The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1899-03-14
The Rhyme of the Sea- PAIRING Man.
tExchange.l

purchased glass OF stin Maine grog for
And he confidentially leaned on the bar an,
spun this yarn to me
Twas down on the aidge OF the Saragos' Il
the nineteenth latitood
That think see the dumdest sight that eve
q sailor viewed.
We was dobbIn' along with dumpy sails In ,
nigh about dead calLI
When the forward watch Civ good long squin
and he yapped loud alarm.
And there afioat. two points to port was a sharl
IA reg'lar be 'un.
The biggest shark I've ever seen outside the
Carribeun.
The old man fred mighty euss and he yelled
| to the second maize
Sling over the biggest hook we've got with q
good big plug o. bait =
We dragged 'er astern and his nobs come OIL
and with mighty splosh.
He gulped the pork. he bit the rope and away
he went, by gosh.
But when he skipped two miles to lee and be,
gun to wopse and wheel.
| We hggered he found the lunch he had a rayth-
er TOO hearty meal.
Yet right behind in the quarter wash the crit.
ter swum next day
Anc though he gobbled the bait we threw, he
allus got away.
And at last, do We know. we liked the cuss for
the way he showed his spunk;
So we named him Pete and we shared salt hoss
and tossed him daily junk
He got the orts of the fish we caught and. all in
A two boss wagon wouldn't haul the grub that
critter ct.
Then one day Jones, the nkeliest man we had
Went of the rail with a swinging sail and Pete
he ct him too.
From that time on we tipped our caps 10 the
razor backed old brute
We tipped our caps and pulled a bow in q
most profound salute.
For twas only due from decent crew to honor
comrades grave
Though twas odd I'll own to have tomb afioat
on the ocean wave.
And the old man ordered the fish lines coiled,
for he lowed 'twarnt proper game
To bob for cemetery lot; so Pete swum on
the same.
Swum on the same though we come to see that
he didn't act quite right;
For he grew as thin's a belayin' pin on that
gol-durned appetite.
And we couldn't figger the secret out, though
the second mate was firm
That slowed tween decks in the shark IS insides
was oastin' big tape worm.
AS we didn't have no vermifuge we could only
mourn for Pete
And steal salt boss when the mate warnt round
and give him lots TO eat.
But at last he rolled his CLASSY eyes and Civ
an awful churn
And turned his belly up to view and drifted on
astern.
He rolled and sogged on a logy swell like a nut
cake dropped in fat
And IL 'peared 10 All there was suthin, vrront,
with the shark we was lookin' at.
So the old man ordered the gig crew up and the
bos'n piped tune,
And away he sploshed, with the mate ahead a
grippin' big harpoon.
He slung the thing when we drew abeam and
we backed like all possessed
But that shark was sleepin' sound, you bet, for
we never broke his rest.
We never broke his peaceful snooze though
plunk to the eyelet head
Went rippin' in that big harpoon, for you see,
And the old man ordered an ortopsy, for the
thing seemed mighty queer
That an able bodied, hearty shark was deadern
door knob here.
So the mate was medical 'xaminer and he
straddled the critters back
And laid him open from deck to keel with one
almighty whack.
Now listen close while tell the rest, for this is
the story's peth.
You may take my mob for Scuttle butt, II
the shark warn't starved to death.
Starved to death though the sea was full OF the
fattest kind of fish,
And though a mariner, plump and sound, had
fallen in his dish.
Starved though he had in his gorged insides
I'll bet, hundred weight.
or every kind Of floating thing from Goldfish
down to bait.
And this was how:-He'd spied, we judged, an
empty cask af1oat,
And bein' glutton he grabbed the cask and
tucked 1t down his throat.
The cask we found had an open end, the bottom
was good and stout.
The shark had swallered the whole end fust,
the open end was out.
Aud ev'ry mossel the critter ct was scooped by
the cask inside,
His vittles failed to reach the spot and SO the
poor shark died.
This is sample of wierd, wild yarns the mar
iners relate,
under the spur of a glass of grog in the Prohi-
bition State.
HOLMAN F. DAY, OF Maine.