The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-04
ZUouae11Mi Taventu1,es
2LZhIch RefeA2 Louis
ae Rougemont Dur
ing 0hA:ty GEARS TN
The South Sea7.

Seas that was said to be fabulous In It's
wealth of pearls. No European hau
ever been there This was in the carry
COS. eff we succeed. my young fr1eho'
he said. you are rich. II we 1ah we
both go broke. 49,. r+
of the world he was going to- But tnat
did not deter him.
The Veielland sailed from Singapore
early in the summer, and by autumn
was on the pearl fishing grounds. Here
they met their first adventures. ana II
rapidly became apparent tha1 they
would have to fight as well as nsh.
One morning while all were at work
off the shore Of what they thought an
uninha bited island, a fleet of Papuan
war canoes made an assault on them.
But Captain Jensen was prepared, and
Instantly sent a charge of grape shot
into them from a small cannon ne had
mounted forward. This created havoc
In the canoes, and those saVages not
killed rapidly padded away. Another
load of shot prevented an attack for
some time and the fishers worked away
successfully But they were always in
constant fear of an attack, and II 1t
had not been for the cannon the pearl
fishers would have been COMPELLED to
fly for their lives, for the bloodthirsty
savages could be counted by the thou
sand.
The pearl-fishing expedition was a
most successful one and the small
schooner was rapidly being filled with
a fortune. White and pink pearls of
large size were found by the dozens
But one morning Rougement found a
shell with three pearls in it-and they
We're black. A fortune in themselves
They were of enormous size and any
one of them would have rendered the
rt.1o ;,,IA FL
Now let's go home and enjoy the
results Of our good luck" said Rouge
mont.
Lets stay and find more" said Cap
tain Jensen.
Then he got the pearl fever very
badly. He went almost crazy at sight
of the three black pearls, each worth
a fortune. He rashly determined to de-
lay the departure Of the schooner in
order to hunt for more
THE monsoon will soon blow and our
lives will be in danger" said Rouge
mont.
But protests had no effect on the
avarice of the captain. He delayed the
expedition and disaster came.
First a school of sharks surrounded
the fishing party and the divers had to
go out with knives and kill the mon
sters. On enc or two occasions the
diver was not successful and there was
one man less to work.
The greatest enemy the divers had
to fear in these waters was the dreaded
octopus, whose presence occasioned far
greater panic than the appearance of q
mere shark.
These loathSome monsters would
sometimes come and throw their horri-
BILE tentacles over the side of the frai
craft from which the divers were work
ing, and actually fasten on to the mer
themselves, dragging them out into the
water At ather times octopuses at
tack the divers down below, and holt
them relentlessly under water until life
was extinct. One of our own men had {
terribly narrow escape from one o.
these fearful creatures. Each evening
when the divers returned from pear
fishing, they roped all their little skiff:
together and let them lie astern of the
schooner. One night the wind rose
and rain fell heavily, with the result
that next morning all the little boat.
were found more or less waterlogged
While baling them out the man saw 6
mysterious looking black object in the
sea, which so attracted his curiosity
that he dived overheard to find out
what 1t was. He had barely reached
the water. however. when an immense
octopus rose into view, and at once
made for him. He instantly saw his
danger, and with great presence OF