Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-26
THEY LIVE LITERALLY
AN ArfPHlBIOU.S LIFE

should really try to annoy him. So I struck
straight across at right angles.
Just as l got half way across the shark
put on speed and forged head on at me.
Fo" a moment, as saw that green, subma-
rine streak Of fire. with the glistening DOR
sal fin sticking up higher than my head
coming straight for me like shot,
nearly got panic myself. But turned d.
rectly at him, pounding and flashing the sea
with hands and feet and blowing the water
to make a believing noise; and Mr.. Shark
sank beneath the surface. l could see his
family Illuminated outline going down.
down, slowly, till 1t glimmered fathoms
deep Then l got my hand under my COM
panion's armpit and helped him across
Il CUES that you don't ever want a moon
light swim here again after that, eh?'' said
one of his hearers.
"Oh. we We're kind Of scared, all right"
was the reply. but 1t wasn't as bad as
that. Only l will confess that We sat around
for nearly an hour getting our nerves
Strengthened out before we swan back
They were real swimmers.
Wanted His Watch.
Another real swimmer was a bayman on
the north Atlantic coast whom 1 knew. The
baymen aren't excellent swimmers as a
rule. Many of them, like sailors, cannot
swim at all. This man could He used
to swim d mile down to the ice house at
the pier with a big box. fill 1t with ice and
swim back. showing it before him. when
ever the wind wasn't strong enough to in
sure him fast trip in his sailboat When
an anchor fouled the bottom he would shin
down the rope to the bottom to clear it,
generally without bothering to take his
clothes OFF. One snowy night this man
was just getting his anchor I'D in fifteen
feet of water when his watch fell from his
pocket and went down. He looked around
him for something that would float. intend
ing to make it fast to his anchor cable and
leave 1t there to act as a buoy SO that he
Hnd hn
But there was nothing in the boat not even
bottom boards so he decided to go down
then and there and get that watch, well
knowing that II he once hauled I'D anchor
and went away he would never find the
exact spot again
II was blowing a half gale showing hard
and the black water was racing in the ebb
Over he went. cropping around the bottom
and came up for breath. Again he went
down, and again. 1t was pitch dark, there
was no soul within miles. the current was
driving harder each moment, but he never
thought of giving up.
The last time he went down he took hold
of the anchor rope near the bottom to
steady himself against the rush of tide,
and his hands closed around his watch 1t
had caught in the rope by the chain
Raynor, the Life Saver.
There was Raynor OF the Long Island
government life savers. He was something
like swimmer, too. In the winter before
last great coaStlng schooner drove on the
eastern beach of Long Island in a living
gale of wind and sleet. The thermometer
was down to five below zero, and the life
savers were clad In Icy armor before morn
ing. but they had not succeeded in getting
out TO the vessel.
They launched their boat a score of times,
and Il score of times they were spilled back
on the beach They shot life lines over the
deck, but the men aboard were too stin
from cold and the seas battered the
schooner too hard to permit them to make
the ropes fast.
Within four hours the craft began to
come ashore in pieces. AT this juncture
Raynor fastened a line around himself and
struck out into the terrible sea to snatch at
seaman whose body he had spfed. He
brought him in. Again he went out, and
again he saved man. A third time he
went out, snatched at sailor and missed
him. He dived and got HIM. but the next
yea tore the man out Of his grasp. Again
he Owed in that deadly sea- In that MUIR
deTing cold, and then his mates pulled him
In Scarcely had he caught his breath
before he dashed into the sea again. A
green ton OF sea raced at him. bearing !
big timber on its crest. Il drove the nris,-
sile right at him between his shouldsrs
They pulled him out Of the surf alive but
he paid for hin herafsn by snccumbine "a
tubereulosis within feu maa1ho.