Several men of scientific attainments are always to be depended on for
novelties in the way of monsters from the deep. Some of these
"professors," as they are generally termed by showmen, are given
salaries to go out on special expeditions, while others make an
excellent living by pursuing this peculiar craft independently. Often
these men have adventures quite as exciting as those which befall the
hunters in the wilds of the jungles.
While on an expedition to the Bermuda coast one of our professors had a
decidedly interesting experience with a small octopus. He had been
towing about in his little boat in search of the beautiful colored fish
with which this coast abounds, when there was a sudden lurch of the
boat followed by a constant thumping against its bottom. Thinking the
skiff had met with an obstruction of the ordinary kind, the professor
thrust his arm into the water, at the stern of the boat, where he felt
a moving mass which was indistinctly seen, and caught hold of the slimy
thing. He then found that his arm was being encircled by what he
believed to be a sea serpent. Then he felt a sensation that, according
to his description, was like a hundred sucking leeches. This strange
and powerful animal was trying to pull him overboard. With a desperate
effort he separated the tentacled part that encircled his arm from the
body of the devil-fish, and the creature fell back into the water. On
the professor's arm were several sores where the suckers had been
applied, and he was as thoroughly frightened as a man could be and
live.
One of the most pathetic subjects which can be proposed to a
proprietary showman of wide experience is that of "wild goose"
expeditions. Experiences of this kind are so costly that they are not
easily forgotten. I spent thousands of dollars on an expedition sent to
the coast of Alaska for the purpose of capturing a live walrus. The man
in charge of this undertaking had been with my menagerie for several
years, and I knew him to be courageous, capable and determined. He had
plenty of assistance, the best equipment in the way of boats, wire nets
and other paraphernalia that could be devised, and still he returned
empty-handed from a shore that abounded with those ugly monsters. The
failure of the expedition and the loss of the heavy investment which it
represented all hinged on the fact that, unlike the seals we had taken
by nets, the walrus could not be found on the shore. What was still
more tantalizing was that they would permit their pursuers to approach
within a hundred feet of the ice blocks on which they discreetly held
forth.
After he had abandoned all hope of capturing them alive, he determined
to have some sport shooting them. As before stated, the walruses would
remain on the ice until the party came within one hundred feet of them,
resting all the time in perfect silence and raising their enormous
heads as if curious to see what manner of men had the temerity to
invade their dominion. In that position they were, of course, perfect
targets for the bullets. When wounded they would collect in a group,
and then, as if by a preconceived signal, they would rush for the
boats, and their retaliation would be furious and the attacking party
was usually wholly unprepared for the onslaught. As a walrus frequently
weighs nearly a ton, and sometimes more, the hunters were in imminent
danger of being tipped over into the cold waves--a catastrophe which
would be almost certain to result fatally; and as the movement of the
walrus is very swift, the only alternative left the party was to empty
their guns on the foremost of the creatures. This would break the force
of the onslaught, the killed and wounded forming a barrier to those
coming on behind. On one of these excursions the hunters killed a baby
walrus, and while using the oars to reach the ice floe whereon the baby
lay dead, they were astonished to see a grown walrus jump to the little
one's side and, taking it in its mouth, disappear with it into the icy
water.
If the countryman who finds undisguised delight in "seeing the animals"
of the big show could only realize the money, the perils and hardships
and the disappointments which a good collection of animals represents
he would marvel the more at the spectacle.