The Worthington advance., 1900-03-30
A Fish ,and~-a Beair
IS: M iii fs.s ssss3ss: "'o
% A S FER me, ;" said Caleb, the noun

..
4 S FER me, j." said Caleb, the noun
n tain guide, who knows the forest
Businesses of the Cascade range as no
other man knows them, II amt given
to tellin' what amt 80 and I'd jest al
soon as not take my affidavy to any
thing have to say az If was on the
witness stand. In fact I'd q mite
ruther, fer no matter how honest =
man is there is always somebody
around suspicionin' of him. What T.
tell is reliable and could be wrote right
into history. But faint everybody is
willin' to 60 on record over . so-help-
me.
Fer instance, there was Sam Rog-
ers, that used to be my pardner before
he got rich and killed himself livin'
too high in Frisco. Sam used to tell
how he was tishin' one day down in
Floridy. He Lad nigger feller with
him and they pulled out in u sailboat
about q quarter of mile from shore
to ketch mess fer supper. They was
busy fishin' and didn't notice q squall
comm up till it had 'em, and before
they knowed what was happenin' they
was bein' blowed out to sea at the rate
of about 10 miles minute er so. They
tried to git the boat turned round and
60 the other way, but the wind blowed
30 they couldn't do a thing but let i.
60 and they give up at last and pu:
themselves in the hands Nv Providence.
The wind blow ed gale till midnight
and wound up by blowing their mast
and sail away, leaving them on the,
bosom NV the deep, as Sam used to say.
MT the mercy Ct the waves. They laid
down in the little cabin of the boat
and give up fer gone coon-skins, but
they was alive when mornin' come and
clean out of sight of land, they didn't
know how fer. They didn't have any
thing to eat either, ner to drink, not
countin' on a long voyage, and when
they got their senses in the mornih'
they was hungry and dry.
ITO make things wuss, the sun come
out about six o'clock and got hotter'n
red-hot stove lid. They driffed
around all day hopin' to see some ves-
sci er other, but they didn't, and when
night come they was in powerful bad
fix that was wuss the next mornfn'.
Sam said he was going to kill the n1gss
ger and eat him, bYt he never did like
the dark meat, so he held off awhile:
and the niger thought mebbe they
might ketch fish. The boat was a
fishin' craft with all kinds of tackle
on board, and the nigger rigged 4 big
hook and line and said mebbe he might
catch tarpon. That's what he done,
too, after long time, and he was q big
one weighin' over hundred pound.
1t was Job landin' him, but Sam said
desperite men could do anything when
they tried and Sam and the niger
didn't let that tarpon git away. There
was little oil stove in the csbbin, and
they went right at the fish to git 4
piece of him as soon as they could.
The nigger held the fish on his back
and Sam ripped him open, and when
he did, by gravy, his knife hit some
thin hard and Sam give it another rip,
when out dropped q black bottle"
The listeners were ON the point of
making demonstration.
NO, gents" said Caleb, holding up
his hand for quiet, 1T wasn't liquor.
1t was quart bottle, though, tight
corked, and Sam had the cork out in
about two winks of q cats eye, and it
was full up to the neck with nice min
eral water. II was cold, too, az the
inside of q fish, and when Sam and
the enigger seen 1t they forgot allabout
the preju6ices of color and actually
huggeds each other. They took -a1gootl
drink apiece, Sam and the nigger, right
out of the same bottle, and ct some of
the fish that they cooked, then they
braced up, to their situation, feelin'
good deal more clipper. About noon
they took another nip, and that eyenin'
when they was about to- take their1 last
one, they sighted vessel that come
along aud saved their. lives. Sam al
ways sail he reckoned that the fish had
picked the bottle up somewhere in his
travels and that it had likely been
drapped overheard frum some ship or
other sailin' IN them waters, fer it
wasn't very likely that he'd come and
git it out of a barroom."
The listeners applauded.
Don't do it, gents" begged Caleb.
'Tain't the truth, I don't believe, ner
never did, and you oughtn't to encour-
age lynn under no circumstances. Now
my story amt that kind at all. It's got
the truth stickin' out all over it like
pork on the fretful 'quillupine, as the
poet says. Mine happened ON land
where there amt no fish to tempt q
man. 1t happened out in the Rockies
when was about 20 years old. Ne and
my brother Jim was minin' out there
and we had cabin about five miles
from the nearest camp where there
was store. Twas over there one day
after few supplies, includin', of . gal
Ion of coal oil, what you call kairosene
nowadays. As wan coming along
home about two o'clock in the after
noon, q big grizzly bear, that thought
was an elephant. come tumblin' ont OF