Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-02-07
a SHARK STORY.

der. we were SlOomdteS tOeetnef on oonAu
the Rajapootah Indiaman. His father,
who is dead and gone this 20 year or more,
was carpenter aboard Of her.
ssChips,'' We used to call him, and II
you don't mind listening to an old salt
who's been round the world enough times
to make a landsman giddy at the very
thought Of it I'll just tell You OF little
adventure we had with one OF them man
eating monsters.
Well, one day we were becalmed on the
line, when says young Bill-he was young
says he, 81 shall have a swim round
for cooler" for, believe me, the sun was
that hot we had to throw buckets of water
on the deck to keep it from catching fire.
In fact, pig we killed the day afore
we hung aloft and roasted him in the sun,
catching the gravy In a bucket, and he
was done beautifully.
So in he goes, head first, with his clothes
on, and me and his old man looked over
the side, just abaft the foreriggins, to see
him come to the top of the water again.
But no Bill could we see, and instead
of him came up tremendous shark with
his side sticking out as if he had a cargo
inside over and above his regular bill O.
lading.
1t twas then as clear to us as the nose on
our faces that poor Bill had dived clean
down it's throat.
The poor old man had fit right away,
and we carried him below and put him
in his hammock and then ran up on deck
again in the hope that we should be able
to catch the fellow.
But it was nowhere to be seen, so after
watching some time to no purpose we went
down below to see how the old man was
getting on, and to our establishment and
sorrow we found his body nearly cold and
as stiff as the flying jibboom.
We sewed him up in his hammock, put
ting the grindstone that he used to grind
his tools with inside to make it sink and
laid the body on hatch, with the union
jack spread over it for pail.
Then the skipper read the funeral serv-
ice, all CT US standing round, dreadfully
cut up, me especially, for young Bill was
my messmate, and was very fond of the
old man.
AS soon as the skipper had finished the
last words, which l shall never forget
they was so solemn-the hatch was tipped
up, and overheard the body went with a
splash, and all was over-at least we
thought SO.
But almost Immediately afterward up
comes another shark-a bigger one, it
seemed, than the first--certainly it was
thicker.
The boatswain at once ran for the shark
hook and baited it with junk of pork and
slung it over the stern, and it was not
many minutes afore we had him hooked
and hauled on deck.
Well, the first thing we did was to cut
his tail off, for he was Tapping it about so
that it shook the ship from stem to stern,
and we were afraid it would shake her to
pieces.
After we had done that we thought we
heard very strange noise inside of him
a sort O. grating sound, like boat being
dragged over a shingly beach.
So we set to and cut off his head and
then ripped him up, when, what dye
think, what should we see, to our great
establishment and delight, but Bill and
his father sitting upright like two Jonahs.
the youngster turning the grindstone and
the old man sharpening his knife, intend
ing to cut their way out of the creatures
belly.
You say said the old man was dead.
Please don't interrupt me, and I'll tell you
all about it.
There's no doubt but what he seemed
dead, but it was only his blood froze with
horror and the shark warmed him to life
again.
What made him most uncomfortable,
Bill said, was the slipperiness and topsy-
turyness of the place. for there was no
rest at all, for one minute he was stand
ing on his head and the next ON his feet
and then tossed from one side to the other,
sometimes getting jammed between its
ribs, and he wondered the meal didn It dis
agree with the fish itself.
But at last came the climax, and Bill
thought it was all over with him, for down
its throat was shot heavy body like
sack o. Goals right atop of him, nearly
smothering him, so that he had scarcely
room to move or breathe, and he must have
been some time insensible, he said, when
he was woke up by loud report.
He thought for moment the creature
had swallowed a powder barrel, and it had
exploded, but it was only the bursting of
the canvas shroud the old man was sewed
up in, which had blown up like paper
bag.
The noise in its inside, Bill said, must
have astonished the shark, for he again
found himself standing upon his head. so
he knew il was making for the surface,
and on reaching there it opened its enor-
nous jaws for air, when a food of light
entered between the rows of teeth, which
enabled Bill, on gaining his feet, to take
stock of his lodgings, and the very first
thing that he saw was his old father crawl
ing out from under the canvas like chick
from its shell.
The old man had caught sight of the
grindstone and soon put it into working
order, and on the fish once more coming
to the top and again admitting light Bill
at once saw what was in the wind, and
they commenced business at once, when
they were startled by a sudden change in
the shark s movements, and soon they dis
tinctly heard the sound of human voices,
and they knew they were saved.
Well, we all was so thankful at their
miraculous escape from the jaws of death
that every mothers son of us on beard took
our solemn affidavits that we'd never tell
a lie or anything of that kind again, and
me and my mate have kept our words ever
since.-Exchange
A Small Matter.
A Detroit man, noted for his very seri-
GUS and earnest manner went out not long