The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1897-11-29
CAUGHT THE EDucATED cRAs.

tied the village to celebrate the event.
When last seen, bound over the hills of
Hardscrabble, he was close hauled and
laying a course as tortuous as the wake
of a mackerel smack beating to wind
ward against. tide and stiff moth
easter.
Cap'n Eph had been fishing for the
Educated Crab ever since he was SO
afflicted with rheumatism that he had
to knock off cruising between Bishop
and Clerks lighthouse and the Hand
kerchief ledge, and do all his fishing in
the bay or off the breakwater. He had
always maintained that the Educated
Crab was raised in Buzzard's bay and
that it had legs around New Bedford.
1t showed vicious knowledge, accord
ing to Cap'n Eph, only to have been
gained by long experience among
whalemen.
81 s'pose that air crab hez been afoul
my line at least leven hundred times, y
remarked Cap'n Eph when he stood in
front of the post office and displayed the
cadaver of the crab, which he had
brought from the beach carefully
wrapped in paper.
ssHow do know it's the same crab |?
Don't yer s'pose 1 kin tell his fgger-
head from yourn? addressing the
neighbor on his left and pointing to the
one on his right.) Crabs hey phizes jest
ez much ez pussons. Sides, there never
wus a crab afore that wuz sheathed all
along its keel and deck with barnacles.
I've hearn tell thet yer could tell tn age
NV rattlesnake by th' rattles he steered
by4 Eff thet holds good in tn case NV
r,,1,ef 1,a r,iorI, q nd
years old.
''It I'D steal bait EASTERN a hull school
NV fryers. Thet's where his eddication
cum in. I've leaned over the gunwale
when I wuz fishing in clear water an
watched him skirmish round morn so
times. He'd go skuttlin' round my hook
four or five times, jes' ter get tn bear
ings NV tn bait, but he wouldn't make
no effort ter tech th' bait until he'd gone
up ag'in tn tide for two or three faith
oms. Then he'd come sailin' back with
the tide on his beam an heave to about
three inches from my line.
Every other crab would hev jes'
grabbed fur tn bait an made sail. That
wuzn't tn style of tn Eddicated Crab,
howsomever he'd jes' port his helm an
swing athwart tn tide till he'd got his
starboard claw fore an aft with my line,
an then he'd grab tn hook by tn eye
an pint its biziness end away from his
belly while he picked the bait off with
his port claw. 1t didn't matter how fast
hauled in tn line, he'd hev tn hook
bare by tn time rized him to the edge
Nv tn water.
''He spilled my ishin' fur three sum
mers, but / kotched him at last. How
it cum about shows that tn smartest
erab amt no way superior to man eff it
NEEDLES with rum. Night afore las I
opened half bucket ur CLAIMS an set
the bait down by the table right under
where I'd sot q nigh about full bottle Nv
Medford rum; what 1 used to rub my
leg. fur rheumatic. I'd aforementioned
all about that bottle when cum hum
long about nine o'clock o. night an
tried to light tn glim. Whilst / wuz
foolin' round fur match 1 knocked tn
bottle over an most all the lil1lxer
swashed down on them air CLAIMS. I
eussed myself fur 1ubber all night,
,ur had pains in my leg an stumach
mighty bad. But / amt sorry thet I
spilled tn ikker now, seein' that I
kotched tn eddicated crab
ST thot ez the lillker would be likely
to spile tn bait, an sure enough didn't
git bite till tn tide wuz about ebb an
th' ole crab hove in sight. He took to
the rum soaked bait jest ez kindly ez a
prohibitionist away from hum. He
cleaned my hook am made sail fur his
port, but bimeby he cum back under
full headway an seemed dreadful eager
fur mother bite. He got 1T, but acted
so wobbly that it sot me ter thinl1inf.
Says ter myself, you hev sartainly got
brains enough to git tangled up in
your latitude eff you hist in much more
Nv that cargo So 1 jist jambed tn
hook full Nv rum-soaked CLAIMS an let
Cap'n Crab navigate all over the bottom
with it. Bimeby 1 seed thet he was too
wobbly ter steer within three pints Nv
his course. He he'd to tack half dozen
times afore he could lay himself along
side the hook when baited up agin
and then he jest grabbed at tn bait,
hook and all, regardless O. conse-
kecences. 1 let him git a good hold
afore yanked, an when did give a pull
on tn line 1 druv tn hook nigh half
through his port quarter. 1t wasn't
time for tn wink ur yallerleg's eye
afore I he'd him in tn boat; an he lay
thar an blinked at me ez drunk ez a
shanghaied foremast hand in tn, fo'kas-
tie NV a Baltimore packet. Thet's how
kotched tn eddicated crab. Boston
Traveller.