The mirror., 1923-05-24
Saltwater, Minnesota, Thursday, May "a, 1923.

amazing sight as met my eyes, never!
| don't suppose l ever did, | answered
meekly as old Tom glared fercely at me
as if defying me and all the world toe,
to contradict him. No, you bet you never
did, nor anybody else either.
you've fshed through the ice in the
winter time, haven't you?" he asked. !
admitted that 1 had-and even had
played hooky from school to do SO. "Well,
when you caught your fish you left 'em
on the ice to freeze, didn't you? "Tom
continued with the air of a cross exam
ing lawyer. "Of course, II answered.
"And when you got home, did you ever
put 'em in cold water and have em thaw
out alive?" "Sure have" l answered.
Glad them thaw out and swim around as
lively as they ever did even when they
had been froze up four or five hours"
Well, then, said old Tom, you can un-
derstand how it came about that that
bundle of fur and cloth l spoke of lay
ing in the stern sheets had come to life
and was snorting and paving about in
the water in the boat like a porpoise.
Pretty soon it raised up and by golly,
it was the biggest man ever saw in all
my born days. MAN! cried. Yes, sir,
said old Tom with complacent air. A
man. A real he man with hair on his
chest A big, blonde brute with long
curling gold whiskers and hair. Bold
bright blue eyes sharp and hard as
hawks. Breast like barrel. Muscles
bulging in ripples all over him. Fact is
he was the biggest durn Swede l ever
saw in all my born days. When l looked
him over careful l wasn't easy in my
mind, especially when l noticed one of
his ears was gone. He didn't look like
fellow you could explain little thing
like cooking and eating his ear to very
easy. He jabbers something to me in his
Sowegian lingo but l shook my head. II
don't make you, Squarehead," says /. But
when I pointed to the boat and the slide
had burned, his eyes flashed and he
heaves against the boat like a bull heav-
ing stake wagon out of a muddy lot.
She cracked loose and in we leaped.
Down she flew swift as a swallow. There
was an incline at the bottom of the cliff
that tossed the boat into the air before
she hit the sea just as a ski hop throws
a ski jumper into the air. This saved us
from a submarine act / motions the big
Swede to bail out the bilge, but he looks
at me with scorn, like king insulted
and | bailed it out myself. The big
Swede runs up the square sail and takes
the tiler. l am all out of Copenhagen
right now, l says, but here's some Navy
cut plug that isn't bad chewing. Well,
sir, believe me or not, that sailor man
from Norway shook his head. actually
believe he didn't know what snuff or
chewing was. Can you beat it? Well,
luck was riding with us. We raised
sail within an hour of dropping the ice
berg Gloucester fishing, home bound.
She heaves to at my shirt waving and
sends a boat after us. The mate says
there's big blow coming up so we lets
our boat drift The fisherman were eye
ing the big viking mighty curious, but
the mate was anxious to get back to the
ship so the fisherman were too busy to
talk much. After good scoff and some
dry clothes told my story to the captain.
He looked kinda dubious at first, but
salorman can believe any (Pags 9, Ool 81