taking a
look, fell back exhausted, clinging desperately to the oar.

"Did you see anything?" asked Mont anxiously.

"Yes; don't talk, sir; we want all our strength."

There was a hopeful ring in his voice which inspired Mont, who,
however, fancied he heard the boy sigh almost directly afterward.

He thought of the monster. Was it still near them? But, if so, whence
came the voice?

They began to swim with all the strength they had left, and after some
minutes of continued exertion, for moving was a painful task in their
state, Stump spoke again.

"Are you far off?" he said.

"Not far--push on," replied the voice, which Mont fancied he knew.

Suddenly an outstretched hand seized him; he was pulled violently out of
the water, just as his senses were going, and, after someone had rubbed
his hands vigorously, he opened his eyes and murmured:

"Stump."

"Here, sir," replied the lad.

By the rays of the moon our hero saw a figure which was not that of
Stump, but which he recognized easily.

"Dr. Woddle?" he said.

"Right, my lad," answered the man of science.

"Where is Carl?"

"Here," answered our hero's chum. "The doctor and I stuck together, and
our only concern has been for you."

"Where are we?" asked Mont puzzled; "this thing I am sitting on seems
firm enough."

"It's a floating island," answered Woddle.

A horrible thought crossed Mont's mind to which he could not give
expression.

"To put you out of your misery at once," continued Dr. Woddle, "we are
on the back of the gigantic creature at whom I shot, and I know now why
I did not kill him."

"Why?"

"Because he is ironclad, or something very like it. I can make no
impression upon the scaly monster with my knife."

These words produced a strange feeling in Mont's mind. He found that he
was really with his friends on the back of the monster, which continued
to float on the surface, after causing the partial destruction of the
ship.

He got up and stamped his foot. It was certainly a hard, impenetrable
body, and not the soft substance of which all the marine inhabitants
that he had heard of were made, such as whales, sharks, walruses, and
the like. If anything, it more resembled a tortoise or an alligator. A
hollow sound was emitted when it was struck, and it appeared to be made
of cast-iron plates secured together.

"What is your opinion of the creature, sir?" asked Mont.

"You want my candid opinion as a man of science?" said the d