The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-01

vessel contained removed Thoy were
oyers hurdnsi persons on board. but noi
a single one escaped. -
"As Soon as possible divers were
brought to the spot bui if was dihrult id
r0 down The first day we gut below We
tould DO little but lay out The plan ~
Operations Tho ship was on beer side.
The stumps 81 the masts turned toward
land. I had never gone down before iu
water So Ear north. and the place was So
. wild that I was timid Lines were at
7 tachcd 60 our bodies and the ends fastened
7 in the skif above. so that il any diver
4 pulled his line he was 80 once drawn 70
/ the surface We walked around the
/ bottom and around the ship with our feet
I weighted 10 keep US from rising The
water was a pale green, and l could
notice objects quite plainly for many
wards distant. There was huge break
/ I'm She bottom Of the ship, while her stem
l was stove in. and so was her stern.
lone afternoon while my two men re-
NAMED above repairing their diving APP
paratus I went down alone. We were
now removing the bales from the after
compartment by the break in the stern.
The method Of raising the goods was TO
lower down heavy hooks, which could be
. fastened into the bales after they were
cases would float and some would rest
lightly on the bottom. | had selected
large case which ] was about to move
when, happening to turn my eyes, ! saw
outside "a huge creature moving toward
the vessel. [ had never seen anything
like it before. It's body seemed TO be
several feet high and about eight feet
long, and it had on each side an enor-
nous arm.
There seemed to be an unlimited
number Of legs attached to the hidcous
beast. It's color was a dull brown, mot
tied over with dark spots. Two round,
shining black eyes were in its forehead,
and two supple horns, each esembling an
enormous whip, likewise came out OF his
head. All this ] noticed in one glance. A
numb terror seized me, and invOluntarny
] moved for the outlet from the ship. But,
as if knowing what l intended, this brute,
looking straight at me with its frightful,
motiOnless eyes, walked or rather
crawled directly toward me. 1 hurried in
the hope of being able to seize the hanging
hook, now my only means of signaling
the skiff But ! had barely put my foot
upon a gray rock outside when the two
writing horns Of the detestable monster
were twining about me and again untwin-
ing. Then he would touch me with those
and sweep them up and down as if feeling
what kind of prey | was.
I'm my hand held u crowbar, which |
used to loosen the cargo. In my belt l
carried a heavy sheath knife. These were
my only weapons. Suddenly and without
any warning the monster threw out one
of its arms and seized me below the Shout
der | felt as if my bones were being
crushed. The more l resisted the more
terrible was the pain. | still had the
crowbar in my right hand but it was Of
no use to me. So I let it drop. The mons
ter's arm terminated in q claw, which
opened and shut cOnvulsively, This hor-
rible mouth-shaped thing had two rows
of shining white teeth as seen often on
the inside of the two fingers of lObster's
claw. Several of these were piercing my
arm almost to the bone Some distance
above the mouth-like hand / observed a
Joint, and them drew my knife. But
alas the heavy shell so Overlapped the
heshy tissue that | could not injure my
captor.
For the first time I saw those terribly
ing eyes move and turn upon me. The
whiD-lke arms again began TO move and
curl about my body. His head was now
only about foot distant from my body,
and drawing my knife once more |
plunged it into the eye near me, turning
the blade round and round. | saw that
had destroyed the eye, for an inly fluid
issued out of the socket, darkening the
water about his head. ms checked the
aggressive movements of the animal,
but it did not seem to hurt it, | waited
until its head turned, so | supposed that
he might be able to see his prey with his
other eye
This was what l wanted, and with a
swift thrust I sent my knife into his other
eye down to the hilt The creature reeled
and the grip on my arm slightly relaxed,
but though totally blind my captor did
not release me.
The agony Of my arm soon grew IN
bearable. Then the light went out of my
eyes and | remembered nothing more.
when recovered my senses was in
the sl1iff and learned how the divers,
alarmed at mylong silence below, had come
down. They saw my plight, and after a
time succeeded in severing my arm from
the body of the fish, which they both de-
clared was the awful deep sea lobster