, with the water curling and foaming under his bows,
and flying high up into the air as he cut through it. It was neck or
nothing with us; so we kept blazing away as fast as we could load. I
confess that every moment I expected he would make a spring and grab us,
just as an ordinary fish does the bait held over him; but it was
necessary that I should set an example of coolness to my crew; and,
under the circumstances, I believe that mortal man could not have been
cooler. I could not hide from myself the consequences, should he catch
us; and yet I scarcely dared to hope that we should escape. We had
expended, at last, all our round-shot, and the greater part of our
powder, and we had to load with bags of nails and any langrage we could
find. We had half emptied the carpenter's chest, and, except some
copper bolts, there seemed to be nothing else we could fire off, when,
by my calculations, I found that we were approaching the line. Life is
sweet; and so, that we might keep off the fatal moment as long as
possible, we determined to fire away as long as we had a tin-tack or a
bradawl to put into our guns, when, on a sudden, he uttered a fierce
roar--it did make us jump--and down went his head right under the water,
and up went his tail like a huge pillar, when flop it came down again,
sending the sea flying over us and very nearly pooping the ship. We
felt very uncomfortable, for we naturally expected to see him come up
alongside; but he didn't, and two minutes afterwards we made him out
close to the horizon, to the southward. It was my opinion at the time--
and I have held it ever since--that either he did not like the mouthful
of big nails and bradawls he swallowed, or that he had some objection to
crossing the line from not knowing the navigation on the other side. At
all events, we were clear of him. We had a quick run to Liverpool,
where the oil sold at a very high price, and I got a monstrous amount of
credit from all who believed my wonderful narrative. As is always the
case, some didn't, in spite of the oil I exhibited in proof of the
occurrence; but I treated the incredulous fellows with the scorn they
deserved, and from that day to this, I'll answer for it, no one has ever
caught sight of so much as the tail of the real sea-serpent."

"Vell, Mistre Johnson, dat is von very vondeful, vot you call it!"
exclaimed Colonel Pinchard, who had joined us.

"A big, thundering bouncer!" cried a voice from behind