Evening star., 1921-05-22

hn washing his handS-lof the
tenth time, at least, that aft
ternoon. It is a mania with
him. You might believe that he was
not a Jew, but a Mussulman. and con-
strained by his religion to ritual OF
frequent ablutions. I said that to him
laughingly in the restaurant wash
room, when he rolled up his sleeves
once more. took off the many jeweled
rings which he wears on his fingers
and piously soaped himself half way
up his hairys forearms.
He shrugged his shoulders, went out
and selected a table and said to me,
after ordering oyster cocktails:
You can't ever be clean enough!
You can't ever do enough to avoid
carrying some sort of odor about with
you. All the things you touch-the
leather of the seats in cabs. the cedar
wood of pencils, even this secured
1t is very bad. 1 have learned that
much in my travels"
Six or eight months out of every
twelve Samuel knocks around the
world, from the Persian gulf to the
islands of Oceanica and to Venezuela,
DuylnS pearls 1IoHl the pedhi nShS
Then he comes back to Europe to sell
them 1t is a good business. in which
there is much adventure.
Il learned this" he resumed, ION
the reefs of the Great Barrier, near
the Frankland Islands, in Australia.
You know that there are banks of
pearl oysters there. thirty to forty
meters below the surface, all along
the coral chain. 1t is too deep for
ordinary divers such as are used In
the Persian gulf. You have to anchor
a sailing vessel near the reefs and
send men down in diving suits. 1t is
the toughest sort of work. They have
to spend four or five hours on the
sea bottom, almost crushed by the
pressure of the water and poisoned
by the carbonic acid gas caused by
their own breathing. The Australians
the Japanese detest it as much as do
the Anglo-Saxons of the United States,
it is almost always some little Jap
who makes the descent.
ION ship 1 took to the reefs there
were two Jap divers. who relieved
each other. one working in the morn
ing. the other in the afternoon. The
first. an old man. dry, courteous and
taciturn-as. in fact. most of them
are-rose to the surface one day a
little earlier than he was expected.
The second, his younger brother, was
some fish which he had caught with
a line from the deck. They took off
the older mans helmet and relieved
him of his apparel-the cuirass of
bronze and leather, and the rest of
the suit. all impermeable. ending in
the shoes with Soles of lead.
"'Come hurry up" said the captain
to the younger man. pointing to the
armOr.
ssrTHE little Jap knew that Euro
J. peans are always nervous and
in a hurry. Time is money, especially
when a minute may represent two or
three thousand francs. The substi-
tute wiped his hand on his linen
drawers and started to find a basin in
which to wash them.
"Come! Hurry up" the captain re-
peated.
$50 he let himself be incased in the
machine and went down.
HE hadn't been scratching the
coral with his fiat knife for more than
ten minutes when he saw gray
shadow playing about his head. 1t
grew bigger and became more precise.
1t was a shark. an enormous shark.
The diver was very much aStonished.
He had never had such an experience
before. The sharks of each country
have their own habits and customs.
Those of the Australian coast rarely
attack man. The sea is very full of
fish, and there is much easier prey
than this big. dangerous monkey. who
fights back. makes a noise and strikes
with a pointed thing which he holds
in his fingers. :
1.-THE Attle Jap believed that the
sharks presence was due to chance.
He didn't suspect at first that the
visitor was after him: There must
be some easier live victim or some
carrion in the neighborhood. he
thought. He looked about carefully,
but saw nothing. And the shark.
halting over him. began to turn on
his belly. bringing his three rows of
Jap stirred the bottom with his knife
SO as to muddy the water. and also
gesticulated. The beast rose several
yards and waited.
"'He's going to stay thought the
diver. He is obstinate. He has
chosen me for his meal today. He
isn't like the other sharks. I'd better
go up
He gave the hoisting signal. But
in the code there was nothing to
He could only say Haul me up"
Above they were greatly surprised.
yet they obeyed. They began to raise
him. but very slowly. 1t has to be
done very slowly. stopping the move !
meRt for several minutes at each |
fathom or fathom and a half For |
the decomposition mustn't occur too |
rapidly. Without these precautions |
they would pull up dead man.
''The ferocious fish seemed to un- |
derstand His prey was afraid and |
wanted 10 fee. That encouraged |
him. With single stroke of his |
tail he approached. plunging a little |
too deep. and then coming up with |
his stomach against the divers |
stomach and his head level with the |
divers head. The Jap kicked with |
his leaden shoes and stuck his knife |
in the animals face. But the round !
ed knife edge glanced of the wrin- /