The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-06-30


dinner all hands started homeward
tired but seemingly happy. There
was among the party certain Miss
Mer; who being maid must of course
been a mermaid, no other deduction
possible. There are two ways of reach
ing Fernandina from Tiger Islands,
namely, the inside and outside passages.
To accomplish the first is to simply fol-
fow the coast of Amelia Island and
pass in over the bar by Fort Clinch and
thus into the harbor. The second is to
sail down Nassau Sound through Peli.
cans Neck-or what is otherwise
known by the graphic name of "Hell's
Hole"-into the lower bay; the dis.
tance being about the same both ways;
eighteen miles. The sIoop took the
outer passage, and I, with Miss Mer
and her dog Snap for companions, took
the inner. AS usual in such cases every
thing went lovely for time, my mer-
maid seemed to enjoy watching por-
poises turning flip flaps" and thought
them "just' too funny for anything, as
long as they kept at a distance. We
made good run down the sound with
a strong flood tide and fair wind. and
were within about a mile of the He'll
Hole when there was sudden change
of base, caused by huge porpoise
turning one of his f1ip-faps about three
feet from the boat. There was
scream, jump, and mermaid, Snap
and Wah Gee were in the water-very
much in the Water-and the boat was
making grand stand finish all by its
lonely. Moral: Never take a girl into
Whitehall boat. If she was looking
for the worst possible place in all n as
sau sound to go overheard at, she GER
tainly found it. Within fifty feet of us
was the sunken hull of an old aband-
Oned schooner, veritable nest for
sharks. | have often counted half
dozen fins at time there. In the
language of the prize ring. there was
three clinches and three breakaways.
Mermaid seemed determined to drown
both of us. | died a hundred deaths
in two minutes. l could have sworn
that both my lower limbs were bitten
off dozen times. After the third
breakaway 1 was little agnry; and
more than little frightened. 1 real
lied that if l was to save her [ must
take decided action. 1 then, for the
tirst-and hope last-time in my life
struck woman; and l struck her
good and hard right on her sweet little
nose and told her, in no cooling dove
tone of voice, that it she did not keep
her hands down | would strangle her
then and there. AS soon as she saw
the blood she began to cry; saying, "Oh
don't strike me again, 1 will do any
thing you say" She was more afraid
of her nose than she was of the sharks
or a watery grave. Women are so
funny; 1 suppose they are built that
way. She followed copy" however,
and it was not necessary to repeat the
punishment. l was certain the boat
would stop at the He'll Hole, for we
were in the channel behind the island
with the tide coming in from both ends.
1 was certain therefore of catching the
boat at the "Hell Hole" if could only
reach there. If it had not been for fear
of the sharks it would only have been
necessary to keep her head above the
water and let the tide carry us along,
but as it was, kept up kicking and
churning to beat the band, at first her
skirts were help to keep her afloat but
soon grew heavy and were dragging her
down. Fortunately they were arranged
so that they could be detached: and
as Sinbad would say, 1 let them go by
the run. We reached the boat at last.
but had it been hundred yards farther
this tale would never have been written.
1t was twenty minutes before either of
us could speak after we got in the boat.
She found her voice first, however. No,
she did not say was great, horrid,
brutal fellow, but she did have "a real
good cry" After she had wiped away
the tears and blood and improvised a