The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1900-01-12
CARPET TAcKs SAVED HIS LIFE
Experience of voyager Around the
World at Terra del Fuego.

World at Terra del Fuego.
Capt. Joshua Slocum, In his solitary
voyage around the world in the sloop
Spray, found a new and exciting use
for carpet tacks. He thus describes an
encounter with the natives Of Terra
del Fuego:
Canoes manned by savages from
Fortesque now came in pursuit. The
wind falling light, they gained on me
rapidly till coming within hail, when
they ceased padding, and bow-legged
savage stood up and called to me,
"Yammerschooner yammerschooner!
which is their begging term. said
"Nop Now, was not for letting them
know that was alone, and so stepped
into the cabin and, passing through the
hold, came out at the fore-scuttle.
changing my clothes as l went along.
That made two men. Then the piece Of
bowsprit which had sawed off at
Buenos Ayres and which | had still on
board, arranged forward on the look
out, dressed as a seaman, attaching a
line by which could put 1t into motion.
That made three Of us and we did not
want to "yammerschooner," but for all
that the sayages came on faster than
before. saw that, besides four at the
paddles In the canoe nearest to me,
there were others In the bottom, and
that they were shifting hands often. At
eighty yards l fired slot across the
bow Of the nearest canoe, at which they
all stopped, but only for a moment. See
Ing that they persisted In coming near
er, l fired the second shot so close to the
chap who wanted to "yammerschoon-
er" that he changed his mind quickly
enough and beloved with fear, ''Bueno
10 via Isla," and, sitting down In his
canoe, he rubbed his starboard cathead
for some time. was thinking Of a
good port captains advice when l
pulled the trigger and must have
aimed pretty straight; however, miss
was as good as mile for Mr.. "Black
Pedro" as he 1t was, and no other,
leader in several bloody massacres.
He now directed the course of his
canoe for the island and the others fol-
lowed him. knew by his Spanish lin
go and by his full beard that he was the
villain have named, renegade NON
grel, and the worst murderer In Terra
del Fuego. The authorities have been
In search Of him for two years. The
Fuegans are not bearded. At
night, March 8, at anchor in snug cove
at the Turn, every heartbeat counted
thanks. Here pondered on the events
of the last few days and, strangely
enough, instead Of feeling rested from
sitting or lying down now began to
feel jaded and worn, but hot meal
of venison stew put me right so that l
could sleep. AS drowsiness came on l
first sprinkled the deck with the tacks
that my old friend Samblich had given
me and then turned In. saw to It
that not few of them stood business
end" up, for when the Spray passed
Thieves Bay two canoes had put out
and followed in her wake, and there
was no Disgusting the fact any longer
that l was alone.
Now, 1t Is we'll known that one can
not step on a tack without saying some
thing about it. A pretty good Christian
will whistle when he steps on the "com-
mercial end" of carpet tack; a savage
VIII howl and claw the air, and that
was Just what happened that night
about II o'clock, while l was asleep In
the cabin, where the savages thought
they "had me-" sloop and all. They
changed their minds, however, when
they stepped on deck, for then they
thought that or somebody else had
them. l had no need Of dog; they
howled like pack of hounds. had
hardly use for gun. They Jumped
pell-mell, some into their canoes and
some into the sea, to cool off, l suppose.
ana there was deal Of free language
over 1t as they went. l fred the ras.
Gals salute Of several guns when |
came on deck, to let them know that |
was at home and then turned in again
Feeling sure that should not be dis
-urbed any more by people who left in
70 great hurry.-Century.