The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-05-09
CAUGHT BY A CLAM.
BY CHARLES STUART PRATT.

"One does not usually regard the clam as a dangerous animal" re- marked my friend, Jack Ballantine, as he shook silver pcpper-box over plate of the delectable Little Neck bivalves, yet the narrowest escape of my life was from clam"
 Jack Ballantiue was an old school mate. remembered him as the ad- vcuturous spirit among the boys, but had not seen him since we graduated from the Latin high school, dozen years before, till that very day.
 Coming down town to business in the morning, had met him face to face by the frog pond, and we had engaged to dine together and bring our life-stories up to date.
 Not being a dyspeptic, or otherwise impaired in your body" said l, smiling across to his sturdy bronzed face, your terrible clam could hardly have been of the Little Neck sort.'
 Hardly" replied Ballantine, with a laugh. The clam that captured me would have made meal for regular fairy-tale giant. It weighed probably twenty pounds, and its tremendous shells four or five hundred pounds more"
 You must mean the giant clam of East Indian waters?" observed I, in- quiringly. "I believe the single shells of that great bivalve are sometimes used for holy-water fonts in Catholic churches"
 In 4ho ,elo le # fNr babies bathtubs," said Ballantine. "The particular tridacna gigas in ques- tion, however, with which had a brief but fearful acquaintance, was alive, and dozen fathoms deep in tropic waters.-in the Torres strait, between Queensland and New Guinea"
 So, while we waited the next course, Ballantine began the story of his ex- traordinary adventure.
 II believe you went to your uncle in London, after our Latin school ac- quaintance," remarked l. "You wrote me on arriving there, but not after ward"
 "Yes Uncle Ballantine had mining and pearling interests in Queensland, and l went out almost immediately aft CT reaching London. was located at Cooktown, on the northeast coast"
 "The region and the life were full of interest to me, and I soon became fam iliar with mining on land and pearling at sea. We had quite fleet of luggers vessels of five to twenty tons, two short masts, and manned with crews of half dozen natives, Kanakas, Japs, Chinese, or Malays, maybe.
 ''One of our captains was an old Man. tucbet whaler, and I now and then went out to the fishing grounds with him.
 ''On one of these pearling trips we went up the coast, around Cape York, into Torres strait. It was there had my narrow escapefrom a clam.
 Almost at the start we struck rich bottom, and our diver was bringing up three or four hundred pairs of shells a day-worth about that number of dol lars. By the end of the month we had a cargo of eight or ten tons. Of course the mother-of-pearl lining of the shells is the bread and butter of the business. The round pearls of the jeweler are the ceke tor perhaps I should say the pie, being in New England)
 II always did have an irresistible desire to get at the inside of things, and see the wheels go round,' and had long wanted, forsonce at least, to touch deep-sea bottom, and behold the mar vels of which had heard.
 ''The captin tried to g3issuade me. He had been diver himself, and knew tlfomI pUrsoral encounter the dangers of the descent. But as usual, had my own way, though it was nigh to being for the last time.
 At last the face glass was set in place, and stepped over the side of the lugger. I slipped off the wet lower round and sank, sank, down, down, down, into the depths of waters.
 That sudden delirious descent was measured by seconds, yet l lived an age of vision and sensation, as drown ing man docs-all the nightmare i'm aginings the captains black tales and warnings had projected into my dreams of the night before seemed about to be realized in double terror then, in q flash, all mental distress was plotted out by overpowcring physical sensations, suffocating press ure. to which Poes inquisition chamber were paradise.
 "I struggled spasmodically. be- lieve I shriel<ed. Then with clash the agony ceased, and my lead weighted feet pressed the air within my armor, and went bounding over the sea bottom like an India rubber tennis ball.