Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1898-11-24

his back. Away would swim the
startled creature, mostly foot or so
below the surface. When he dived
deeper I simply sat far back on the
shell, and then he was forced to come
up. l steered my queer steeds in
curious way. When wanted my
turtle to turn to the left, ] simply
thrust my foot into his right eye, and
vice versa for the contrary direction.
Ny two big toes placed simultane-
ously over both his optics caused a
halt SO abrupt as almost to unseat
me.
HIS DOG AND A TRAINED PELICAN.
zone day I captured a young peli-
can, and trained him to accompany me
in my walks and help me in my fish.
ing operations. He also acted as a
deooy. frequently would hide my.
self in some grass, while my pet bird
walked few yards away to attract his
fellows. Presently he would be joined
by whole flock, many of which shot
with my bow and arrows or lassoed.
"But for my dog-my almost human
Bruno-I think I must have died. l
used to talk to him just as though he
were O human being. We were abso-
lutely inseparable. / preached long
sermons to him from Gospel texts. l
sang little chansons to him, and among
these he had his favorites as we'll as
those he disliked cordially. If he did
not care for song he would set up a
pitiful howl. I feel convinced that
this constant communing aloud with
my dog saved my reason.
1T knew very little about musical
instruments, but as 1 had often longed
for something to make noise with,
to drown the maddening crash of the
eternal surf, 1 fashioned drum out
of small barrel, with sharks skin
stretched tightly over the open ends.
This I beat with couple of sticks as
an accompaniment to my singing, and
as the dog occasionally joined in with
a howl of disapproval or yell OF joy,
the effect must have been picturesque
if not musical.
A SAIL SIGHTED.
''Seven weary months had passed
away, when one morning on scanning
the horizon l leaped into the air and
screamed: My Godl A sail! A saill'
I nearly became delirious with excite
ment, but, alasI the ship was too far
out at sea to notice my frantic signals.
Altogether I saw five ships pass in this
way during my sojourn on the island,
but they were always too far out at sea
to notice my signals. One of these
vessels knew to be man-o'-war fly
ing the British ensign.
BIRDS AS MESSENGERS.
1.-THE powerful winged birds that
abounded on the island one day gave
me an idea Why not hang message
around their necks and send them
forth into the unknown? Possibly they
might bring help-who knows? And
with me to conceive was to act. / got
a number of empty condensed milk
tins, and, by means of fire, separated
from the cylinder the tin disk that
formed the bottom. On this disk I
scratched message with q sharp nail.
In a few words conveyed information
about the wreck and my deplorable
condition. I also gave the approx
mate bearings.
IT may say here, that over twenty
years later, when I returned to civil
cation, I Glanced to mention the story
about my messenger birds to some old
inhabitants at Freemantle, Western
Australia, when to my amazement,
they replied that a pelican carrying g
tin disk around it's neck, bearing o
message in French from a castaway,
had been found many years previously
by an old boatman on the beach eE1
the mouth of the Swan River"
For an almanac he put shells side
by side in row, one foreach day, un.
til the number reached seven, and
then he transferred one shell by an
other place, representing the weeks
Another pile of shells represented the
months; and, as for the years, he kept
track of them by making notches on
his bow. His peculiar calendar was
always checked by the moon.
HUMAN BEINGS AT LAST.
1.-TWO interminable years had passed
away, when one day the weather sud.
denly changed, and a terrible gale
commenced to blow, which threatened
almost to wreck my little hut. One
morning, few days later, when the
storm had abated somewhat, heard
Bruno barking widely on the beach.
A few seconds afterwardhe came rush.
ing into the hut, and would not rest
until l prepared to follow him outside.
Before doing so, however, picked up
an oar-I knew not why. I then fol.
lowed my dog down to the beach, won
dering what could possibly have
caused him to make such fuss. The
sea was somew hat agitated, and as il
was not very light, / could not clearly
distinguish things in the distance.
"On peering seaward for the third
or fourth time, however, I fancied
could make out long black object,
which concluded must be some kind
OF boat, tossing up and down on the
pillows. Then must confess began
to share Bruno's excitement, particu
larly when few minutes later l dis.
cerned q well-made catamaran with