The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1891-12-26
AN EXCITING CONTEST.
A FIGHT BETWEEN AN OYSTER
AN A STAR.Fi6H.
The riasky his.iss We. the Battle b.
Clever ITie4-NAay EHhibi.
tioas Ut the Oyssr. gtxht-
tsS 9uaiisisa

To LOOK a, an oyster you would
never Imagine that there was
amy hgh, in i, would your"
asked the obseryan, fisherman of
tho Nev York sun reporter NO
one would unless hs had been a wit
ness some time to the oysters h4hNng
qualities Ons oil tho mos, exciting
contests ever saw vas bstseea an
oyster and one o! its mos, deadly enc
mics aud l am glad To cay that Tho
oyster won the nigh. Tho enemy Was
a s,ar-tish. and II all Of it, kind acre
a. fresh and lndlscrsot as this ono Was
they would no, 10 such a source Of
dread 10 the oyster farmer.
livery person who has had any
thing To do vita raising oysters has
soan many u battle between them and
the s,ar-nsh. These destructive enc
mics Of tho oyster grow fast but sol.
dom a,.ump, la attack tho b!yaivcs
before they ano slE month, old. and
thea their in-sperlsnc. gets ,hem into
II hoap Of trouble with tho oysisrs \
s,Af-i.sh that has cut IL syo teeth. 80
to speak. will 60, the hos, OF an oys-
tor .y.ry time. for IL will mount tho
shell, drill n hole through IL inioei It's
supplying liquid Into tho oyster. and
env.lop III. ~holo thing with its ca
pae.ous and elastic mou,h'siomAch be-
fore the poor shall-lish knows what
has happened, 4 sehOo! OF start sh
can 80 through an oys,sr farm almos,
n, quickly as IA tornado can sipo out u
whoa, farm Ia Dakota They ar.
virtually ,iomaehS and have found
ih-In stretched over clam, shells aud
all ,hai Ssru great deal bigger than
III. s,ag-h.h In ihalr natural dlEnoa.
.lons When il enyolOIsa clam or an
oyster tho ,,ar-f,h simply iurns iisolf
wrong side ou, and pulls Itself over
tho object As you would pull On a Pair
OF new siocking.
The night was speaking Abou,
occurred In shallow shieF hni had
good sight %! H. | sAW tho star. H.h
working -arily along over tho oyster.
and ,h-n settle slowly down upon IL,
Tho blsnlv- wA, on the lookout hor.
ever and whom III, .,ar-n.h va, near
enough the oysters she'll closed ike a
steel trap on one Of tho Htar-nsh', ave
ray. and cut IL Oh M slick n. II 4, had
been done by knife A .,ar.a.h
doc,n', mind tho los, o! rny or two
In fac. u can stand tho !os. OF four
Of la rays nnd then 80 OF aad In n
short time .prout and groS tho los,
members again hut II tho a,h lo,.o,
nil hv. o! i's ray. it, doom I, scaled.
/, vii, aI. alfno-, Immediately.
IsN. .R.s.r h.N no .ua,a. ..iI,....s,
on. o. H. foro legs than /, 80, IL.
rap again and awaited n renewal ~.
III. attack. which VIA, no, long In
coming. The s,ar.a.h dropped I;s.l.
slowly. and with n conhdcncs TIM: I
could almost SOC. and wn. soon astrId.
OF the oyster again. Again tho trap
flow shut and tho s'ar.a.h nro,. with
only three OF his i've rays loft. Bu,
tho siar-hsh was plucky. md returned
for the third round with tho confidence,
apparently not tn. least impaired.
Tho round ~n, tho repetition Of the
other two. md tn. sinr-nsh ~N- bor,ft
OF another leg. Tho persistent; enemy
of tho oyster had apparently SO, hi.
mind on having ihnt particular bl.
valve. and without "a moments hcsI-
iaiion turned his crippled body TO tho
assault Tho oyster was md nil tho
way through. and shifted It's position,
turned Its open shcll upward rs tho
s'ar-Hsh dropped down toward him.
This was the last round Of the battle.
for tho oyster caugh, both remaining
rays OF tho s,nr-ash in tho trap and
snippcd thcm OF Mt ono bite Tho
raylcss -'nr-;ish turned over and sank
To the bottom dead.