The evening times., 1899-10-10

seize its food or prey. The eyes were back
Oh these, and the mouth was an enormous
transverse slit, big enough to hold a man.
The color was black or blue; black on the
upper side and white on the lower; and the
tan was long lashlike organ as big as that
OF an OK. Give such creature width of
from fifteen to twenty feet and length
OF sixteen or seventeen, and you have an
animal we'll calculated to demoralize
sportsman.
Mornings Sport.
remember one morning / went out
with party. l had big six-oared barge
decked over forward to stand on, and
manned by crew of slaves In the stern
sat four Of my friends who were to be
introduced to the sport. In the bow were
four harpoons with wide barbs and strong
poles with long ropes, the latter coiled in
half barrel; with them were several
lances which were to finish the big game.
We had not gone 200 yards before one of
the boys whispered 'Dere's de fin, sir
And sure enough, well inshore we saw a
sharp pointed black fin cutting the water
like knife in a CIRCLE and then We saw
one OF the remarkable tricks which this
strange creature indulges in that of turn
ing complete somersaults without rhyme
or reason. | seized harpoon and let fly,
sending the weapon into the fish's stom-
ach as it was turning. 1t righted at once
and dashed away for twenty or thirty feet,
then went into the air like a great bird
presenting diabolical appearance with its
long tail, its tapping side wings, and
black and white sides. II came down with
crash and then rushed on at full speed.
The rope went out SO rapidly that
thinking when the end came it would
break, | took piece of sailcloth and
wrapping it around my hand, grabbed the
line For a moment it fairly smoked
through my hands; then bracing back |
held the fish for a second and Stacked ii
OFF SO that the end came gradually The
vampire kept directly down the channel
for mile, then turned and followed up
the sound about 500 feet from shore. For
two miles the fish towed US at racing
speed, then it turned suddenly, hauling the
boat around so quickly that she was almost
swamped despite the men at the oars, and
headed out to sea. | made up my mind il
was a case of stop him in the next two
miles or be taken out to sea and there lose
him in the rough water, so gave the word
and the line was passed aft and we began
to haul in on il. Every tug seemed to
drive the fish 10 fresh endeavors and its
and then il went clear into the air. coming
down with a resounding crash that awak-
ened the echoes far and near But We
gradually gained, half the men hauling on
the rope, the rest rowing ahead. 1t SCENE
an hour before We got sight of the fish and
then we were at the mouth of the sound
l could see its huge form directly beneath
me; one more haul and it came within two
feet of the surface Then l sent the second
l hnr syas< %;v,,,
it through the vampires back. Yet it tore
away and got fifty feet of line before We
could stop it.
Victory Over the Vampire.
I'VE now had two harpoons in the vam-
pire, so / ordered the men to pull in the
opposite direction, and they could hardly
do it; but the fish was growing weaker
and presently We had it under way, towing
1t toward the beach. During the tow it
turned, coming half out of the water. and
swept every oar out of the hands of the
men on that side; but two or three thrusts
from the lance quieted it for a while, and
We took a long breath as the men slowly
rowed in, towing the batlike creature
When we stretched it 9h the beach, our
like huge bird prone upon The white sand
Its mouth was so capacious that when it
was propped open one of the men sat in it,
AS nearly as l can remember, the fish was
eighteen feet across and eleven long to the
base of the tail, which was seven feet in
length.
1.-The most curious feature of the crea.
ture was the two tieshy fnger-like claspers.
one on each side Of the mouth that could
be whirled about in any direction and were
used to throw food into the mouth: and tn
give you an idea of their power, the father
of friend of mine, who was a famous
vampire hunter, harpooned one of these
fishes one day and, after being towed six
or seven miles, hauled the fish up to the
boat. In some way the rope became fouled.
and, reaching down to, clear it, his arm
was seized by the vampire. and pressed with
so terrific a grip that he shouted to, the
men to hold him, for if the fish made 8,
| rush it would take him, which was true
enough. The fish held him like vice. Two
men took the harpooners by each leg, while
another fastened a rope around his waist
| and made him fast. All this time he was
hanging over the rail with his head near the
| water, and it was a time of frightful sus-
| pense, that five minutes. As they hauled
] in on the fish it let go and the arm was
released, Dut DIack and blue from the
| pressure. og7a
ITO give you an idea of how these re-
markable claspers are used let me explai /
| that some of the planters in the old DAYS
| built private wharyes out into the sound
| The piles were preyed upon by various an
| imals such as the toredo until some O
! them were in a bad shape. The piles a ,,
| going to refer to were not weak enough
to be dangerous and required treme ndou
| force to break down; yet one day tn I,
planter found his pier partly demolished
three or four Of the piles being broke off
and several uprooted. There had teen }
storm, indeed a hurricane cou not hav
accomplished such results. A few days
later another pier disappeared, and when
| a vampire hunt was organized one day and
four or FIVE planters got together and com
| pared notes they found that such occur
rences often happend on the sound.
An Old Negroes Testimony.
! Hearing the conversation, an old negro
spoke up and said that it was the work OF
the vampire fish. The gentls wsre IL
creduious, but the old darkey was po :itive
| and said that on. a certain plantation on
| the sound he had seen the vampire do it.