The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-06-01


resting place. Then it saw Bud rising
from the sand, and shrank inward into
it's shell in quiverirg apprehension. A
long, dismal hiss escaped from its
horny blow-holes.
Hello, old camelw Knocked Bud.
'I'm right glad I was in when you
called" Then he raped the shaking
head smartly with his stick, and his
high voice broke to a threatening So
prano. "You squat still now till l
stake you down. 1 don't want to lose
you. I'm mighty fond of you-well
done"
He uncoiled the braided rawhide
wound round his waist, and began to
knot it about one of the big, musky
hind fippers. The loggerhead's baggy
throat pulsed. Its round. hard eyes
cleaned with an indignation it could
not express vocally, for the great tur-
ties are mute. 1t spun suddenly on its
broad breastplate, almost knocking
Bud off his feet, and with a powerful!
forward hunch started for the sea.
Bud dropped sitting upon the beach,
his heels jammed into the sand. and
both hands clutching the rawhide, one
end of which was still tied about his
body. His weight crippled the fipper
to which he was fast, but the logger
head seemed quite satisfied with what
remained. Without any apparent in
crease of effort she dragged the boy
steadily down the slope.
"John! O John" bawled Bud.
"Come quick! I've got oner'
"Pshaww he muttered, letting go
with one hand and cropping in his pock-
ct. John can't hear anything but
what Grace Aline said to him last
night, 1 reckon"
He took out his knife and opened it.
The turtle was already at the lip of
the sea, butiBud hated to cut. Econ
omy is Unborn among the inhabitants
of the bar. and it hurt him to lose so
much good meat. 1t was not yet too
late for John to be of service if he
should arrive upon the scene.
No John came. however, and the log
gerhead plunged into the water with
a joyous splashing. Bud drew the
knife quickly across the line. The next
instant he dropped it with y cry of pain
as the brine struck bitterly into cash
in his finger. Clutching and tearing
uselessly at the sand, he was jerked
into the water, down, down, down. a
crisp singing in his ears and cold fin
gers prying at his lips. By one of
fate's malicious pranks the knife had
somehow turned in his hand, and when
be struck, it was the back Of the blade
that met the line!
At this part of the coast the sea
lies warm and shoal above great
apron of submerged land fully mile
wide. The loggerhead had hardly be-
gun it's dive when it reached bottom.
Its f1ippers struck violently, and sent
up a boiling cloud of sand. Confused
and winded by the violence of its
fright. it turned and slanted upward
to the surface, where it lay putting
like a naphtha launch, its limp fippers
swinging with the sway Of the water.
A few seconds later Buds streaming
yellow head bobbed up close behind it.
The boy had the line tightly clutched
in his hands, and hardly waiting to
take the necessary breath, be pulled
himself forward with a strong quick
pull. The fore part of the loggerhead
sank instantly, but before she had
gathered her trailing aippers under
her, Bud was on her back, ali ten fin
gers hooked about the thick front edge
of the shell.
The loggerhead, for obvious reasons,
has no enemy but man, and this partic-
ular loggerhead had led long and
pottering existence of unbrokan peace.
To say that it was frightened would
do scant justice to its state of mind.
Down it went with a rush that tore
| white streaks through the water, but
| this time it did not strike the sand.
It turned as it neared the bottom and
skinned along just above it. Its pow
erful flippers, working with propeller
like motion, drove it along like the
wind
AS It went it turned on its side, glanc'
ing this way and that like scaling
stone; but Bud clung to the broad cara
pace with the tenacity Of barnacle
He knew that if he were trailed again
at the end of the rawhide. he would
soon drown. Three generations OF
caunt ''reefers' had left him legacy
of pluck and GOODNESS that made mar
of him. and strong one. in times OF
danger. Young as he was, Bud ha(
been in peril before, but never haC
thinks looked so bad. Something colo
and tense seemed to knot within hi:
head. He must, if it were possible
draw up his knees to the centre of the
shell ard fashion his body into sort o.
drag or breakwater. 1t was a tricl
which some of the ''reefers' declared
would Invariably force turtle to come
10 the surface.