The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1902-06-11
UNDER-SEA SHARKING.
TALE OF A DEEP-sEA DIVER.
By ARTHUR E. MCFARLAND.

1T amt what you could call a right
handsome piece OF tailoring, is it?" he
said. The waists just trille too
much like a sea.cow's, and as for the
trousers, an elephants amt much bag
gier. ! don't wonder that when maa
gets into clothing like this, and then
crowns II with a headpiece like
wall.eyed lookout lamp, a shark never
takes him for anything human and
catable.
mo, q shark won't touch a man in
armor.' And they're not so mighty
fierce after human flesh out of il. On
a black coast the natives3l tell you
they can run the surf and dive for
coins without much danger because
'sea.tigers hardly ever touch any but
white men; and almost all whites in
shark waters have a firm belief that
dark meat is the only sort the brutes
care about.
"As for their cruelty-though I've
got shuddering. vivid recollection OF
the fury of one Of them when wound
ed don't believe much in that. eth
or. When they make kill they tear
IL to pieces and down il the quickest
they can, which isn't more brutal than
nature. Indeed, what's made me sick
a hundred times has been the cruelty
of sailors and fishermen toward them.
| like fish in pan Just little better
than | like them in the water. But
it's worse animal than I've ever run
ccross that deserves torture. And sea-
beasts are, as a rule. the most harm
less. easy-going, good-natured tribe
imaginable.
MY only adventure with a shark
was in the spring when hired with
regular wrecking company, and had my
first job south of Cuba. That was the
rising of the famous Georgia Belle,
which was about the unluckiest and
costliest yacht that ever kept a mil
lionaire from worrying lest he'd die
rich.
"On this occasion she'd run on one
G. those saw-tooth reefs off Cayo Lar
60 in the Jardinillos; and after giving
her owner and his friends just time
enough to get away in the boats, she'd
backed and took to the bottom. first
bow and then stern. When | climbed
down to look at her, ! found 80 feet
of her forward sheathing from keel
10 cutwater riddled and torn like a
biscuit-tin target. And the first part
of my job was to sling myself over
her side, like house painter from
roof, and put sticking plaster of
concrete and canvas over every one
OF those thousand odd holes. 1t was
months contract, and promised to be
q mighty tedious one. too.
But up above we had considerable
diversion. Not only were there the
crews of the tug, the derrick and sup
ply-boat, but there was Batabano
sponging-sloop raking off the reef. and
Ter officers used to come over even
ings and entertain us with music.
They had only cranky mouth-organ
and a broken guitar; but we all used
to join in the choruses.
whether II was the racket or the
refuse from the cooks galley, we
brought ourselves visitor. The third
day was down, heavy shadow sud
denly swung over my head. At first
thought the tug had warped round;
but when l looked up | saw a fish
that seemed as big as topedo-boat.
It hung above me there in the under
sea twilight. slowly furling and unfurl-
ing its tail like propeller standing
up against tideway.
81 knew what it was. My whole
inner machinery seemed to stop short,
my blood went cold and heavy as mer-
curry, and clutchei at my sling cables
to keep myself from falling. What I'd
heard of man in armor being safe
from sharks went out of my head like
the bubbles from my helmet; and
when at last the 'sea-tiger' Slowed
around, and slid quietly off through
the black-blue wall of ocean behind
me, caught at the signal-line as If
" ere drowning.
up on the tug, though, they only
thought it was a great joke. They
had seen the man-eater! The mate
said he seemed to him about the
length of the Great Eastern, and the
mouth on him looked like a church
door hung with icicles.' Tivey, the
engineer, declared 1t was true that
sharks had the power of throwing off
electricity, for at first 1t was as If
they had galvanized jumping jack at
the end of the lifeline.
"It ended with my going down again,
looking silly and feeling mighty snaky
about the middle. But / wasn't trou-
hJed again that dayS
yet next morning the shark was
around, and off and on through that
week. He was always alone. 1t was
the small fish, though, that always
gave me the first warning. AS I
scrapei at the Bellies sheathing, a
dozen or more little 'gropers' were all
the time at my elbows on the watch
for broken shell-fish and barnacles,
like chickens after worms when you're
epading a garden; and all Of sudden
they'd whip away, and next moment
the shadow would swoop in over me.
"a L. a.