hed out in front of him a little puff of
smoke, and, presently, I caught the report of a musket, so that I knew
that he was firing at something in the weed. He fired again, and yet once
more, and after that they were able to haul in upon the line, and so I
perceived that his fire had proved effectual; yet we had no knowledge of
the thing at which he had discharged his weapon.

Now, presently, they signaled to us to draw back the line, the which we
could do only with great difficulty, and then the man in the top of the
super-structure signed to us to vast hauling, which we did, whereupon he
began to fire again into the weed; though with what effect we could not
perceive. Then, in a while he signaled to us to haul again, and now the
rope came more easily; yet still with much labor, and a commotion in the
weed over which it lay and, in places, sank. And so, at last, as it
cleared the weed because of the lift of the cliff, we saw that a great
crab had clutched it, and that we hauled it towards us; for the creature
had too much obstinacy to let go.

Perceiving this, and fearing that the great claws of the crab might
divide the rope, the bo'sun caught up one of the men's lances, and ran to
the cliff edge, calling to us to pull in gently, and put no more strain
upon the line than need be. And so, hauling with great steadiness, we
brought the monster near to the edge of the hill, and there, at a wave
from the bo'sun, stayed our pulling. Then he raised the spear, and smote
at the creature's eyes, as he had done on a previous occasion, and
immediately it loosed its hold, and fell with a mighty splash into the
water at the foot of the cliff. Then the bo'sun bade us haul in the rest
of the rope, until we should come to the packet, and, in the meantime, he
examined the line to see whether it had suffered harm through the
mandibles of the crab; yet, beyond a little chafe, it was quite sound.

And so we came to the letter, which I opened and read, finding it to be
written in the same feminine hand which had indited the others. From it
we gathered that the ship had burst through a very thick mass of the weed
which had compacted itself about her, and that the second mate, who was
the only officer remaining to them, thought there might be good chance
to heave the vessel out; though it would have to be done with great
slowness, so as to allow the weed to part gradually, otherwise the ship
would but act as a gigantic rake to gather up wee