The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1901-09-25

where the babies and eggs swung in
| delicate cradles over the deep. In
tent on his search he was scrambling
In the seaweed, caring nothing for his
immersion every moment when the
vines let him through. Potter was
struggling with the boat, trying TO
draw 1t over n mass of cable-like
| plants. Under water the vegetation
was viscid and treacherpus. Potter
had taken his shotgun out and laid 1t
on a hummock. He was outside the
boat trying to lift 1t above the mass
o. STUFF.
Then Coville heard him shout. While
he was trying to depress the stern Of
the boat, his weight had forced It sud
denly under water; It shot down side
wise among the slippery vines, and
when he tried to shove It back great
| arm of the kelp had slipped above the
gunwale, holding 1t tightly like rub
| Der band.
The boat kept sliding end foremost
| under water. and Potter's frantic eff
forts in nowise helped, for he. too,
was slowly sinking from the weight
on the fibrous mass. Coville ran TO
him, and they grasped the bow of the
craft and tried to pull It forward. In
stead, they forced themselves neck
deep into the Shiny vegetation, and
| had to abandon the effort. They drew
Off to safer footing and looked at each
other in perplexity. The boat remained
two-thirds submerged, locked in the
| weeds.
1t all happened so suddenly that the
| real gravity OF the situation did not
| dawn on them. Potter even burst out
laughing at the collegian's blank face.
Pull off your Clothes" he said.
"We'll have to get under the boat and
| loosen that root"
1--WE can cut It, suppose" said Co.
| vile. 81 have n knife"
The shore with the high mountains
back of It, seemed so close, with the
still water between; the kelp fields, n
half mile wide, with the open water
beyond, and the sun so bright over all,
were so familiar that the possibility
of danger did not strike them.
Il can swim 10 shore If it comes to
that" said Potter But Wen get the
boat out in minute"
He dived under It and worked siren
uously at the vines. thick as n mans
| leg, that lay across its thwarts. He
| came up for breath, and returned with
Coville's knife. But the tough fibers
| resisted. and all the time the mass
sank until the end of the boat was
barely above the surface, and long
streamers of kelp were beginning to
throw themselves out from the sides
over the diver, as IL to hold him down.
| Potter came up red-faced and ex-
hausted. Dropped the knife" he
said, shortly, "but there's only one
strand on the boat now. III get that
Off she'll come up"
| But the whole business is sinkingr'
said Coville. IL thought that the stuff
was going TO close over you. Be care
ful!'
Potter went below. Through the
crystal water Coville could mark every
movement of his hands. Then some
thing like band of shining white In
the sunlit water swept through the
open place below Coville.
He yelled hastily at his companion
but Potter, although he did not heaI
the shout, saw the danger, and plunged
upward to where his friend grasped
his hand and drew him upon the sink
ing cables of kelp.
"a shark! What big one he wasv
cried Potter.
"Yes, l thought he had you; he went
past like shotr'
but all the commotion of the boa
sinking had attracted the brutes.
never thought of that. There arr
fearfully big ones under the kelp. The
fishermen say it's feeding ground fol
them, the cuttlehsh are SO plentiful
here"
The two young men peered fear
fully down through the frond-latticet
windows into the depths. Blue, blacl
and purple sea plants trailed upward
disturbed by the passage of the shark
But for the shadows they could hav,
|
parent was the still water.
"We're in bad fiX!' said Coville
you'll not dare to swim ashore now
with those fellows reused; it's a mile
1 should say"
Potter looked disconsolate enough
The sun was setting, the mountain
were purple in the east; the sea bird
called all about them; the sandpipers
. irratatingly impertinent, were running
lightly about on the seaweed flooi
But this was sinking under then
They drew back and noticed that tn
boat was hopelessly entangled. The
there came n swift swirl of water 4
! the open spot where it had been. Tw
, sharks dashed careening about tn
basin. They could see the white boo
q les fash duly under and around tn
boat, charging on the submerge
! crafc. led, probably, by the scent Q
: the provision under the thwarts.
a 1--WE can't stand still on this stuff
| Il goes down every momentw said CT