Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-12-20
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
lowed by a Whale.
BY II. QUAD.
Copyright. 1901. by C. B. Lewis.l


The brig Swan was trading along the
African coast and had run into the
blight of Benvin TO anchor for a week.
She was a Liverpool ship. commanded
by Captain Streeter, and had been
trader for ten years. The Swan was
known all along the coast from Liberia
70 the country of the Hottentots and
had never met with an instance of
treachery when dealing with the ma
tives. On this trip / was rated as an
apprentice boy. and she carried eleven
others in her crew. There were some
repairs TO be made after we came to
anchor about half n mile from the surf,
and it was two days before a native
came out to US in his canoe and invited
all hands to go ashore for feast and
barter. AS that was the usual way no
one had reason to be suspicious. but
the captain did not neglect proper safe
| guards. he went to the feast with six
armed men for company. leaving four
of us to mind the brig. She was armed
with muskets and cannon, and we were
ordered to maintain a strict lookout
and signal at once If any number of ma
tives pulled out to us. 1t was to be an
all night carouSe on the beach, and the
three men with me soon declared that
there was no possible danger and
preached n cask of rum and proceeded
to enjoy themselves. They hadn't the
sense to stop when their legs began 10
| tangle up and, as a consequence, all
were In a drunken sleep before mid
night
Fires had been lighted on the shore
and the voices could be plainly heard
aboard as they shouted and sang. My
situation was n lonely one. and / was
troubled about the drunken sailors, but
nothing occurred to startle me until
about ! o'clock in the morning. Then
there was sudden grand yell from the
natives. followed by three or four mus
ket shots and more yelling. and / was
satisfied that the party on shore had
been attacked. l made every effort to
arouse the sleepers, but all my work
was thrown away. / had just come
away from them in despair when |
caught sight of n feet of canoes pulling
off the shore. If had been able to fire
one of the big guns. it would have had
no effect. and OF course / could not hope
10 beat them Off with n musket. / did
what most any other boy would proba-
bly, do-climbed up into the maintop
and hid myself away. Ten minutes
later the natives to the number of n
hundred boarded the brig. and although
they found the three sailors still asleep
they quickly dispatched them and threw
them overheard. If they looked for
others, It was below instead of aloft.
The idea was to run the brig ashore
and plumber her. The fellows knew
that the anchor held her stationary.
but they could neither work the wind
lass nor unshackle the chain. After n
long and noisy consultation they finally
tailed on to the cable to lift the anchor
by main strength. A sailor will say
that it couldn't be done. but looking
down from my perch in the gray of the
morning l saw them gather in at least
three fathoms of chain. That meant
that they had lifted that anchor twen-
ty-one feet from the bed of the sea.
They had still three fathoms to over
come. and were taking n long breath
TO get IT ready when the cable was
pulled out of their hands and drawn
taut and the brig began moving out |
of the bay. There was panic at once. |
and she had not gone half mile when
the last native was overheard into his |
canoe and pulling for the beach. If |
they were frightened half to death I |
was none the less so. and we had got |
well out to the mouth of the blight be- |
fore l solved the mystery. The brig |
was towed as IL following n tug. and |
/ was down on deck and peering over /
her bows when a whale suddenly rose
n few fathoms in front of her and fell |
back with n great splash. He was
big fellow, and had time to see that
one of the anchor flukes was caught
in his mouth like a giant flshhook. He
came up again and again, and he shook
his mighty head and rolled over and
over In his efforts to get rid of the
hook, but 1t was too firmly fastened.
When the sea opened out and the
leviathan realized that he was In a
scrape, be started off on a straight line
and increased his speed / had been
given q few tricks at the wheel, and
took II and soon learned how to make
n straight course after him. Later on
/ found tSat l could lash it fast and
serve the same purpose.
at q speed OF at least fifteen miles an
hour the whale ran from o'clock In
the morning to in the afternoon with
out a stop and without deviating foot
from a true course. Then he lay on
the surface and rested for an hour. and
the blood from bis mouth dyed the sea
for yards around. When he started
again, 1t was with a rush. but the ca
BILE held. and he ran until about z
o'clock in the evening. Then he sud-
denly stopped. and before could make
out what he was up to he came up I'M
der the brig with such force as TO stave
in a dozen bottom planks and nearly
turn her over. She began to fill at
once, and with a rush he broke the ca
BILE and was of with the anchor. AS
we had a cargo of light goods aboard. !
including 400 kegs OF rum. the brig {
waterlogged instead of going down.
and for the next two days was In her