The Democratic advocate., 1907-06-14
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE IA, 1907.
BY THE REV. A. HADLEY.
Formerly Acting Military Chaplain at
Trincomalee, Ceylon.

to set the facts down Tor WIDE w Orld read
ers. Dear old "Pufing Billy" the ma
jor of the battery concerned, will be deligt-
ed at reading once more the story of his
extraordinary fight with the sunfsh.
And now for my story. 1t happened
at Tincomalee, Ceylon, in 1881, when l
was acting as military chaplain there. The
major was very proud of his battery, and
was forever showing the men off. Station
ed as he was at Fort Frederick, Ceylon,
with memo war Of all nations frequently
calling, "Puffing Billy was often tempted
to let the foreigners see what British gun
ners could do. Every time foreign war
ship came into the inner harbor her officers
must, if possible, see an exhibition Of the
men $ skill.
At good luck or i'll luck would have it,
lust in the middle of the annual target
practice Russian mano' war came into
Trincomalee. The opportunity was too
good to be lost, and the major decided that
the captain and his officers must come and
see the British gunners fire at the floating
target in the outer harbor. Accordingly
the usual structure barrel resting on
beams of wood and surmounted by flag
was prepared, towed out to sea and anchored
about a mile away from the Mess House
battery.
Firing had proceeded for half an hour
or more, with excellent results, when the
the major, putting and blowing as usual,
strobe up, accompanied by the Russian
officers
s'What in the name of thunder are you
up to?" roared the major angrily; for Il
shot had been fired and gone yards wide Of
the mark.
Something wrong with the powder,
SIR" said the captain i'll command.
The major was furious-as furious as
dear old ''Pufing Bilr' could be. But
neither fury nor bad language could mend
matters, make the men shoot straight, or
drive the irritating grins from the Russians
faces. ''You must hit that target at all
costs p yelled the major in tragic tones,
talking up position by the gun.
He took one peep through his glasses at
the target and then exploded wrathfully.
"Why," he shouted, 'the confounded
thing was moving Captain L, your
point of attack is afoat You II be knock
ing over the light house if you don't look
out p
1t was only too true; the target was
adrift, and boat manned by four gunners
and a corporal was Immediately dispatched
to corral the runaway. This, however,
was more easily said than done. When
the rowers were within about fifty yards
the flag and barrel-whch had been float
ing slowly backwards and forwards with
the currents-suddenly gave tremendous
lurch and started out to sea as if dragged
by steam-tug at full speed. The men
we're nonplussed at this curious maneuvre;
they stopped rowing and signalled for as
sistance. As they lay there staring after
the target a gunner yelled out Look
look It's helephant got tangled up in
the tackle.
ga helephant, you idiot p retorted the
corporal, shielding his eyes with his hands
as he gazed after the vanishing target.
"Where did you go to school? Any
youngster knows helephant's a land
hanimal. By Jove, though, it s 'ippo-
potamus Here, pull away; he's after us
No-stop her Lay to; let's view the
enemy. Can you all swim p
The order to stop was promptly obeyed,
and presently there foated placdly by
something that looked to the excited men
eyes like floating island.
Arming himself with the boathook, the
corporal boldly made lunge at the mys-
terious object. There came violent up
heaval of the water, and the next moment
over went the boat and down into the briny
depths OF the Indian Ocean went the five
gallant gunners. The boat had run on to
the back Of the mysteriously monster, and
it had wriggled with disastrous result when
it felt the stab
mighty foine island that gasped
Gunner o. Flanagan as he rose spluttering,
to the surface. 'This is too much like
whale huntin to please me-
"Right the boat and Chamber in," splut-
terered the corporal, sharply.
Fortunately the sea was calm and the
men good swimmers, so that the order was
soon executed.
Once in the boat the men sat silent and
motionless, recovering their breath and
equanimity.
Presently the corporal spoke: "I fancy
we were atop of whale that time
"We shall be inside him next" said
OFlannagan, suddenly. :'Look Here
the spealpeen comes again p
Sure enough the target was moving to-
wards them, and ahead of it some vast
brown mass could be seen slowly approach
ing. Without oars-they had all been
lost when the upset occurred-the boats
crew sat helpless, with bulging eyes, await
ing whatever was in store for them. As
sistance, however, was at hand, for the
whole exciting scene had been witnessed
with amazement from the fort, and boats
crew, armed with loaded carbines, were at
once dispatched to the rescue. The first
thing the men did was to recover their
comrades oars. This accomplished, both
parties-now mastering ten men-went
warily to work to attack the monster which
had stolen their target.
The unknown is frequently terrible, and
it was so in this case. All that was GER
tain was that the soldiers were face to face
with some gigantic creature capable of up
setting boat laden with five big men, and
achieving the feat without preceptible ef-
fort
Having recovered from their ducking,
the men Of the boat first on the scene pull
ed cautiously towards the target
AS soon as the blades of the oars dipped
and the handles ratified in the rowlocks the
target began to move-the monster was
scared, and was towing it away. By this