Evening star., 1898-10-15

De II remem bered, but really formidable
club. The blow (Which would be enough to
kill an ordinary white woman) would be
borne with wonderful fortitude, and the as-
GressCr would hand the club to the woman
she had just struck.
A Weird Duel.
The latter would then take a turn, and so
1t would go on. turn and turn about until
one of the unfortunate stoical creatures fell
bleeding and half senseless to the earth
The thing was magnficently simple. The
woman who kept her senses longest and re-
manned on her legs to the end was the VIC
tor. There was no kind of ill-feeing after
these extraordinary combats. and the wo-
men would even dress one anothers
wounds
L now come to event of very great i'm
portance in my life. Elsewhere 1 have
spoken of my penchant for dugong hunting.
well. one day this sport effectually put an
end to all my prospects of reaching civil
lzatlon across the sea. | went forth one
morning. accompanied by my ever faithful
4ambd and the usual admiring crowd of
blacks. In a few minutes we two were
speeding over the Sunlit waters nv ONLY
weapon being the steel harpoon | had
brought with me from the island and about
forty or fifty feet OF manila rope. When
we were some miles from land | oticed a
dark-looking object on the surface of the
water a little way ahead. Feeling certain
1t was a dugong feeding on the well-knowu
grass, l rose and hurled my harpOon at it
with all the force | could muster Next
moment to my amazement. the head of a
calf whale was thrust agOniZingly into the
air, and not until then did / realize what
manner of creature it was | had struck.
Ihis baby whale was about fifteen feet
long, and it sounded" Immediately on re-
ceiving my harpGon. AS had enough rope
or what l considered enough, / did not cut
him adrift. He came up again presently
lashing the water with his tail. and created
a tremendous uprCar, considering his size
He then darted off madly, dashing through
the water like an arrow. and dragging our
boat at such Il tremendous pace as almost
to swamp us in the foaming wash.
Tragedy of the Baby Whale
Up to this time l had no thought of dan
ger, but just as the baby whale halted |
looked around. and saw to my horror that
his colossal mother had joined her offspring
and was swimming round and round it like
lightning apparently greatly disturbed by
its sufferings. Before l could even cut the
line or attempt to set out of the way the
enormous creature caught sight of our little
craft, ana bore down upon it like a fair
sized island rushing through the sea |
shouted TO 4amba, and We both threw our
selves over the side into the now raging
waters, and commenced to swim away with
long strokes. in order to get as far as nos
slble from the boat before the catastronhe
came which we knew was at hand We
had not got many yards before | heard
terrltc crash, and. looking back | saw the
enormous tail of the great whale towering
nigh out of the water, and my precious
boat descending in fragments upon 1t from
a height of from fifteen to twenty feet
above the agitated waters. Oddly enough.
the fore part Of the boat remained fixed to
the rope of the harpoon in the calf Ny
nrst thought, even at so terrible a moment
and in so serious situation, was one of
bitter regret for the loss of what | consjd-
cred the only means of reaching ciyiIiza-
ton. Like d flash it came back to me how
many weary months of toll and hope and
expectancy | had spent over that darling
craft: and / remembered. too the delirious
JOY of launching it. These thoughts passed
through my mind in a few seconds.
A Ten-MiIc Swim.
AZ this time we had a swim Of some ten
miles before us. and yet in the far distance
| could not cnly see land distinctly. but al
so the crowd of blacks, who We're now put
ting out in their catamarans to help us
Some Of the blacks always accompanied me
down to the shore these trips. They
never tired. | think. OF seeing me handle
my giant 'catamaran" and the to them
mysterious harDOCn After the mother
whale had Wreaked its vengeance upon NV
unfortunate boat it rejoined its little one
ana SUI continued swim rOund and