COMPANIONS OF THE BATH

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3001, 12 February 1917, Page 6

COMPANIONS OF THE BATH

BATHERS AND PORPOISES

DARING DEEP SEA PERILS

(J3y Will Lawson.)

"I've just been reading about octopuses," the brown-skinned, burly Uuther said. "It's enough to put a fellow oil' bathing to faiuk ot the crawling things. There was a, time when it would, nave, but I've hveci tnat. down. "'l'es, 1 nearly gave up bathing for good and ail, once. In jJay's Bay, it Mas, and we "were bathing oif a. boat wen off-shore. Three of us, two in the water and one in the boat. Suddenly the man in the boat stopped undressing, and yelled: " 'Shark, look out for the shark!' "Ever beeii in the water when there's a shark scare on ? Take my advice and don't do it. It makes your backbone curl up and your eyes pop out of your head looking for the snark. There it was, just under the surface, coming at us and making a swirl like a school of kawhiii; not on your life, it wasn't — no, it wasn't kuwhai. Too big and too much devil. Well, we were making streaks through the water, too, towards the boat, which a man in nothing at all was rowing towards us. 'ifton the thing surged between us, and we saw a gleam of deep brown, chestnut you might cell it. The boat arrived then, and we had a deuce of an argument whether it was a shark or a porpoise or a kingfish. We were rowing lor the shore all the time, too, till we remembered that one ot our crew needed some more clothes on. Sort of makes you forget little trifles, a big scare like that. "Well, we shied at deep-water bathing for a bit. Felt we'd like to know what else was in the. bath before we went in. But, soon, we forgot again and bathed just the same as ever. I was out with some fishermen in the straits off Oterhangi one Sunday. Lovely warm day, and the sea like glass. About a milo olf-sliore flic launch stopped to put out her dinghy and take fish out of a set-net. " 'What about a bathe?' I said to the Italian engineer. " 'Wait!' he said. 'You see.' "I waited, but I stripped while I did it and stood up on the gunwale. It looked good. "Wait, 1 said the Greek bow-oar in the dinghy. 'You see.' "I waited—and I saw. Out of the green, glorious water a bulk as big as a pony came up. It was black and grey, with a white patch "amidships just behind a sharp, tall fin. The beast showed a little pig eye- at us, blew out of .a hole in his head, and dived again. "The kecler,' said my friends the fishermen. 'Not good to bathe here.' "Killers aren't good bath-mates, so I got dressed again. Clean put mo off my bathe—aud the water was lovely,

Among the Rock Pools. "After that I decided to stick to shoal water. My mate and I found a rock-bound pool, with only one deep, narrow entrance to the, sea, near the ited Rocks. Splashing about in it— my mate had gone on to the rocks to smoke a cigarette, lie suddenly called out—no uot octopus. I'll tell you about that later—he called out: "'Look out, Jimmy, a eel's comin' in." "An eel I laughed at him. Then I saw it. _ Honestly, it was eight feet long—a big conger. Out 1 hopped, and we got a spear we'd brought to get crawfish. The big eol swam in, as cheeky as you- like, and nosed about till he_ was right under us. " 'Now, , I whispered, and my mate let him have it. He got the eel right behind the gills, and I thought he was going to sea with it. Both of'us hung on, and the eel did his bit too; tho calm, placid pool became a storm centre. Something had to give, we reckoned-, and it didn't look as if it was going to be. the eel. And neither it was. He pulled us in, and trien the 1 barb straightened out and tho conger went to. sea under sealed orders, with a hole in his port side. "After that wo said tlmt pools were no safer than open roadsteads. Wβ went out fishing on a hot day. tied the lines, and dived overboard. When we came back, both lines had a strained look. We hauled in'and brought up two blue cod and a conga.r. Half the conger was oaten off hy a six-foot shark that followed the line up to the surface, and one of the blue cod was snapped off just as it was awash, also by a shark. Happened right in the Straits here, before our very eyes." "What about the octopus?" an openmouthed youngster askad. "Oh, him? Yes, it was funny. Robbo, that's my mate, said one day to come and hunt for pawas on tho rocks. There was a nice pool, deep and mossy-looking, with sea-weed. Robbo poked about with a stick in it. " 'There's somethiu' moviu',' said Robbo. . . "There was. It moved right out of the water, a little octopus, about six feet, across, and his legs like stockwhips,'all slithery and wobbly '" 'Hit Mm,' shouted Robbo. 'Stamp o'n his feet!' "He had eight of 'em if I remember rightly, and every time I hit at 'em they'd all moved. Over the dry rocks he scrambled, like a collection of cabsprings gone mad. He was making for the sea. His little eyes were fixed on the tide, and all we could 30, on the rough rocks, was a joke to what he was doing. He was gone in no time. ■ ' " 'I've heard about these 'ere seaspiders,, said Robbo, 'but blow me if I've seen oiie before.' "Spider! That's what he thought it was. And it was an octopus. What I say is, that there's more dangers ashore and in shoal waters than in the sea, so hero goes!" Hβ flasiied through the air and dived into the green tido with scarcely a splash. Presently ho reappeared, waving a. barrel hoop, bristling with nails, in his hand. "See what I mean. Found that down there. Good job I didn't walk in." Out into the deep water he swam, his head a dark object on the green sea, out .and out, towards the island, and then, in a wide circle, back to the beach, and never a shark, nor a killer, nor a conger eel, nor a. porpoise, no, not oven a kingfish, got him, though the proper ending of this should have been that he met a deep-sea death. But perhaps lie hud touched wood.