Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-08-01
HELD BY AN OCTOPUS
THRILLING ADVENTURE OF A CALI
FORNIA WOMAN.

longest lne-and was nothing but a
barren spot of sand ON the broad bosom
Of the Pacific. Nothing grew Oh the is
land but a stiff species of beach grass,
and this was dingy brown instead OF
green, like other grass But if bare Of
vegetation the island was still richly
surfaced, for the whole extent of the
dot was covered with guano of the rich
est sort, and the only inhabitants were
the two white people mentioned and 30
or 60 Hawaiians to work the guano
fields.
The superintendent had his wife and
little child with him, and as news from
the outer world could reach them but
once i'll three months it was rather dull
for the woman AS there was SO little
amusement to be found, she made the
most of the few sources she had. Chief
among these was the gathering of shells,
Of which many and fine varieties were
to be found on the reef at low tide.
One day mother and son had been
out almost the whole tide, and fairly
well laden with spoils were working
back home, when, as she stepped across
one Of the smaller pools, the woman
saw at the bottom what appeared to be
a magnificent leopard cowrie, the lar
gest she had yet seen. The water was
pretty deep i'll the pool, being almost
up to her waist as she stepped down in
to it, but she was so near home she did
not care, though she got wet through.
STOPPING to pick up the shell, she
found that the water was even deeper
than she had supposed, for as her fingers
reached to the bottom of the pool her
face was almost wet by the waves which
came ripping in with the rising tide.
But the moment required to pick up a
shell would not injure her, even though
she had to put her face into the water,
SO she stopped lower, with closed eyes,
and grasped at the shell below.
Her fingers closed Oh the richly spot
ted object, but instead of the hard,
smooth surface she expected to seize her
fingers sunk deep into some soft, Shiny
substance, and before she could drop it
and rise from her STOPPING position q
sudden splash and furry dashed the wa
ter into foam, and two snakelike OBJ
jects arose from the depths and twined
themselves around her arm, bare to the
shoulder, with numbing force.
. The water, but moment before clear
as crystal, was in an instant clouded
with ink, AID another snakelike form
rose and twined around her arm, in
creasing the force and pressure until she
suffered agony from the hold upon her
arm as well as from the fright caused
by the sudden attack of the unseen foe.
Her face was scarcely three inches
above the surface of the pool. and, to
her horror, she found that the strength
of the creature was sufficient to keep
her from rising any higher, and she
knew that a few moments more Of the
pain would weaken her so that she must
be drawn down into the pool instead of
being able to escape from the horrible
creature which held her i'll it; grasp.
In the first shock shrek of fear had
startled the boy, who was some distance
from her, and he came running back to
see what had caused the cry. He was
only years old, so could be of no as
sistance. Indeed the mother feared that
the child also might be grasped and
dragged into the pool. She called to
him to run to the house, some little dis
lance away, around point of land
which hid it from sight. and call for
help.
The tide was rising rapidly. Wave
after wave came ripping and swishing
against her form, each one breaking a
little higher, dashing little more of
its spray in her Bonded face. Death
seemed very near, but her only fear was
of the horrible beak which she knew
would be buried in her quivering flesh
as soon as she should lose her strength
and fall into the pool to where the devil
fish could grasp her with all its arms.
She could not raise. her head to see if
help was coming, but she strained her
ears, hoping to hear footsteps or voices.
Not sound met her strained hearing.
. A wave bigger and higher than usual
came rolling in and broke above her
head, leaving her strangled and breath
ASsa9s AAOPO Weio S5OIO. ko1lO 1huou SllSs
But as she gave a last strangled cry a
sudden rush of feet, a dash through
the water, and her arm was grasped by
strong hands, and she was raised above
the surface little. Other hands reached
down beside her and grasped the unseen
form of the monster, and with mighty
pull from the two strong pair of arms
it was torn from its anchoring hold up
on the rocks and thrown up into the
open air.
The choking, strangling woman was
carried above the tide mark, the octopus
still attached to her by it's Shiny
arms. As the attempt to pull it away
caused her excruciating pain, the arms
were one by one cut off, and even the
horny disks still chung with consider,
able force to the bruised and crushed
arm. The creature had used three of
its eight arms to crush its prey and held
itself firmly anchored to the rock at the
bottom of the pool with the Others It
took all the strength of two heavy men
to tear the hold of those five arms from
the rock.
When the creature was dead and
spread out on the sand, it measured only
2 feet from the body to the end of the
longest ray. The body was about the
size and shape of a big washbowl turned
bottom up. The hooked, horny beak,
shaped almost like that of parrot, but
shorter in proportion to its width, was
placed between two wicked little eyes
not larger than ones thumb nail-San
Francisco Examiner
Tho Mountain Laurel.
1t is certainly strange that Ameri-
can gardeners have paid SO little atten
ton to the mountain laurel, Kalmia
latifolia, as decorative plant. Probably
there is not one laurel planted in this
country for every thousand rhododen.
irons and azaleas, although the flowers
of the laurel are not less beautiful. In.
Iced some good judges consider them |
more beautiful than the flowers of any |
other American, shrub. 1t is, moreover,
IN easier plant to cultivate and much |
less particular about soil and exposure. |
One of the reasons why it has been neg.
ected no doubt is that it is common.
native shrub, and another is that it is
lot always an easy matter to procure
veil grown plants. Young plants can
20 dug up IN the woods, but they require
ome care and cultivation III the nUrs-