The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-10-06
ASHARK IN THE SURF
A PEARL BUYER IS TOSSED INTO
THE SEA AS FOOD FOR 1T.

A Traveller Tells a Story of what He Saw
One Day in the Harbor of Madras-The
! Dapper Young Buyer and the RascaIIy
Parsee Merchant.
A wild sea was running high in the
open harbor of Madras. The sea always
runs high there, and in the last two
miles must always be pade in surf
boats. The morning when the steam
ship Tigress dropped anchor and ran up
her signal for the boats, great angry
waves were bowling along before fresh
monsoon, and even the surfbosts found
it hard to keep dry.
Among our passengers from Ceylon
for Madras We had dapper young fell
low, who was as good judge of pearls
as | ever saw. He had been TO Ceylon
buying for an English house, and was
now ON his way to the Persian gulf to
complete his stock. He was TO leave us
at Madras to go overland to Bombay.
He knew how to buy pearls, but he did
not know how to take care Of them. Be-
fore he had been on board day he had
told me all about his luck in Ceylon and
had shown me his entire assortment.
One of the pearls was simply gorgeous.
Had 1t not been for faint dot of blue
upon one side it would q ave been worth
a small fortune. He wa delighted with
my appreciation and Enjoyment of the
stones, and he showed me his treasures
several times during the short voyage.
Tvxi, ha lafk o1n l,
was not, however, through any particu-
lar confidence in me. for suspect he
made quite as free with his treasures
among several of the passengers. One
was a Parsee, who was forever going
between Ceylon and Madras, for what
purpose could never discover, though
had met him several times.
Whatever else he was l was sure that
the Parsee was a great rascal, and was
surprised and sorry for the young pearl
man to find him making q most intimate
friend of the fellow.
Together they stepped down the lad
der to enter a surfboat as we neared
Madras. the young man went down
first with his case of precious pearls in
his hand. The Parsee was stepping in
to the boat when he paused and spoke
to its black captain.
al have forgotten something" he said,
turning to the younger man. 81 must
come by another boat; will meet you
at the hotel" ........
He gave the surfboat push with his
foot and began to climb the ladder.
A sailor who was standing by me
muttered:
"There's shark in the surf yonder."
But instead of looking away over the
water he looked directly down upon the
Parsee and then at the young pearl man.
OF course there was u shark in the
surf. There are always sharks in that
surf, but to me the sailors sentence
meant something more than that.
The Parsee simply walked behind the
saloon house, stood there two or three
minutes, then left the steamer by an
other boat. My curiosity was thoroughly
aroused, Glass in hand watched the
two boats, quarter of a milo apart,
still wondering what the sailor meant by
"a shark in the surf"
Presently one of the great waves lifted
the first surfboat, but instead of taking
the usual advantage of it to dip their
oars and pull | distinctly noticed the
boatmcn sitting like statues. The al
most naked fellow standing in the stern,
with a long oar to guide the craft, sud
denly leaned upon the oar, and the boat
turned, was caught hroadside on the
| wave and the next instant was capsized.
| saw the passenger, with the pearl case
still in hand, plunge head first into the
water.
Like so many cells the black boatmen
wriggled about in the water till they
/ righted their boat, then clambered over
| the side and begun to bail il out.
Not one of them seemed to give Q
thought to their passenger,
The next moment a piercing SHREK
sounded even as far as our steamer, ant
to my horror | saw the young fellow
body lifted out of the water not tel
feet from the surfboat. 1t made on,
whirl in the air, disclosing the head of
shark holding it across the back, thel
sank again.
As the next boat passed the place
saw the Parsee throw something over
board that left white spot on the wa
ter, which remained as long us watche,
it, convincing me that it was buoy o
some sort set for some purpose.
A few days later we were anchored il
the Hoogly river. off Calcutta.
was walking down the principa
English th6roughfare when | saw tn
Parsee emerge from the door of lap
dairy. He evidently recognized mo, bu
he turned quickly in the opposite direc
ton and walked away.
"A shark in the surf," muttered
and with only vague idea half forme
in my mind | entered the shop and il
: quired of the dealer if he had an assort
ment of pearls on hand.
How fortunate!' he exclaimed. "
was never SO low as this morning. Pearl
| are in very great demand. But l hav
just purchased large lot of the fines
pearls | ever saw. | purchased thel
very low for cash, and cannot onl
give You the first choice Of this magnif
rent collection, but great bargain b,
sides. They are beauties! Yes!"
Yes" replied, they arc beauties
especially this one with dot OF blu
upon one side. Too bad that it has I'll
flaw
| knew then why the Parsee wer
down to the surfboat and spoke to IL
captain, but went ashore by anoth,
boat. | knew why he left the viii
buoy in the water. knew why he col
tinually journeyed between Ceylon az
Madras, and | knew what the sail,
meant when he watched him and mu
tered, "There's a shark in the surf. y
Atlanta Constitution.