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

Speaking about turtles" observed
the weather-beaten traveller, who mad
joined 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 beaten one spun this yarn:
a." You see," he began, we were a lit
Callao to St: Ambrose Island for a load
of guano. Well, the wind suddenly died
out and we began to drift. This state
OF arairs kept up for several days; until
the port bow. 1t was about seven miles
away. | should think. $3.50,
Now. you may not believe it, but
We suddenly ran into H shoal Of big sea
turtles that were so close together you
could hardly see the water They were
there in millions. and tremendous fell
should judge, more than 800 pounds.
They lay all about the schooner's sides
and didn't seem to mind us a bit.
We were, out of our course and 1t
out OF the mess we were in. Then, gen
tlemen, l conceived an idea. / told 1t
to the carpenter and he thought It was
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 fippers and winked his eve at us,
as if he would have said: Now what
are you fellows up to, anyhow"
had 'nt -
over our arm. We each carried a pair
of pincers. too. Then we started to
we punched a small hole in the after
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 a small cannon we had stati9ned on
the fo'c'stle deck, and you should have
seen the commotiOn. The sea was lashed
to foam. and the big brutes scurriei in
and darling about like mad.
Our schooner was buffeted about and
toted like freight car coupled to
forging ahead at ten-knot clip.
We'll, sirs, in less than two days we
tldu those turtles trained so tnat tney
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 fish-,ines
for rens. / did the driving. and rare
sport 1t was. ! tell you.
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 harnessed TO a large. fat
bottomed lighter. AMI, owing to the rapid
ity OF the trips. we lladed up our schoon-
er in very short time.
Then we hoisted anchor and pointed
for Callao. We reacted 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 timer" queried the inquisitive
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 l was travelling up
the Orinoco"-
At this point, however. the train pulled
into the station. and "hfteen minutes for
refreshments" interrupted all further dis