which nearly threw me from my
feet, and all was blaclxness. The shark
had swallowed my lampi By rare good
fortune he did not take my hand also.
Now frantically tugged at my signal
rope. Without my lamp I had no
thought but desire to be pulled out
of the water, no matter what happened.
In few minutes sat Invested of my
diving suit and almost inse nsible upon
the deck of the schooner. As soon as
was able to talk told my astonished
comrades what had happened, and
while we were discussing this strange
occurrence, one of them looking over
the side saw, slowly rising to the sur
face, the body of dead shark.
'By George" he cried, ''here is the
beast. He has been killed by the cur
rent from the battery"
We all crowded to the rail, and looked
down upon the monster. He was about
ten feet long and it was plain that he
had died for making himself the con-
nection between the poles of the
battery.
"Well," said the captain presently,
81 suppose You are not going down
again?"
"Not l." replied, 81 give up this
job"
Then suddenly cried:
"Come boys, all Of you. Make fast
to that shark, and get him on board. I
| want him."
Some of the men laughed, but my
moment they all set about to help me.
i A LNak 14rzDa,.aI 1spac
made fast to the dead fish with block
and tackle, and we hauled him on
deck. / then got butchers knife
from the cabin, and began to cut him
open
"Lool here, Tom," exclaimed the
captain, ''that's nonsense. Your lamps
all smashed to pieces, and If you get it
out, it will never be any good to you"
81 don't care for the lamp" ] an
swered, working away energetically,
''but an idea has struck me. It's plain
that this creature had fancy for shin
ing things. If he swallowed a lamp
there is no reason why he should not
have swallowed anything else that gilt
| tered"
"ohor" cried the captain. ':you think
he swallowed the bracelet, do your"
And instantly everybody crowded
more closely about me-
| got out the lamp. Its wires were
severed as smoothly as if they had been
cut by shears. Then I worked on.
Suddenly there was cry from every
man. Something glimmered in the
dark interior Of the fish grasped it
and drew it out. It was not
a bracelet, but pint bottle, which glim-
mered like glow worm. With the
bottle in my hand sat upon the deck
and gazed at it. I shook it. 1t shone
brighter. A bit of oiled silk was tied
tightly over the cork, and it was plain
to see that it was partly filed with q
light colored oil, into which a bit OF
phosphorus had been dropped, which
on being agitated filed the bottle with
dim light. >
But there was something more in the
bottle than phosphorus and oil. I could
see tin tube, corlzed at each end, the
exposed parts of the corks spreading
enough to prevent the tin from striking
the glass. We all knew that this was
one of those bottles. containing com
munication of some sort, which arc
often thrown into the sea and float
about until they are picked up. The
addition of the oil and phosphorus was
intended to make it visible by night al
well as by day, and this was plainly the
reason why it had been swallowed by Q
light-loving shark
i poured out.the oil and extracted tss
tube. Wiping It carefully, drew out
the corlxs and then from the little til
cylinder / pulled q half sheet Of nott