The Florida star. (Titusville, Fla.) 1880-1917, 1902-07-11

tOuCu the open pldHhcu par uc-
tween him and that waiting receptacle
of his comrades body. He shuddered
until the little strength he had left
was again put to the test of making
| some retaliation. He gained an upright
| posture in time TO see the tip OF the
| fish DEVILS nose poked about two
| inches over the edge of the raft. The
sight chilled him afresh. SO that he
| sank down again for the hundredth
time. suffering fancied mangling be
tween those triple toOthed jaws
through which some of his fellow cast
Always had possibly passed.
The idea mercifully took his mind
from the present. He had been fine,
strong man, hale In wind and limb and
head and very well living. indeed. for
his kind. All this he had to thank for
his being the last of the seven who had
put off from the old bark when foun-
dering after Il gale that had carried
away her foremost and smashed her
only two boats. He. the mate. had tax
ell charge of one of their two RATS.
The skipper had commanded the other
They had drifted apart-the one nat
ural conclusion. Where his former
Shipmates were he could not say. did
not try TO conjecture. Irrespective of
will his thoughts were individualizing
his late mates of the raft. Each one of
them was i'll turn and mechanically re-
viewed, each up to his dying, the man
ner of il, evidencing the man and his
being put forth.
This brought him TO the one uncon-
Sciously passing away at his side. He
struggled over TO look at him; began TO
think him already dead. but had his
attention drawnsoff TO Il commotion in
the water close 1T hand. What was the
cause of it he could not tell. only guess.
from past experience and that after
some time. Now the turmoil was
great and close by, now at some little
distance, then it settled near the raft,
and the man saw that his guess was
corrcct-a new tinny devil had come on
the scene, and the one of long waiting
was trying to drive him off. 1t was
fight for possession of the dead before
dying. The human watcher turned sick
at the thought
There they were, struggling and
dartinG and tOothing for his mates
Shrunken flesh aud dried up skin
tigers or the water battling for the
poor human prey borne To them by
series Of terrible happenings. A-"ja
the man hid his; face. groaLing ~ Ia
had never thought To SrO;jn in this IL.
S"l!c minutes passed.. Then ROW
interest seized oil has WCa KEN, d SENS,
He hated the thin: that had torture.
him 50 the day through. h,.,Cd = with
1 holy hatred deeper THAI. his UEI
strength. He would give mulch. h"d
h. iuUch 10 give 10 sec tie liy.H- ioUi.
Ness driven OF Ur. better still. see il
tloat Il mu;iljtrd carcass It m.::Utc al
50. then disappear forever. III,
thought grew Oh hun. lie raised H.
head I" watch I'll" struggle. the sound,
of which had several times forced -
way into his hearing
Tie battle was HOW 50 close that H.
c"m.ao;iun affected the raft. This faCi
made the man Incidentally seek hand
holds Oh til" laShimSS OF the caSk. k~t
him on ere his time had come. II e.
MOI occur To linn That i'm such a ,:..., 81,
could not have held Il tenth of LIS
OWN wci:ht. He gaT"d al Tie contest.
1T first in horror ut its caJ.c. Ih...
tn" Eurriticd feelius d.cd away. IT,,
MAJ" instinct for sport asserted itself
\ stu fTcShcr interest ~ to whici
VI.
linn lie felt that L.; could diStiu
@uish the one which had ri-h driven
him n1d since mornin" il wu< ~ lii
30 dark and would hc d"uhly fcru
'i"U> Now he SIw great head. win
/ I"iHtrd Sn"ut AMI pair of g"pi,.-
S"!n."irrUlar jaws. rush ont of the WI
ter, then drop back. :IS if il had missed
rs object.
y F"!..cn of tn" formerly calm So:
w;.S laShrd t" u frorh. mA'd will
a in frimt strc"kS. Thr>G-h this
hcaycd the rear half of body. 10 The
thinner part of which hung ponder.
ms head that WAS biting off fully
third of the whole. The VHuqUiShrd
1."'S HEAD appeared Il moment in ~
circular motion. the once hcady bril-
l;ait eyes tUrnin" glazed even aS hu
mans. The turmoil hccamc less. The
swirl ar', foam of the waters died out
The raft stepped lis gentle rocking. \
little while ELAPSED. The man prayed
Tat both his enemies had died in CacL
others jaws.
Just aS Ii" glanced hopefully at thu
nI9r':rd surface into which the raft
WAS drifting Il hclliSh EIo"dy Suout
came quite seven or eight inches over