The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1896-08-13

the ''Great Days'--Silence Smeared Itself
All Over the veranda ut tho Completion
of the Yarn.
81 suppose" quoth James 7. Gaulin
Of Winchester, Mass, who was sitting
On the hotel ~veranda, THAT / had the
honor of killing the most valuable fish
that ever swan the seas. I did it single
handed too. I aver that this fish was
worth more at the time of its death than
the finest sperm whale that was ever
%harpooned, although we should really
leave whales out of the question when
speaking of fish. 1t was 30 years ago,
and / vas young and foolish enough to
be a deep sea diver. Dur diving schooner
and crew had been sent to Cuba TO try
to recover some stuff from a Spanish
boat that had foundered off the coast Of
Cuba, Just where ] don't now recollect.
1t was quite a long trip for us, and as
the employment of a diving outfit was
an expensive thing in those days the
boys knew that there must be something
pretty valuable in the hold of the wreck.
I was quite close TO our skipper, and he
told me that there were several boxes Of
gold coin in the wreck. On our arrival
at the port near where the wreck lay in
30 feet of water the agent Of the u
Of the sunken schooner told us ome
thing more surprising. 1t was that the
gold had not been slowed III boxes in
the cabin, as was usual, but for some
reason had been bagged and placed in
the hold, being billed as copper washers.
This was probably a scheme TO avoid
any chance of the spirit of cupidity aris-
ing in the crew, for the treasure was
very great.
"As the confidential man, l was Sc
lected to go down first and find the mon
ey bags, attach lines to them and have
them taken out before the other divers
should proceed with the work Of taking
out the other freight that the water had
not harmed. Twas soon i'll the hold and
was surprised to find that the bags We're
only u little distance from the hole in
the side that had caused the schooner TO
founder. l had been told that there
would be ~ bags, but l could lay my
hands on but IL of them. Finally |
spied q torn bag lying near the hole i'll
the hull, and ON picking it up discover
eel that it contained a few gold coins. 1
decided that the heavy triple sacking
had been torn open in some way or 9th
or when the schooner sank. ! fastened
lines about the IL bags that were intact,
and had them hoisted, afterward going
up for air, for our apparatus was not
very good.
"In a few minutes / returned to the
hold to search for the scattered coins.
Very few of them were in sight. 1t oc-
cured to me that they might have been
washed outside the boat, judging from
the position Of the wreck and the fact
that the hold was far down toward the
ships bottom. Twas about to crawl out
of the hole when l remembered that it
might hazard the air pipe, SO | was
pulled up and let down again over the
vessels side. | was disappointed not to
find any indication of the gold near the
hole i'll the schooner, but set 10 work
digging resolutely in the sand. | had
gone but a foot down when / struck the
gold pieces all ia a lump. I picked out
q great handful and turned the light on
them, for [ was u lover of gold then,
even though it did not belong to me.
Just then l saw something that
made the rubber helmet rise from my
head. 1t was a man eating shark. I
hadn't thought Of one in SO long that l
had neglected to bring my knife. 1t was
rushing at me. The stupid creature
never stopped to consider that with q
rubber and lead dressing a diver makes
a poor lunch. / was kneeling beside the
gold. At the sharks onslaught | natural
y lung TO the handful of gold rs though
to use it us Il weapon. lie turned ON his
side, opening his horrible mouth. A
feeling of grim humor had come over
me. The cruel goldbugs had sent me
down here TO be devouTed, after saving
thousands Of dollars for them. l would
be a spendthrift at the last. So with all
my force / flung the heavy handful of
coin into the yawning mouth.
"The shark must have thought it was
q part of me, for he snapped his jaws
over the golden morsel. [ am satisfied
that he broke some teeth. He SWAN
back u little, and then rushed at me
again. l had no weapon but the gold,
so again l flung into the hideous NAV
enough to buy me a home in New Eng
land. ! saw him snap and swallow it.
Again and again was the attack repeat
ed, and as often did | hurl gold into the
Ehark's throat. Pretty soon he became
dizzy, as it were, for the gold had un-
balanced him, settling in the forward
part of his body. Then he writhed in
agony, and / had to keep lodging his
furry. Thea, with one terrible shpdder,