Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-06-25

Beneath the Surface
BY Frank T. Bullen.
'AIITHAT I'm goin' ter tell We hap

$1,000 oSA W. wa A~F
w pened - femme see-wall, l
doan7no-mebbe two, mebbe four er
five year sence l wuz mate of a pearl
in schooner b'longin' ter Sevuka, lynn
daouwn to Rotumah. Ware we'd ben
workin' the reef wuz middlin' deep
deep huff ter make eour b'ys fall on
deck when they come up with load, n
Eethere like dead uns fer bout ten min
nits befo' they KID o ag'in. Twuz
slaughterin' divin'; but the shell wuz
thick n no mistake; n eour ole man
wuz a hustler-s'long's he got shell he
didn't vally a few dern Kanakers peg
gin eout meow n then. We'd alost
three with sharks, n eff 'twan't tibet
tn b'ys wuz more skeered of old Hard
head than they wuz of anythin' else I
doan reckon we ah'd a-got any more
stuff tibet trip t all. But z he warn't
the kind er blossom to play any games
on, they KEEP at it, IN we 'uz film up
fast. The land wuz bout ten miles of,
m they wuz bout fifty, er mebbe sixty
fathom water b'tween the reef we wuz
fshin' on n the nearest pint. Wall,
long bout eight bells in the afternoon
l w a-standin' by the galley door
watchin' a Kanaker crawlin' inboard
very slow bein' most done up. Five er
six ov 'em w hangin' roun' bout ter
start below agen, n tn ole man w
a-blarsfemin' gashly at 'em fer bein'
so slow. Right in the middle ov his
sermont / seed i'm go green in the face.
m make a step from the rail, with both
hans helt up in front ov i'm s if he wuz
skeered most ter de'th. m he wuz,
too. There cum lickin' inboard after
him a long gray slitherin' thing like a
snake 18th no head, but a lot wv saucers
stuck onto it bottom up. IN befo' I'd,
time ter move, bein' most sort er para
lived, several more of the dern things
wus a-sleakin' around all over the
deck. The fust one got the skipper
good m tight 18th a round turn above
his arms, n I saw him a-slidin' away,
The schooner wuz a-rollin' s if in a big
swell-which ther warn't a sign of, S
1 cd see. But them snaky things went
quicker m thinkin' all over her, N be-
TO- yew cd say knife every galoot, in
cludin' me, wuz a-goin' long with 'em
back to where they'd come from.
"Say, d'yew ever wake up all alive,
'cep' yew couldn' move ner speak, only
know all wuz goin' on, n do the pow
fest thinkin' bout things yew ever did
in yer life? Yes, m that's haow I wuz
then. When tibet cold gristly sarpint
cum coddin' roun' me, m the saucers
got to me S if they'd suck out me very
bowls, I'd a-g'in Mount Morgan ter
died; but I couldn't ev'n 60 mad. 1saw
the head ov the Thing them arms b.
longed ter, n 'twuz wuss n the hor.
rors, cause I wuz sane n cool m elect
ed. The eyes wuz black n a foot or
more across n when l looked into 'em
I seed meself a-comin'."
He was silent for a minute, but shak-
ing as if with palsy. laid my hand on
his arm, not KNOWN what to say, and
he looked up wistfully, sayin:
"Thenks, shimste; thet's good" Then
he went on again:
1.-THE whole Thing went back'ards
takin' us along; m l remember think.
in ez we went of the other Kanakers
below that hedn't come back. l herd
the bubbles 8 each Of us left the sun
shine but never q cry, never another
SCUM. The las thing 1 remember see
in Dove me wuz tn eend Of the schoon-
er's mainboom, which wuz guyed out to
larberd some, m looked like a big arm
struck stiff an helpless, though wish
full to save. Down l went, that clingin'
snaky coil round me tighter n my
skin. But wut wuz strangest ter me
wuz the fact that not only I didn't
drown, but I felt no sort er disconven-
fence frum being below the water. N
at Last, when l reached the coral,
though / dessay l looked corpse enough,
'twuz only my looks, fur l felt, lackin'
my not bein' able ter move, breathe, err
speak, ez peart n fresh ez / do naow,
The clutch that he'd ben ~squeezin' me
so ALFRED tight begun to slack, n I
felt more comf'ble; m eff t 'adn't ben
for the recollection Nv them eyes n
that berryin'-ground' ov q mouth, I
doan'no but wut I might ha' been
Almost happy. But I lay thar. with the
rest Nv my late shipmates, sort er
ready for consumpshun, like the flies
in the orner Of a spiders web; n'thet
guy me a pow'ful heap ov a bad time.
"After awhile the quiet Of the place
begun ter breed strange noshuns in
my he'd-jest like . If I wux dreamin',
though wide awake = ever 1 wuz in all
my life. I jest 'peared to be way back
at the beginnin' Nv things, befo' they
wuz anythin' else but water, n wut
life there wuz IN them early days he'd