Show adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF 1 worse forse than Drow drowning brownin nin by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY charles of bronx bron N Y sends in a yarn that sets a new high for horror charley had a mighty queer adventure it was one that gave him a choice between two deaths one of them was drowning and no fun but horrible as drowning was it half as bad as that other horror the one that was waiting for him up above charley is a porto rican who has come to the states to finish his education its a tale about his native land that hes going to tell us today A good many years ago on april 9 1927 to be exact charley and a bun bunch ch of other lads about his own age started out to do some dynamite donarm t e fishing they all lived in the town of Ja jardo on the northeast tip of porto rico and the sea was not tar far away they chose a spot called el faro because of a lighthouse that stood on the hill above it el faro was on the shores ot of a tidewater lagoon where the fish at high tide were large and numerous charley and his friends took along food a pan to fry fish in and several sticks of dynamite to catch the fish fishing bishin with dynamite the tide came through the lagoon at el faro at a pretty rapid clip it was at the time when that tide was just turning that dynamite fishing was best for if they waited while the tide ebbed the fish would go out with it they attached fuses to their dynamite and one of the boys threw it into the water there was a momentary hush followed by an explosion the water heaved and trembled A great wave shot up from below the surface and with it came fish hundreds of them of all sizes species and colors they had to act quickly after that if they get those fish immediately the swift moving tide would carry them away half a dozen of them dived into the water and began gathering up the ones on the surface charley followed them but instead of going after the fish on the surface he took a long deep dive toward the bottom of the lagoon M between the devil and the deep the little fish came to the top after an explosion but the bigger ones sank to the bottom and it was the big ones that charley was after charley had made a good dive but there was no time to lose the current was even swifter down near the bottom than it had been on the surface ile he saw a big fish and another and half a dozen more 1 I tried to take two he says but they were too slippery I 1 took the largest one within reach and turned my head toward the stir surface face but at that moment I 1 saw something that made me change my mind it was a ghastly sight that charley saw up there above him up near the surface directly over his head he saw something white swimming back and forth A second look told him what it was and his whole body began fairly crawling with horror that white thing up there was a SHARK ilu huge c shark was terrifying says charley th the e sight of it almost made me faint and there arent enough words in any language to describe how terrified I 1 felt the monster was swimming close to the surface and he seemed to be eating the dead fish that our explosion had brought up to the top of the lagoon he was huge one of the biggest sharks I 1 had ever seen and from where I 1 was I 1 could see his great mouth with its rows of horrible sharp teeth charley saw and thought all those things in a fraction of a second he knew he swim upward that shark would have eaten him alive in less than a minute but he stay down there under the water long either he had to have air already his lungs were beginning to ache from the strain of holding his breath already his head was spinning around giddily for want of oxygen in his lungs never in his life had charley been in a worse spot what I 1 suffered M in those moments of cruel apprehension he says seems incredible now I 1 never thought the human body and the human mind were e capable of standing so much torture my ears were ringing madly M my y lungs felt as though they were about to burst my heart was beating violently I 1 wanted to cry but I 1 the water down there at the bottom was barkand dark and gloomy up on the surface a dim figure now in my blurring eyes the monster still hovered it seemed that lie he was waiting patiently for me to come up many times I 1 had heard the expression between the devil and the deep and there I 1 was in literally that same predicament desperate push to the surface and what made matters worse was the fact that no one could help me out of it I 1 was alone more alone than anyone has ever been be borei believe I 1 hold my breath any longer and I 1 took a last desperate chance pushing madly with my feet swimming with all the strength that was left in me I 1 shot toward the surface it was hardly possible that I 1 could get out of the water before the shark got me but I 1 had no other choice up I 1 went then suddenly I 1 heard a splash felt a violent blow from a huge body and lost consciousness when charley came to he was lying on the beach his friends all grouped around him they had seen the shark swimming around on the surface and they knew charley was at the bottom they thought sure charley was a goner but they did what they could one of the boys got a huge piece of driftwood from the beach floated it out on the waterland wat rat erand struck at the shark just as charley was coming to the surface the shark turned to swim away and in doing so had run smack into charley and nobody has figured out yet who was the most frightened by that collision the shark or charley the other young fellows had dragged charley half drowned to the beach and charley says the last time hes been swimming in anything bigger than a bathtub 0 service |