FullReads

“In a few minutes I felt more like myself, and went on deck, and there was Miss Minturn, half-scared to death. ‘What is the meaning of that shock?’ she said; ‘have we struck anything?’ ‘My dear lady,’ said I, with as cheerful a front as I could put on, ‘I do not think we have struck anything. There is nothing to strike.’ She looked at me for a moment like an angel ready to cry, and clasping her hands, she said, ‘Oh, tell me, sir, I pray you, sir, tell me what has happened. My father felt that shock. He sent me to inquire about it. His mind is disturbed.’ At that moment, before I could make an answer, there was another jerk of the ship, and we both went down on our knees, and I felt as if I had been tripped. I was up in a moment, however, but she continued on her knees. I am sure she was praying, but very soon up she sprang. ‘Oh, what is it, what is it?’ she cried; ‘I must go to my father.’

“‘I cannot tell you,’ said I; ‘I do not know, but don’t be frightened; how can such a little shock hurt so big a ship?’

“It was all very well to tell her not to be frightened, but when she ran below she left on deck about as frightened a man as ever stood in shoes. There could be no doubt about it; that horrible beast was beginning to pull upon the ship. Whether or not it would be able to draw us down below, was a question which must soon be solved.

“I had had a small opinion of the maid, who, when I told her the crew had deserted the ship, had sat down and covered her head; but now I did pretty much the same thing; I crouched on the deck and pulled my cap over my eyes. I felt that I did not wish to see, hear, or feel anything.

“I had sat in this way for about half an hour, and had felt no more shocks, when a slight gurgling sound came to my ears. I listened for a moment, then sprang to my feet. Could we be moving? I ran to the side of the ship. The gurgle seemed to be coming from the stern. I hurried there and looked over. The wheel had been lashed fast, and the rudder stood straight out behind us. On each side of it there was a ripple in the quiet water. We were moving, and we were moving backward!

“Overpowered by horrible fascination, I stood grasping the rail, and looking over at the water beneath me, as the vessel moved slowly and steadily onward, stern foremost. In spite of the upset condition of my mind, I could not help wondering why the Vessel should move in this way.

“There was only one explanation possible: The Water-devil was walking along the bottom, and towing us after him! Why he should pull us along in this way I could not imagine, unless he was making for his home in some dreadful cave at the bottom, into which he would sink, dragging us down after him.

“While my mind was occupied with these horrible subjects, some one touched me on the arm, and turning, I saw Miss Minturn. ‘Are we not moving?’ she said. ‘Yes,’ I answered, ‘we certainly are.’ ‘Do you not think,’ she then asked, ‘that we may have been struck by a powerful current, which is now carrying us onward?’ I did not believe this, for there was no reason to suppose that there were currents which wandered about, starting off vessels with a jerk, but I was glad to think that this idea had come into her head, and said that it was possible that this might be the case. ‘And now we are going somewhere’ she said, speaking almost cheerfully. ‘Yes, we are,’ I answered, and I had to try hard not to groan as I said the words. ‘And where do you think we are going?’ she asked. It was altogether out of my power to tell that sweet creature that in my private opinion she, at least, was going to heaven, and so I answered that I really did not know. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘if we keep moving, we’re bound at last to get near land, or to some place where ships would pass near us.’