10
ORFGON CITY COURIER, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 1903,
ea an
Octopus
Terrifying Experience of
a Tarty of Tourists
at Uenerife.
)
An Exciting "Battle In the
Moonlight When Hideous
Monster XV aj Hauled Vp
I From the "Depths.
I
Jared Thompson, mnster of the Eng
lish tramp steamer Ked Lion, which
recently docked at Philadelphia, relat
ed a rather amusing if exciting experi
ence which he had while fishing with a
couplq of English passengers on his
steamer off the .coast of Tenerlfe:
The steamer toy at anchor, and to
ward evening, the wind having
dropped, the two English passengers
desired me to keep my promise of tak
ing them Ashing. This accounted for
onr presence on board her gig, which
lay heaving Inside a reef on the coast
of Tonerife, in the Canaries. There are
10,000 feet of water around that Island,
and occasionally portions of curioiiH
and gigantic creatures which have
probably perished in mortal combat far
down In the ley depths are washed u;
on Its conl black beaches.
The grout white peak towered above
fleecy mist 12,000 feet overhead, tre
mendous crags rose over our starboard
hand, and close ahead the blue Atlantic
rollers crumbled upon the hammered
reef. Inside It lay clear, smooth water,
and we could .see the hideous shape
of an octopus gorging itself upon fish
offal perhaps two fathoms beneath our
keel. There are pulps of all sizes In
those waters, and Spanish fishers say a
large one will on opportunity drag
down any Incautious wader venturing
near its lair. From the uncovered por
tion of the reef rose a low whistling,
which showed that another of the long
armed brutes lay half dry, basking.
"The very sight of that creature sets
my ear drums quivering," said one
tourist. "Hello! It seems scared now,
and here's a thing like a serpent com
ing." After seeing many I could never lool;
1 upon an octopus without a sense of
nausea myself, and the small, bagliko
body and mass of wriggling tentacles
was not pretty as it sidled toward the
fairy weed which draped the steep
rock wall. Then a streak of black and
yellow clove the sea, and I said: "That
is a morena eel, as fierce as a tiger.
You will see a fight worth watching."
The pulp was not fast enough, for
its beautiful, slender enemy, some four
feet long, we guesned, hurled Itself
upon It like a lance, though eight long,
snaky arms wound around and envel
oped it I knew that if their rows of
' thorn armed suckers once closed on
human1 flesh nothing short of tearing
them apart piecemeal would extricate
their victim, but presumably the eel's
skin afforded a poorer hold, for during
a few seconds one could see the more
na tearing at the flaccid sack of body.
Then as it backed clear with some
thing in Its jaws the water grew foul
with stirred up sand or the tint some
TUl! K.NAKX TliNTACI.KS THltAHllKD AIM
LESSLY. pnlj.s eject, I do not think nltogeilier
voluntarily. In the grip of au enemy.
The title cleared It -i little,, and one
watcher said: "Twit tulug Is enough
to give otic a nightmare.- Hut the ee!
Is going In again."
AVe had another brief and nauseating
vision of swaying, twining tentacles
and darting cel. Then the brine grew '
cloudy, and the end of Uio struggle
vvi.s hidden.
I consulted with the barefooted quui'
teftnaster, Miguel, and wo moved the
boat to where a great black gully had j
been rent out of the sea bottom by a ,
voloiuile fire. Though the brine was
as clear as crystal, tho eye could not
gauge Its depths, and our anchor went
down and down, taking with It almost ,
the List fathom of line. Vitrified rocks,
blood red anil black as ebony, hemmed
the pit In, and because the cuttlefish
bite nt night we waited with some an-'
tlcipation for moonlight to see what r
least Into lot depths might bring.
Miguel said there were things more
Striking than pleasant In such depths,
but that he did not wish to see any of
them, and when tbe calamar ceased
biting we lay smoking for a time until
our tourist shouted: "Get hold and
help! Something Js tearing my line
from me!"
The tourist was . a strong man, but
when I laid hold behind him the hemp
sawed through my Angers so that it
seemed to burn them. A faint wrin
kling of the moonlit swell, also sug
gested that the boat was moving. Then
as the others took hold the motion
ceased, and the line led down rigid, as
an iron bar. It remained so for sev
eral minutes, and the puzzled angler
said, "It certainly moved, or I could
have fancied I had fouled a rock."
"Submarine cliffs don't move," said
the doctor dryly, and I held up my
abraded hands. "There Is something
living down there, and we are going
to bring it up." . " ,
A combined heave was followed by a
yell from Miguel, and the line nipped
the doctor's leg as it ripped across the
boat, wlille, when the quartermaster
had Jammed a turn of it, the craft
moved backward unmistakably. Three
of us by this time were curious and
eager, and, though Miguel looked
doubtful, he aided us gallantly. Four
THH OCTOPUS WAVED ITS ABM8.
backs were bent together, and still it
seemed we were hauling at a cliff.
Then one tourist sat down with a
bang, and the doctor shouted, "What
ever the thing is it's coming to the
top."
The line was a very long one, and
several times it taxed all eur strength
to resist the retrograde progress of
our mysterious quarry, for the crea
ture's movements in no way suggested
those of a fighting Ash until, when
arms wero aching, we halted, breath
less, as Miguel said that another few
fathoms would bring it to the surface.
There was clear moonlight, and green
phosphorescence flamed about the
straining hemp and sides of the sway
ed down boat. Miguel, I noticed, ap
peared uneasy, the others flushed and
excited.
