The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-11-02
look out there. Jim. 1 am towering

whats the ak for, cap'n?" was the
natural query.
81 want to chop out that sharks
teeth. They will serve as mementos
for the girl IL she grows up. which is
likely, judging by the way she is yell
Ing at Jones.
"Wot's he a-doin' off" came the sharp
demand.
"Giving her a bath, and excellently
we'll too. He Is evidently quite domes-
ticated."
"If that means under Mrs. US
thumb you're right, cap'n. They tell
me that when he's ashore
"Jim, the first time l met you you
|. were wheeling a perambulator. Now,
load the skip and / will haul in"
They worked in silence a few min
utes. Brand descended, and a few
well placed cuts relieved the man eater
Of the serrated rows used to such serI-
Gus purpose In life that he had attained
a length of nearly twelve feet. Set
double In the lower jaw and single In
the upper, they were of size and
shape ominously suggestive of the
creatures voracity
ut Is good thing" said Brand,
calmly hewing at the huge jaws, that
nature did not build the Carcharodon
galeidoe on the same lines as an al
ligator. If this big fellows sharp en-
broidery were not situated so close to
his stomach he would have made q
meal Of me, Jim, unless l carried q
torpedo"
Hes blue shark" commented the
other, ignoring for the nonce what he
termed ''some Of the cap'n's jawbreak-
ers'
Eyes. 1t is the only dangerous
species found so far north.
His teeth are like so many fixed
Z bdyonets. OF course you would like to
keep 'em, but he would look fine in
museum. Plenty of folk in Penzance,
especially visitors, would pay a bob
a head to see him."
Brand paused In his labor
Listen, JIM" he said earnestly. 'T
want both you and Jones to oblige me
by saying nothing about the shark.
Please do not mention my connection
with the affair in any way. The story
will get into the newspapers as it Is.
The additional sensation of the fight
would send reporters here by the score.
1 don't wish that to occur"
'Do you mean to say
"Mr. Jones will report the picking up
of the boat and the finding of the baby.
together with the necessary burial of
man unknown
"What sort of a chap was hep in
terrupted Jim.
II don't knOw-a SailOr-that Is all
/ can tell you. He must have been
dead several days"
"Then how in the world did that
baby keep aliveT"
81 have been thinking over that prob
lem. l imagine that, in the first place,
there was a survivor, who disappeared
since the death of the poor devil out
there" He pointed to the sea. This
person, whether man or woman, looked
after the child until madness came,
caused by drinking salt water. The
next step is suicide. The little one,
left living, fell into the bilge created
by the shipping of sea and adopted,
by the mercy of Providence, a method
of avoiding death from thirst which
ought to be more widely appreciated
than it is. She absorbed water through
the pores of the skin, which rejected
the salty elements and took in only
those parts Of the compound needed by
the blood You follow meT'
"Quite. It's slap-up idea"
at is not new. 1t occurred to q
ships captain who was compelled to
navigate his passengers and crew n
thousand miles in open boats across
the Indian ocean as the result of a
fire at sea. Well. the child was well
nourished, in all likelihood, before the
accident happened which set her adrift
on the Atlantic. She may have lost
a few pounds in weight, but star
walton is a slow affair, and her plump
ness saved her life in that respect.
Most certainly she would have died
today, and even yet she is in great
danger Her pulse is very weak, and
care must be taken not to stmu-
late the action of the heart too rap
idly"
When Brand spoke in this way Jim
Spence was far too wary to ask per-
sonal questions. Sometimes, in the
early days of their acquaintance, he
had sought to pin his friend with clum-
sy logic to some admission as to his
past life. The only result he achieved
was to seal the other mans lips for
days so far as "reminiscences were con-
cerned.
Not only Jones and Spence but
Thompson, the third assistant who
was taking his month ashore, together
with the supernumeraries who helped
to preserve the rotation Of two months
rock duty and one ashore. soon real
lied that Brand, whom they liked and
looked up to- had locked the record of
his earlier years and refused to open
the diary for any one.
Yet so helpful was he, so entertaining
with his scraps of scientific knowledge
and more ample general reading, that
those whose turn on the rock was CO
incident with his relief hailed his re-
appearance with joy. During the pre-
cedng winter he actually entertained
them with q free translation of the
twentyfour books of the "Iliad," and
great was the delight of Jim Spence
when he was able to connect the ex-
ploits of some Greek or Trojan hero
with the identity of one of her males
tvs ships.