Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-20

or not undertake it,
When the captain of the tug called out
| good-by to me, l waved one of my hands
at him and began to sink below the
water I could not hear his voice. but
| knew what he was saying His Inns
| of our sailor boys. There's a woman
waiting for every one"
| AS | sank my attention was attracted
| to a large number of small fish that
seemed to fill the water as though in
school. They were of all varieties, and l
actually could feel them beneath my
| feet as I sank The water, instead of
! being thin and light, was. thick, and l
pushed my feet downward as through a
! dense mass. The fish, as l quickly noted
/ We're of the very small kind which make
' he life Of a diver miserable But this
| time they did not annoy me, for they
We're after greater game beyond.
| Some We're beautiful, others ugly
! Hideous sculpins flashed around me-
grinning and blinking. Huge eels that
| looked like big snakes, twined them
selves around my legs. Crabs and lobs-
| tiers were there also, clawing about my
| divers suit and little fish came toward
me with open mouths vociferously In
| the lot We're tiny sword-fshes with I'M
! developed swords, and there were queer
looking creatures with horns and wing
shaped fins. Other had beautiful flying
! tails and there was one big kind that
had only one eye in the center of the
head. None of these were over three feet
| long, but many, having bright green
and bright blue scales, looked larger.
AS I sank a little deeper I saw what
attracted these little fish. Floating about
whole, as though waiting to become
water fit, and bobbing around the water
like corks' upon a sinker, were loaves of
| sea-bread, chunks of meat and cans of
| sailors food. Many of the cans had
| burst and were half filled with water
! and half with food. They formed verit-
able cages into which the fish swan,
never to come out until suffocated by a
| fresh supply of fish, greedy to share the
feast.
| saw green vegetables, probably car
ried aboard the Maine the day before
for next days dinner, still fresh and
hard-a toothsome morsel for the fish.
l saw banquet in mid-ocean, with
water on all sides Of it and the fish as
| guests I could have signalled then for
my helpers to hold the ropes and sus-
| pend me in order to watch them, for
| their capers were marvellous and beauti-
| full. Two shining fish with double tails
! were pulling on opposite ends of what
might have been a sweet potato, for it
was yellow, and they were greedy One
/
| aginous sword through a square Of salt
| pork and was hurrying it away to some
sea-caverned cellar.
| But ] knew 1 must not pause there.
| There was greater work beyond. AS
| sank to the depth of the Maine I found
myself suddenly facing a great hole,
| while underneath my feet were boards
and sheets of iron. as though laid out
for platform. I quickly signalled for
fln hoo = oh e-fa I -. A.
! for minute and surveyed the scene
before me. 1t was pitch dark within,
and my most powerful hand electric
| light could not penetrate the awful re-
| cess.
1 knew that I must walk inside and
throw the light here and there before
could know the secrets of the depths.
1t was my belief as soon as [ saw it
that the Maine was blown up from some
external cause, but of this 1 determined
to report nothing, as my work was with
the brave souls that persisted within
But the Maine was bent in, and you
could plainly see it was, as though she
had been shot in the side with a flying
shell.
Did I say it was dark? Not quite. The
sea flashed with light on every side, for
the phosphorescent crabs were there,
and the seafans made golden green and
pink hues. These gave out blue scintil-
| lations Other queer fish which 1 had
not noticed before sent out a light green
glow. Every animal seemed to be a light
giver, and the twinkle they shed as
they fioated in and out of the wreck was
so weirdly suggested that 1 could only
think Of miners cropping in a dark mine
with the lights upon their helmets.
But there was work TO be done Cut
ting into the wreck I threw my light
ahead and examined each point 1t was
an awful sight. I saw detached arms
and legs and skulls ripped bare of hair
saw bodies that were drowned by the
water and bodies that were not drowned
at all, but held down by great pieces of
piling wood.
Mechanically, with the instinct of a
diver, I reached for the first man at
hand. He was Japanese. His features
were mutilated, but I could catch the
race cast. 1 took him in my arms and
started out with him, but he doubled up
strangely, and l found that he had been
Quilted from the rear. A great hole was
in his back, and it was empty ribs that
1 was carrying. laid the poor fellows
head tenderly on my shoulder and took
him up to the surface then l went down