Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-12-16
JUST A SHARK STORY.
How Brave War Correspondents Stand by
Each Other In Time of Peril.

4
| Each Other In Time OF Peril.
The centre OF an admiring group in
the coy corner of Park row phar-
macy the other night was the "Sure
Enough Returned War Correspond
ent."
"Never heard OF the shark we--that
is I--caught off Matanzas during the
blockade, die ?" inquired the returned
hero.
ooh, tell us all about It," was nat.
urally the response of the stay-at.
home crowd,
'Well, he was six feet from tail to
muzzle. Thought I'd never get him
aboard. Skipper Of my yacht said
he'd rs soon tackle right whale. Myi
but that shark was vicious. The min.
ute we got him aboard Topped him
over on his back"
"Weren't you afraid he'd bite youf"
innocently asked the youngest re
porter in the bunch.
"Say, my boy" with q fatherly
glance), don't ever go to war in the
tropics II you ARE afraid OF bullets,
fever, on sharks, but, as was saying,
/ twisted Mr.. Shark over on his back
and told my second engineer to cut
the hook out His knife slipped and
he cut that shark wide open. You
can guess, even II You never saw O
shark, what he had in his midst.
Well, we threw his works overheard,
and stirl the vicious man eater showed
fight. Ididn't have time to waste, 81
we chucked Mr.. Shark overheard after
his hxturos."
There was pause. The here
gathered himself, as il for final
burst Of speed, and continued
MAY never live to see another
war IL that siy-foot shark didn't swal-
low his insides at one gulp, then duck
his head, make straight for my yacht
and butt her like mad bull ut leas,
half n dozen times. Then he swan
away. That's all"
Men looked at each other with that
twitching Of the eye that means
"Well, Ananias never started with
this chap" There was q low whistle,
n sigh from the youngest reporter and
one man Drawer than the rest ven-
tured to blurt out:
That's the biggest fish story and
the blamedest lie that was ever sprung
In Perry's back room"
"Hold on, Deacon" interrupted
tho man who, having come in for
dose OF malaria medicine and had lin
gered on the fringe Of the group dur
ing the recital OF the shark story. Hav.
ing himself only recently returned
from Cuba, where ho as war cores.
pondent fought and-was--bled, he
received respectful attention.
my friend has told remarkable
story" he said quietly, but firmly,
"but know he tells the truth"
The $. L. r. W. G. gasped: "What!
You can prove that my story is true.
Come oil. You weren't within 500
miles Of the spot when we carved that
shark"
Fright You are," responded War
Correspondent Number Two, "but
saw that same shark while cruising
from Hayti to Santiago. He was
corker for size. When he approached
my despatch boat he turned turtle.
We lowered the wherry and lassoed
the shark. Gentlemen, q seam run.
ming down that sharks under side
showed plainly that he had been cut
open and sewed up, take it, by
some friendly shark"
The clerk began mixing double
dose OF malaria specific, but the man
who had stood for his friends fish
yarn moved toward the door, saying
o. he leftr Eyes, that shark was sewed
up, probably by one OF his fellow
sharks, one Of the chaps at Capo Hay
tien that charged war correspondents
S2b ton for coal. Good night. New
York Sun.