Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1884 — An Unsteady Island. [ARTICLE]

An Unsteady Island.

Once, during a heavy gale from the east, a party of spongers in an open boat were driven off shore, and so fierce was the hurricane that their only hope was to keep the boat before the wind and run out into the Gulf. For four or five hours the headlong race vtas kept up; but finally the wind abated, and by early morning the sea was as smooth as glass, a peculiarity often noticed there after a gale. They had been carried far out of sight of land, and were wellnigh worn out, when one of the spongers exclaimed that they were nearing shore, and soon the entire party saw a familiar sight that seemed to signify a reef—a flamingo standing motionless in the water. As the boat drew near, the bird raised its graceful neck, straightened up and stretched its wings as if to fly; tliea', seeing that they were not going to molest it, it resumed its position of security. To their astonishment, tho men soon perceived that, instead of resting on a reef, the bird had alighted on a huge leather turtle that was fast asleep upon the water. Indeed, the flamingo was in distress, like themselves, having been blown off shore by the same storm, and it had evidently taken refuge on the sleeping turtle. The men did not attempt to disturb it, and their last view, qs they pulled away to the east, was the flamingo attempting to lift one leg and go to sleep, an act which the undulating motion of the floating turtle rendered well-nigh impossible.— C. F. Holder, in St. -Nicholas.