ng our arrival at
Campbeltown this fleet re-entered the port, their crews
stricken with a conviction that they had encountered the
much-spoken-of sea-monster. Their tales varied only in
degree, but their convictions were similar, and as they
unfolded with touching solemnity the story of peril, the
little town became the centre of wild, fluttering pulses. It
was a conflict between pride of race and sanctified horror,
for had not their townsmen looked into the very jaws of
death? One imaginative gentleman made a statement that was
creepy in his version of a gallant fight against the
demoniac foe. The monster is said to have raised itself high
out of the water, and opened its jaws, which exposed to view
a vast space, and suggested that the intention was to
receive, if not a few of the boats, certainly a multitude of
the people who manned them. One craft came gliding along,
and the skipper promptly picked up an oar, and put it into
the "serpent's" mouth, whereupon the oar was as promptly
snapped asunder; and the skilful mariner sailed his craft
gallantly out of harm's way while the cause of all the
commotion went prancing about the ocean in defiance of the
vast flotilla which is said at the same time to have
occupied its attention. It would be impossible to give more
than a summary of all the things that were said to have been
done during this trying episode; and all that need be said
now is that the men were stricken with awe. They remained in
port for several days in the belief that their enemy was
still on the rampage outside. Their deliverance had been
miraculous; and no doubt much thanksgiving, and much
petitioning for divine interposition, so that this visitor
from a sinister world might be spirited away to some other
locality, held their attention during the days that were
spent under cover of a safe harbour. There can be little
doubt that the cause of the fishers' frenzy was the quiet,
inoffensive bottle-nosed whale, leisurely prowling about the
Sound in search of a living, and, in fact, none other than
the one that my friend had supposed to be a reef. These
creatures rarely run amuck until the harpoon is thrust into
them. They usually roll about the sea in the most harmless
way. No doubt the sight of a huge creature in localities
unaccustomed to it creates an impression of dull alarm, and,
strange though it be, some minds are so constituted that
their superstitions and imaginations are always thirsting
after