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"’It’s the ssssssis-sea-sea-sea-sarpint!’ ses Sam, with a bust.

"’Rather a long un by your account of it,’ ses the mate, with a grin.

"’What’s the matter?’ ses the skipper, who just came up.

"’This man has seen the sea-sarpint, sir, that’s all,’ ses the mate.

"’Y-y-yes,’ said Sam, with a sort o’ sob.

"’Well, there ain’t much doing just now,’ ses the skipper, ‘so you’dbetter get a slice o’ bread and feed it.’

"The mate bust out larfing, an’ I could see by the way the skipper smiled he was rather tickled at it himself.

"The skipper an’ the mate was still larfing very hearty when we heard adreadful ‘owl from the bridge, an’ one o’ the chaps suddenly leaves thewheel, jumps on to the deck, and bolts below as though he was mad. T’other one follows ‘m a’most d’reckly, and the second mate caught holdo’ the wheel as he left it, and called out something we couldn’t catchto the skipper.

"’What the d——’s the matter?’ yells the skipper.

"The mate pointed to starboard, but as ‘is ‘and was shaking so that oneminute it was pointing to the sky an’ the next to the bottom o’ the sea,it wasn’t much of a guide to us. Even when he got it steady we couldn’tsee anything, till all of a sudden, about two miles off, something likea telegraph pole stuck up out of the water for a few seconds, and thenducked down again and made straight for the ship.

"Sam was the fust to speak, and, without wasting time stuttering or stammering, he said he’d go down and see about that bit o’ bread, an’ hewent afore the skipper or the mate could stop ‘im.

"In less than ‘arf a minute there was only the three officers an’ me ondeck. The second mate was holding the wheel, the skipper was holding hisbreath, and the first mate was holding me. It was one o’ the mostexciting times I ever had.

"’Better fire the gun at it,’ ses the skipper, in a trembling voice,looking at the little brass cannon we had for signalling.

"’Better not give him any cause for offence,’ ses the mate, shaking hishead.

"’I wonder whether it eats men,’ ses the skipper.’Perhaps it’ll comefor some of us.’

"’There ain’t many on deck for it to choose from,’ ses the mate, lookingat ‘im significant like.

"’That’s true,’ ses the skipper, very thoughtful; ‘I’ll go an’ send allhands on deck. As captain, it’s my duty not to leave the ship till thelast, if I can anyways help it.’

"How he got them on deck has always been a wonder to me, but he did it. He was a brutal sort o’ a man at the best o’ times, an’ he carried on somuch that I s’pose they thought even the sarpint couldn’t be worse. Anyway, up they came, an’ we all stood in a crowd watching the sarpintas it came closer and closer.

"We reckoned it to be about a hundred yards long, an’ it was about themost awful-looking creetur you could ever imagine. If you took all theugliest things in the earth and mixed ’em up—gorillas an’ the like—you’d only make a hangel compared to what that was. It just hung off ourquarter, keeping up with us, and every now and then it would open itsmouth and let us see about four yards down its throat.

"’It seems peaceable,’ whispers the fust mate, arter awhile.

"’P’raps it ain’t hungry,’ ses the skipper.’We’d better not let it getpeckish. Try it with a loaf o’ bread.’

"The cook went below and fetched up half-a-dozen, an’ one o’ the chaps,plucking up courage, slung it over the side, an’ afore you could say’Jack Robinson’ the sarpint had woffled it up an’ was looking for more. It stuck its head up and came close to the side just like the swans inVictoria Park, an’ it kept that game up until it had ‘ad ten loaves an’a hunk o’ pork.