Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1911-01-13

ard y. liner. They were la hard
straits and glad of the chance to get
ship, even if it was not bound for
their home port.
I'VE had pleasant passage across
the line and well into the South Allan
tic. About thirty degrees south we
one day sighted an open boat almost
dead ahead. Shifting our helm a
couple of points, the wind being light.
we presently brought the boat along
side. In her stern was the dead body
of seaman. while huddled in the bow
was huge gorilla almost lifeless from
starvation and thirst.
AT first sight supposed the animal
to be giant baboon. but on closer in
spection became convinced that he
belonged to the gorilla family. This
discovery surprised me greatly, for |
was fully aware that these fierce
brutes could seldom, If ever. be cap
tured alive. and that 1t was next to i'm
possible to tame one of them. Yet this
fellow must have been on good terms
with his dead companion. for there
were no marks of violence on the sea-
mans body and it was evident that his
death had been the result of exposure
and privation. At the same time did
not fancy the idea of coming into con-
tact with the beast. and strongly ad-
vised the captain to let him go adrift
as he was, without trying any philan-
thropic experiments. But the shippers
sense of humanity was more powerful
than his discretion and. in spite of all
my arguments to the contrary, he in
sisted upon rescuing the animal.
I'VE caught the derelict with boat
hook, and a couple of Lascars dropped
into her. They tossed the dead man
overboard-it was all that could be
done-sent the gorilla on board in a
bowline and towed the boat astem.
The creature was so weak that he
could hardly move. yet the appealing
look In the brute's eyes was almost
human. Well. we fed him sparingly
on biscuit soaked in water and made
him a bed under the break of the
fo'ksle. 1t was astonishing how quick
ly he revived; in two days he was as
strong as ever, though pretty gaunt,
and took to roaming all over the ship.
The way he climbed the rigging made
the Oldest sailor aboard open his eyes.
He was an immense hairy brute, over
six feet tall when he stretched him.
self, with arms that reached way be-
low his hams, and only the God who
made him knows what fiendish
strength was in the creatures thews
and sinews.
AT first the gorilla was pretty do
cile. but as his terrible strength came
back he developed an ugly temper,
snarling and swapping at the men as
they passed along the deck. but
springing for the rigging at sight of
a ropes end or Delaying pin; there
he would sit cursing, chattering and
showing his teeth. We began to think
we had caught Tartar. and Captain
Graves talked of setting the devil
adrift again. which was why we kept
the boat towing astern. But the Job
was to catch and secure my gentle
man. He never seemed to sleep in the
daytime, and at night the Lascar crew
were too scared to attack him. The
Lascars had evidently made I'D their
minds that there was something SUI
pernatural about the beast, and cow
cred like frightened rabbits when
ever he approached them. Graves
finally resolved to shoot him, but when
he got his revolver-the only firearm,
by the way, on board, he found that
the mate. to whom he had intrusted
the task of buying ammunition for it,
had made mistake and purchased 3d.
caliber cartridges for a SO gun. This
left the weapon useless, and we were
soon to find out that 1t was to be war
to the death between the gorilla and
the Calliope's crew, with the chances
largely in favor of the animal
d "On the fifth night the horror be-
gan. Some time during the hours of
darkness two of the crew disappeared
how, where or why, no one knew
except the gorilla. and at first we
didn't suspect him, but thought the
men had fallen overheard. Gone they
were, however, without sound or sign
OF a struggle. So it went on for a
week-every night man would dis
there remained only the
captain, Kendall, the
mate, myself, Mrs. Graves and the
baby. If the ship had been manned
by American or British sailors we
might have managed to rush the brute
in bunch and secure him, but, as |
have said, Lascars are seldom of any
use in an emergency where fighting
courage is required, and our lot had
submitted to their doom like the cow
ardly fatalists that they WERE Even
had we three men possessed average
strength there might have been a
chance for us to tackle the gorilla our
selves, but here again luck was against
US. Two days after sailing Kendall,
the mate, slipped and fell, breaking
his right arm, and though able to at
tend to his duties he would have been
helpless in a hand-to-hand encounter.
Graves was small. sickly chap, brave
enough, but without the physical pow
ers necessary in the carrying out of
such a forlorn hope; while I, as you
see, am of slight build and would have
been like child in the monsters
grasp. And that gorilla was easily a
match for any four strong men.
I'VE tried all sorts OF schemes to