ght the object, and began to growl remarks.

"Capsized long-boat," he muttered. "No, it's a fish--sick whale, I
think. But I don't know. It's moving pretty well through the water.
What do you make of it, my lad?"

"It's very big and long," cried Rodd excitedly, "and it may be part of a
whale's back just showing above the water. I don't know, though. I
never saw a whale swimming before. Here, I know! I think it's five or
six porpoises swimming one after the other and close together."

"Nay!" growled the captain. "It's something--"

"It's gone!" shouted Rodd. "Oh, uncle, I wish you'd seen it. It seemed
to sink down out of sight all at once."

"'Cause it didn't like to be looked at, sir," whispered Joe Cross. "But
look out, sir," he cried eagerly. "There it is again, a little farther
off."

"Have a look, doctor," said the skipper, passing the glass to Uncle
Paul.

"Is it a whale?" asked the doctor.

"Nay, that's no whale, sir," replied the captain. "A whale don't go
under water like that when she sounds. Down goes her head, and she
throws her flukes up in the air."

"Then what is it?" cried Uncle Paul, with the glass now glued to his
eye. "It's something very big. Yes, I can see plainly now--
blackish-grey, and shiny as if slimy. It seems to undulate, for one
minute the back seems to be only a few feet long, then three or four
parts are above the surface at once, as if the creature were twenty or
thirty feet long."

"Yes, sir; I can see that with the naked eye.--Nay, nay, sir; you keep
the glass. It's more in your way than mine. Seems to me as if we have
hit a curiosity for you, only it's rather too big to tackle."

"I think it's a great snake," cried Rodd excitedly. "I mean, a very
large eel, swimming on the top, and he keeps throwing his head about as
if he were feeding in the middle of a shoal of fish."

"Yes, it is something like that, Rodd," said the doctor; "but no conger
eel could be as large as that, and really I don't know."

"Sea-sarpint, sir," whispered Joe Cross to Rodd, and looking longingly
at the glass the while.

"Nonsense!" cried Rodd. "Here, you have a look, Joe," and he passed the
glass to the sailor. "Now then," he said, "what do you make of it?"

"I say sea-sarpint, sir." The captain growled more deeply than ever.

"Sea-sarpint!" he said, in a tone of disgust. "There, hold your tongue,
my lad. You're a naturalist, doctor; you haven't got no sea-sarpints in
y