" I replied, "I believe he is sincere."

"What! and see those great things, Mas'r Harry, out at sea?"

"I believe he saw something," I replied, "but whether it was just as he
described is another thing. There's plenty of room, though, in the sea
for more than that, and perhaps people will find out some day that we
have not seen everything that there is in the world."

"Talk about snakes, though, Mas'r Harry," said Tom suddenly; "where did
you say we was going?"

"To Caracas first."

"Ah! Crackers--that's it. Do you think there'll be any snakes there?"

"Not sea-serpents, Tom," I said laughing; "but up the country where we
are going there are sure to be plenty of land-serpents."

"Not big ones, though, Mas'r Harry?"

"I should say there will be some very big ones in the swamps by the
great rivers."

"Think o' that now!" said Tom. "Big serpents! ugh! I can't abide eels
even. I don't know how I should get on with serpents. But I say, Mas'r
Harry, it's all nonsense about sea-serpents, ar'n't it?"

"I don't know, Tom," I replied. "Perhaps they never grow to a very
large size; but there are thousands of small ones."

"What! sea-serpents, Mas'r Harry?"

"To be sure there are."

"But not in the sea--snakes couldn't swim?"

"Indeed but they can, Tom. Why, I've seen our common English snake go
into a stream and swim beautifully with its head reared above the water,
and after swimming about for some time, come out."

"Think of that now!" said Tom. "Where's the sea-serpents, then?"

"Oh, all about the Indian and Chinese Seas."

"Big uns?"

"I never heard of their being more than five or six feet long, but some
of them are very poisonous. People have died from their bite."

"Have they, though?" said Tom. "And where else are there any, Mas'r
Harry?"

"Oh, they swarm in the Caspian Sea. I've heard that they float about in
knots of several together on calm, sunny days, and they come ashore in
the shallow parts."

"Caspian Sea!" said Tom; "where may that be--anywhere near Crackers?"

"No, Tom," I said; "we've left that behind us in the Old World."

"And a good job too," said Tom; "we don't want sea-serpents where we're
going. Why, Mas'r Harry, I shall never like to do a bathe again."

Soon after this Tom proposed that we should try sea-fishing, but when we
had borrowed lines and begun to make our preparations the weather set in
so rough that we never once had a chance. In fact there were many