Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-09
TOWED BY TURTLES.
The Weather Beaten Traveller Relates {.
 Moving Tale.

Speaking about tuEslcs," observed the weather beaten travclcF who had joined q party of drummcrs seated in the smoking room of Pullman car why, I have literally seen millions of them ut once. The sea for miles around, us far as the cyc cou.ih reach, was'-
 Where was this?" asked an inauisitivc drummer.
 Near the Galapagos islands, of the west coast of South America was the rc. ply, and then, as tho other passengers set tied back in their seats, the weather beat en one spun this yarn:
 You sec, he began, ''wc were in a lit- tie schooner and were on our way from Callao to St. Ambrose island for n load of guano We'll, the wind suddenly died out and WIG began to drift This state of af- fairs kept up for several days until ono morning we spicd land ahead over the port bow. It was about seven miles away, I should think.
 Now, you may not believe 1t, but WIG suddenly ran into n shOal of big sea tur- ties that wcrc so close together you could hardly see the water. They were thcrc in millions, and tremendous fellows, too, some of them weighing, 1 should judge, moro than GOO pounds. They lay all about the schooncr's sides and didn't seem to mind us n bit.
 We were out of our course, and 1t be- gan to look as if we never would gct out of the mess we were in. Then, gentlemen, conceived an idea I told it to the car. pcntcr, and he thought 1t was great too. And this iS how 1t worked:
 ''Wc-that is, the c;,rIHntCr and myself stepped over the v,.ss r. al" and let our selves down on the back "f a great turtle, gently as we could Did he mind itl Not n bit. He just raised one of his ilippcrs and winkcd his eye at Us. as if hc would have said, Now. what arc you fellows up to anyhow:
 We had lot of strong, flexible wiru aboard, and each of us had n coil of 1t over our arm. We each carried n pair of pinch CTS too. Then WIG started to work.
 We punched small hole in the after part of tho turtles shell and fastened an end of wire in il and made the other end fast to the anchor chain. Then we step ped over to another turtle and repeated the operation. We soon had about n dozen turtles fastened in this manner.
 The fun then commenced. We fired of n small cannon We had stationed on the foe 'stlc deck and you should have seen the commution. The sea was lashcd to foam, and the big brutcs scurricd in all tli- rcctions, tumbling over each other and darting about like mad.
 Our schooner was bufTctcd about nnd joltcd like freight car being coupled to q balky engine. But our turtles wcrc fast. They could not escape, and soon we wcrC forging ahead at n 10 knot clip.
 Well, sirs, in less than two days we had those turtles trained so that they would go wherever We wanted them. They would stop or drive ahead or sheer to port or starbuard We had riggrd bits into their mouths and had fishlincS for rcins. did the driving, and rarc sport it was, tell you.
 So we bowlCd along until We rrachcd St. Ambrose, and thrrc We came to an ChOr about n mile Offshorc. Two uf the turtles wrrc harnCsscd to n large, flat hot toned lighter, and owing to tho rapidity of the trips WIG loaded up our schooner in very short time.
 Then We hoiStCd anchor and pointed for Callau. We reached thCrc in seven days. It seemed too had. but us We had nc further use for our turtles we sold them tC n marketman, who shipped them to San | Francisco"
 But what did tho turtles cat during all this timc'" replied the inquisitivc passcn- ger.
 Eat" replied the narrator. with scorn. Don't you know that turtles can gC without food for weeks and months at q time? Why, when was travelling up the | Orinoco''-
 At this point, however the train pulled into the station, and "l5 minutes for IT.. frCshmcnts" interrupted all further dis cuursc.-\cw York Herald.