"I can see the first of it Heave!"
shouted the doctor, and when we
hauled together with a will something
rose In the scope of our vision. We
could see the brine shimmer about It,
but that was all at present, though
there was no more resistance. The
thing was coming to the surface of Its
own will, and rapidly. In another few
moments It had reached It, and Miguel
grubbed the boat hook, while the doc
tor gasped, and I turned both cold and
sick. A horrible head with great lam
bent eyes looked up at me not a fath
om away, and all round it rippling,
contracting tentacles struck a weird
green, sparkling out of the phosphores
cent sea. There- was no doubt it was a
pulp or octopus of formidable size. I
also remembered that the curved brass
spikes were probably fast in it, and it
could not let go.
For the space of several seconds we
stood gasping, staring spellbound at
the horrible apparition, which looked
as large as the bout. The sinuous move
ments of those awful arms and the
pale brilliancy of the saucer eyes set
my tlesh creeping. Then one suckered
tentacle rose Into tho air, and when an- ;
other following curled forward in'our j
direction one of the tourists yelled: i
"Cut the brute loose! It's coming on j
board the bout!" j
The man's voice was hoarse with !
fear, tint It recalled our scattered
senses, and old Miguel drove his long
shafted boat lunik into the center of
the quivering mass, while the doctor
drew his seaman's knife across the
tight strained hemp. The great arms
rolled together about tho boat hook
statf and spread out again. Several of
them struck the boat, but I had an our
out now and drove the craft ahead. As
I did so there was a sudden rippling,
and the loathsome creature sank, tak
ing our extemporized harpoon with It
to tlio depths from whence It came.
Then the others slipped the cable, and
we did not cease rowing until the
lights of our steamer shone out round
a head. We rested upon our oars then,
looking at one another, four startled
and slightly shamefaced; men, until the
nonmedical tourist said, "I don't know
If the thing meant to crawl in or not
but I've had enough fishing for one
night at least uud never want to see a
large sized octopus so close again."
'' GOLD CANNON 'BALLS.
(lie Jangle Hidden Treasure af an
Eait Indian Prince.
Not-long ago an old peasant was
wandering in the jungle about half a
isUe from the city of Ahmiiduager, in
India, when he found a round ball of
toetal. It was black and looked like
an old iron round shot but when the
eld man lifted it he was struck with
its immense weight He carried it
home and found on scratching it that
It was a lump of solid gold. It weighed
eight pounds and its sale made the
finder rich for life.
There are many more of these can
non balls, each worth a small fortune,
lying hid or buried in the recesses of
this Jungle, and their story is a curious
one. At the end of the sixteenth cen
tury Akbar. the greatest emperor Hin
dustan ever saw, was at the height
of his glory. At the head of his con
quering array he summoned Ahmad
nuger to surrender. The city and its
rich treasure were then under the rule
of the Princess Cande. Knowing that
resistance could be but short, and in
bitter rage against the oppressor, she
caused all the treasure of gold and
silver to be melted down. She cast
the metal into cannon balls and en
graved upon each maledictions against
the conqueror. These were fired into
the jungle and when Akbar .entered
the city, Instead of the rich hoard he
had hoped to win, he found a treasury
absolutely empty.
That this is not the only occasion
upon which cannon balls of gold have
been cast Is proved by the fact that In
the treasury of the shah of Tersla
there may be seen In the same room
where stands the famous peacock
throne two small globular projectiles
of gold. They were estimated by ,a re
cent visitor to weigh about thirty-one
pounds each and are roughly made.
Their origin or purpose is, however,
totally forgotten. It is only known
that they are very old. Chicago Chron
icle. Ancient IUmIs.
In ancient times the beds we read
about were simply rugs, skins or thin
mattresses which could bo rolled up
and carried away in the morning. At
night they were spread on the floor,
which in the better class of houses
was of tile or plaster, and as the shoes
were not worn in the house and tho
feet were washed before entering a
room the floors were cleaner than
ours. After a time a sort of bench,
three feet wide, was built around two
or three sides of the room atyout a
foot above the floor and, covered with
a soft cushion, was used during the
day to sit or lounge on and as a sleep
ing place at night The bench was
sometimes made like a settee, movable
and of carved wood or ivory. London
Standard. '
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Overworked and tired women stand in ur
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The all-important thing for nervous, run down,
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THE SHANK OF THE SHOE.
What the Glazed, Metallic Mark
Thereon Told -the Broker.
Half a score of clerks in one of the
largest brokerage houses in New York
were astounded one morhlngi when
one by one they were called into their
employer's private office and asked to
hold .up their feet and show the shanks
of their shoes. , They thought the "old
man" had gone quite mad. Each
young man as he entered the office
was told to sit down and put his foot
up on a corner of the desk where it
could be examined. - Then the head of
the house put on his glasses and very
carefully scrutinized the shank of the
shoe.
" When all had been put through this
examination he called the entire force
of clerks Into his office and explained
to them why this unusual examination
had been made.
"Ton are well aware," said he "that
I will not have a drinking man in my
employ If I know it. For some time
I have had good reasons for believing
that several of the young men before
me have been Indulging quite too
much. Now I know It Here are the
marks of the bar rail on the bottoms
of your shoes."
Several of the young men braced
themselves against the wall and lifted
their feet as a blacksmith lifts the foot
of a horse. Sure enough, there were
the glazed, metallic marks on the dry
leather. They were the evidences of
guilt, and the young men's faces
showed it.
"It's unmistakable proof." said the
head of the house. "You may fix up
your breath at the drug store and the
barber cap clean up your eyes and
face, but you neglect the shanks of
your shoes."
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103
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to have the porter waken me in the morning,
and as there was so little motion to the car I
overslept. I have covered a large era on some of
, the other famous trains of the United States and ;
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The pioneer Limited runs daily from St.
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