The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-31

crew of the Samoa was preparing
. to weigh anchor and / was in the
, cockpit of the yacht gazing idly
across the CLASSY waters, l spied
what at first appeared to be a giant
fin thrust above the surface at some
little distance away.
Look out there and tell me what
you see," l said. pointing to the
fstrange apparition.
"WelI, sir, if the periscope Of a
submarine had suddenly appeared
in our vicinity the excitement
aboard the Samoa could not have
been great4r. Everybody rushed to
the rail on the side of the yacht on
which lay the strange object.
i "It's a devil of a big shark or a
whale" somebody said.
"'No whales were ever seen in
these waters, was the instant re-
ply, and as for sLarks-well, that
must be the greatgrandady Of all OF
'em, he's s. big.
"I had not had any big game
sport in long time and instantly
became intensely interested in the
strange object lying out there in
the water. We could see his huge
bulk projecting partly above the
surface like a water-logged, cap
sized vessel.
I'm going to see what that thing
is and put harpoon in him. l de-
clared, watching my men to see
how they took the suggestion.
II could not help smiling at the
evident reluctance some OF my
crew showed about tackling such
big game, but their hanging back
simply put me on my mettle and
made sme more than ever deter
mined to Try at the creature, what
ever it was.
Lower the lifeboat,' I ordered
Who's game to go with me?
Two men stepped forward. In a
couple of minutes we three put of
from the yacht, while the rest OF
the crew Rugged the rail and
watch US start on our great adven-
ture.
"The creature was evidently
drowsy and was moving ON slowly
through the water as I'd make
scarcely ripple on the sunlit sur
face. We brought the boat pretty
close without in the least disturb
ing him. ,
NOV for it l said, standing up
in the boat with harpoon poised
ready to drive it into his vitals.
"You may be sure it was an ex-
citing moment. for l didn't know
what might happen when the crea-
ture felt the sharp steel piercing
his hide. l dared not fail to strike,
and strike deep, and nerved myself
to hurl the harpoon with all my
strength into the animals body.
"Whiz! the weapon flew from
my hand and struck true to my
aim. It went deep and held firmly
Immediately We backed away
some little distance, plying out the
line that r I'D the harpoon, and
we'll we did so, for the monster
dashed out with it's tail and made
such commotion in the water that
we would have been swamped had
| we not backed out of danger.
THE creature, maddened with
pain, thrashed the water until il
fairly boiled. It's enormous body
was the ce-ter of swirling mael-
strom made by its convulsive gyra-
tons. The monster churned the
water to IN and set up such a
swell that our boat rocked drunk
emily and was nearly upset more
than once.
Suddenly he dashed OF like a
shot towards the, open sea, the line
fairly smoking as we paid it out
through the bits. Easing the line
as best we could, We made it fast
and soon we're being towed through
ture at the fastest pace any Of us
ever expected to hit short of an
air-plane. Now began that thrill
ing, nerve-racking and never-to-be-
forgotten chase for two days and a
! night-thirty-nine hours.
After the first burst of speed the
] creature slowed down. We thought
4 he was firing out, and 80 brought
the bot up close enough to pu,
another harpoon into him, at the
same time firing number of bull
l lets at his head.
I'm the meantime. the Samoa had
weighted anchor and was followine
us so as to render any assistance
necessary in capturing the game
but. as the creature showed little
signs Of exhaustion, there was
nothing the crew of the Samoa
could do but keep US in sight.
4 1.-THE second attack with harpoor
j and bullets served only to energizt
! the creature, and he put ON speed
till 1t is no exaggeration to say
that we we're going at the rate Of
thirty rsforty miles an hour fol
most Of the time. The yacht was
sooa out-distanced and finally Al
we drew away it disappeared in thu
horizon and We did not see it agar
for many hours.
"The day wore on without fur,
kther incident, and after the frs,
thrill Of adventure had passed w
lsettled down to q steady job Of It
and it seemed to be q question o.
which should give In first
Might came on, calm and peace
iful, and the moon rose over an un
troubled sea save for that huge