CATCHING A TARTAR. 



'93 



to yon to-day was a cuttle-fish, of the order 

 decapod, or having 10 arms." (" Bedad! " 

 muttered The O'Bog, who stood in awe of 

 the Doctor, " now I know fy thim things is 

 called tin tackles.") 



The Doctor, loftily ignoring the Celt's 

 existence, continued: 'The octopod has, 

 as you well know, but 8 short arms, branch- 

 ing from the margin of its mouth, and is 

 destitute of the longer tentacles you ob- 

 served in the decapod. The latter is fre- 

 quently seen in the waters of the Caribbean 

 sea and the Mexican gulf. Some of the 

 early Norse writers gave astonishing ac- 

 counts of the colossal cephalopoda. You 

 need not refer to the books. You have 

 actually seen what they attempted to de- 

 scribe. I am led to assure you, if the day 

 is fair to-morrow, you may again see, over 

 by Cat island, more than one of these huge 

 creatures, sleeping on the water, as is their 

 custom after a storm. Er-may I trouble 

 you for a light? " 



The next morning every one was earnest- 

 ly looking Westward toward Cat island. 

 On the surface of the water, now smooth 

 and glassy, here bright with golden light, 

 there darkened by the shadows of fleeting 

 clouds, not the faintest sign of any living 

 object could be seen. So those who had 

 not yet breakfasted went back to their 

 quarters, while others who had already had 

 a bite threw out their lines and awaited 

 nibbles. 



All of us thought unutterable things of 

 the Doctor. There were no fish in the sea, 

 apparently; but Antonio, skipper of the lit- 

 tle felucca that brought us a semi-weekly 

 mail, a Sicilian, explained, with a smile. 

 " No leetle feesh-a. Alia same diablo 

 feesh-a bime-bye." 



This he accompanied with a graceful 

 wave of a thin brown hand to the West; so 

 we looked again. A soldier named Elliott, 

 a quiet man with a marksman's gray eye, 

 said, in a calm voice, he could see some of 

 them. Sure enough, not ]A a mile off, dark 

 objects were floating on the water. We 

 counted 13 huge creatures, like little isl- 

 ands. 



In a moment a boat was manned and put 

 off, Elliott in the bow with a harpoon. An- 

 tonio sprang to his craft and hoisted sail. 

 Other enthusiastic fishermen leaped from 

 the pier into the vessel, tumbling over each 

 other as they reached the deck. The breeze 

 was so faint the canvas hung flat, and the 

 craft made little headway. By this time the 

 pier was crowded and the shore was lined 

 with excited spectators. The small boat 

 with Elliott in its prow had such a start, and 

 the oarsmen pulled so well, the felucca 

 could not overtake it; but we came close 

 enough to see Elliott standing with one 

 foot resting on the gunwale, harpoon 



poised. The monsters still seemed to en- 

 joy the sleep of the just. The little boat 

 headed for the nearest and largest. When it 

 appeared as if the dory would surely run 

 against the creature, Elliott drove his 

 weapon with mighty force into its back. 



For perhaps 5 seconds, the sea was lashed 

 as if by a miniature tempest. The little 

 craft was whirled and tossed like a chip. 

 Now the felucca approached and made fast. 

 The fury of the water gradually subsided; 

 bubbles and eddies marked the surface; 

 the harpoon line paid out across the 

 gunwale with a whiz; and it was ap- 

 parent the monster had sought the depths. 

 The others had also disappeared. We 

 began to move through the water at a 

 rapid rate, Cat island to our right as we 

 sped by. Our course was Southerly, and in 

 front stretched the broad expanse whose 

 limit was the Southern shore of the Carib- 

 bean sea. 



Both vessels labored and plunged. The 

 felucca was " down by the head " and listed 

 toward the side on which the dory was 

 lashed; while the dory's stern stood up a 

 little as her nose bent down. The harpoon- 

 line was vertical and taut. This told us our 

 submerged friend was striving to drag us 

 under water. As he had already shown his 

 ability to tow the felucca and her little con- 

 sort, in spite of our efforts to put about, 

 the possibility that he might corral us all 

 in the coral halls of Davy Jones, was more 

 exciting than agreeable. Then, too, the 

 chance that he would reappear on the sur- 

 face and woo us with his enveloping ten- 

 tacles did not heighten our pleasure. 



To make matters worse, Antonio told us 

 there was nothing to eat on board; and at 

 the same time he plaintively pleaded the 

 presence of certain provisions in his mail- 

 contract, a violation of which would de- 

 prive his " cambinettos " of their needed 

 loaves and fishes. So, with much reluctance 

 and a little hatchet, the bond of our attach- 

 ment was cut. At once our headway dimin- 

 ished as if an air-brake had been applied. 

 Then the felucca, the dory now in tow, put 

 about and stood for Ship island, far away 

 to the Northeast, its white sands shimmer- 

 ing in the light of the descending sun. 



When we stepped ashore, one of the first 

 to greet us was the Doctor, who volun- 

 teered to go with us next time to show us 

 how to land a devil-fish. 



To which The O'Bog, who had been with 

 us and had done lots of work while remain- 

 ing strangely silent, said: " Ould Aiscu- 

 laypious wud talk the tin tackles aff av the 

 dekkypod and lave the divil harrumless an' 

 widout a leg to shtand on in the middle av 

 the say; but he'll not have the likes av me 

 in the aujience afther the game he gev us 

 lasht night." 



