Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-19
hook and snapped at it with that mighty

a
gaping mouth.
Floating above It lay fishing boat, with
deep well in its hull, so that the captured
| fish might be kept alive. Three negro fish,
ermen lolled in the craft. They had sailed
out to this spot, seven miles northeast of
Bermuda, armed with great bellying bottles
or pineapple rum, to fish for market, but
| they were devoting far more time to the
| TASKS than to the fish lines They were an
chored right on the edge of the reef where
| 1T descended into the depths. Now and then
they would pull up a gay fish-green. yell
low, violet, blue, scarlet-fsh of a dozen
coiors far more snowy than any rainbow
that ever was-fsh of one color, some like
! flames, some like the sky overhead some
like the sky at sunset
Gradually the pineapple rum took effect
and the three negroes began to doze. One
happened to awaken for moment, took
mold or his line and tugged. He could not
move 1t. After working lazily for a moment
or two he decided that the hook was fast
TO coral on the bottom, and he settled to an
other doze. in the hope that it would work
loose while he slept But he awoke to find
the hook still fast.
Then he took the lead jack The lead
jack Is hinged ring of lead. very heavy,
that the reef fishermen put over their lines
and send down to the bottom to free their
hooks when they foul on submarine OBJ
structions. The lead jack plunged DOWN
swiftly but 1t did not clear the hook. The n
the three fishermen grasped the stout line
ana began to sway on it to break it.
The Fight
To their amazement it suddenly began
to give not easily. but with tremendous
swirlings and surgngs deep below. Full as
they would with all their might, something
in the water was pulling harder than their
six arms could. Again and again the I'M
seen quarry overcame their efforts and shot
toward the bottom again.
Suddenly 10 thing ceaSed .>,,fIip, ap6
came upward and toward the boat with ire
mendous speed. And then its head snot
above the surface. and with wide open laws
1t seemed to be heading straight for the
three men. One shrieked, ''The Debbii. The
Debbii! and crawled to the extreme bow
or the boat, where he lay covering. The
man in the waist let go the line and ran
for knife, intending to sever the twine and
let the monster go. But the third man
scented some great reward-for vas not
the professor from New York ALWAYS ask
ing for queer things?
This was a queer thing with vengeance
almost too queer for man to tackle. But
with mighty bracing of nerve the negro
oVercame his superstitiouS terror and held
on to the line. Finally he induced the 9TH
ers to help him, and at last the devil
snake was dropped in the live well, whore
forthwith 1t dashed and writhed until the
darkies were frightened all over again.
When they got ashore the news of their
unique capture spread quickly. 1t was not
long before the Bermuda darkies had dis
covered positively that this was indeed
something from the Bottomless Pit; and as
devil snake" the creature was known
thereafter The news reached young nat
uralist. Mowbray of st. George Bermuda
who hurried down to the shore and obtain
ed the fish. He had it transported to a tidal
pool. There 1t was viewed by hundreds
and all sorts of legends soon were told
OF 1t. One was that it could make itself
smaller or larger a will. MoWbray inyestf-
gated and found that it was true The
beast could elongate its uncouth body enor-
mously or contract it at will.
America Gets It.
Prof. c. L. Bristol of the University of
New York is in Bermuda collecting speci-
mems for New Yorks public aquarium He
heard of the find and bought 1t at once
He and the other scientists in Bermuda
could not Identify it in their first exami-
nation.
They put the creature into a great tin
tank. and it was shipped to New York in
company with other tanks containing two
hideous specimens of octopus and several
dozens of beautiful, gaudy. graceful angel
hsh and other tropic beauties.
Thus in ony day the aquarium was en-
riched by a collection that comprised with
IN Itself the most ugly and the most beau
tiful ocean jewellers that there are. For as
truly as the devil snake deserves its
name, Sc does the angel fish earn its ap-
pellation. Those are not fins but wings in
truth that bear it soaring through the
transparent water of its tropical home Its
face is as wise as that of human being
and it is as gentle and tame as it is beau
tiful over its dainty body there play a
dozen colors, all equally rich and all eqira:-
~ delicate IN shading and tint Bright
blues chase bright greens, vivid gold fushes
along its side and gives way to pink so
pale that it may hardly be seen before it
is gone.
hirJS Ecb
lacing weeds and over the aspiring corals
Out of snug nest-like retreats other fish
thrust strange heads out-heads that end
in green beak; heads that are marked
with vivid smearS of bright green and
crimson. like the Smears on the Whitened
face of the circus clown. What are these
that seem half bird, half fish? They are
the parrot fish, most grotesque, most gor-
geous of tropic fishes.
And amid all these flashing schools. one
more beautiful than the other lurk the
most horrible creations of the gloomy fancy
of the deep sea. Here and there the OBJ
server, peerlng through the water glass
in the bottom of the boat, can see a queer
snaky, warty tentacle, cropping shyly and
as shyly withdrawn. 1t is the arm of an
octopus. the devil fish of Victor Hugos
sight one can catch giimpses finally of the
whole repulsive creature, straddling in its
gloomy lair, waiting for prey, glaring at
the beholder dreadfuly with two lldeous
CLASSY, staring eyes that are as the eyes
of corpse, Yet horribly instinct with evil
intelligence.
And out of this fantastic world, where I'M
earthly beauty swms and streams in
schools side by side with things incredibly
terrible, the Channomurena was torn TO
give the people of the earth an inkling of
the real world that is all around them, yet
as hidden as if it Were not.
Has No Precedent.
THE case of Captain LemIy. judge aivo-
cate general of the ayu is Straruco an.