The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1894-09-14
TURTLES TOWED THE SHIP.
THE YARN TOLD BY ATRAyELLER
TO SEVERAL DRUMMERs.
They Were n Great Success ms "A
Substitute for n Tug.

Speaking about turtles" observed
the weather-beaten traveller. who had
joined a party of drummers seated in
the smoking-room of a Pullman car.
why. l have literally seen millions of
them at once. The sea for miles around
as far as the eye could reach. was"-
Where was this?" asked an inquisi-
tive drummer, according to the Chicago
Times.
Near the Galapagos Islands, off the
west coast of South Africa" was the
reply, and then, as the other passen-
gers settled back in their seats, the
weather-beatea one spun this yarn: -.
tie schooner, and were on our way from
Callao to st. Ambrose Island for a load
of guano. Well, the wind suddenly died
out and we began to drift. This state
one morning we spied land ahead over
the port bow. 1t was about seven miles
away l should think.
NOW. you may not believe IT, but
we suddenly ran into a shoal of big sea
turtles that were so close together you
could hardly see the water. They were
lows, too, some of them Weighing, I
should Judge, more than 600 pounds
They lay all about the schooner's sides
and didn't seem to mind us bit
began to look as If we never would get
out of the mess we were in. Then, gem
tlemen, | conceived an idea. ! told it
great, too. And this is how 1t worked:
"We-that is, the. carpenter and my
self-stepped over the vessels side and
let ourselves down on the back of a
mind It? Not bit. He just raised one
Of his fiippers and winked his eye at us,
as if he would have said: Now. what
Coll
I'VE had a lot Of strong, flexible wire
aboard. and each of us had a coil of 1t
over our arm. We each carried a pair
OF pincers. too. Then we started to
I'VE punched small hole in the after
part Of the turtles shell and fastened
an end of wire to 1t and made the other
end fast to the anchor chair Then
we stepped over to another turtle and re-
peated the operation. We soon had
about a dozen turtles fastened In this
manner
The fun then commenced. We fired
off small cannon we had stationed on
the fo'cstle deck, and you should have
seen the commotion. The sea was dashed
all directions. tumbling over each other
and darting about like mad
Our schooner was buffeted about and
tolted like freight car coupled to a
forging ahead at len knot clip.
well, sirs, In less than two days we
had those turtles trained so that they
would 60 wherever, we wanted them.
They would stop, or drive ahead, or sheer
to port or starboard. We had rugged
bits into their mouths and had fsh-lnes
for reins. l did the driving, and rare
sport II was, ! tell you
r." So we bowled along until we reached
st. Ambrose, and there we came to an
Choir about a mile off shore. Two of the
turtles were harnesse1 to a large, fat
bottomed lighter, AMI, owing TO the rapid
ity of the trips we l)aded up our schoon-
er in a very short time.
Then we hoisted anchor and pointed
for Callao. We reached there in seven
days It-seemed too bad. but as we had
no further use for our turtles, We sold
them to a marketman who shipped them
to San Francisco"
But what did the turtles eat during
all this time" queried the inquisltive
passenger.
"Eat?" replied the narrator, with scorn.
Don't you know that turtles can go
without food for weeks and months at
a, time? Why, when | was travelling up
the Orinoco"--
At this point, however. the train pulled
into the station. and "fifteen minutes for
refreshments" interrupted ali further dis
course.