things not likely at once to command belief,
thus Mr. Jacobs:

"Thirty year ago, sir—'twas when I served
in the old Badger brig—I come across a strange
creature of the kind we was speaking of. We
was homeward-bound, had had a fair run from
the Cape, and was within two days' sail of St.
Helena, when it fell calm, with the queerest
weather I ever see. As far as our glasses could
reach there were thick clumps of yellow fog
moving about, separated from each other, as if
they was giants dancing a minnywet. Now and
again one of these would come drifting and
sweeping down upon us, when, for five minutes
or so, you couldn't see the man at the wheel;
and, after it was passed, leaving a hot p'isonous
scent, such as I've had many a whiff of, while
out with boats in the rivers in Afrikey, near
nightfall. The men used to say 'twas the beasts
—snakes, monkeys, tigers, and what not—
coming out to feed.

"I was below, getting my breakfast, and all
was very drowsy and quiet in the ship, when I
heerd the voice of Mr. Commersal—Leftenant
Commersal—hailing the look-out aloft:

"' What do you make of it, Marshall?'

"I could not hear the answer. Mr.
Commersal hailed again:

"' Take a squint through my glass. Up there
with it, boy. Steady now, Marshall; when he
rises on the swell.'

"There was silence for a good minute, then
something from Marshall I couldn't hear, after
which the leftenant himself came below and
tapped at the captain's door.

"' Halloa!'

"' It is I, sir—Mr. Commersal. There's a
breeze coming—nor'-nor'-west.'

"' Well, sir, make all sail.'

"' I beg your pardon, Captain Willis, but—
but—there's a hextrornary appearance on our
weather-quarter. Shall we bear up presently
and examine it?'

"' What is it like, sir?'

"' Well, if there were sea-serpents, Captain
Willis, I should say there was about the biggest
of the breed hove to little more than a mile from
us, on the weather-quarter.'

"' Commersal! do you think I'm going to
lose an hour or two beating to windward in
chase of an overgrown conger?'

"'Very well, sir.' Mr. Commersal turned to
go on deck, but suddenly stopped, came back,
and knocked again.

"' I beg your pardon, sir, but would you do
me the favour to take one look at this fellow
before we run him out of sight?'

"'Certainly, Commersal, if you wish it,'
growled the captain. And turning out, he was
on deck in a minute. I gulped down my cocoa,
and followed.

"The breeze had died away again, and the
watch on deck were clustered on the weatherbow,
all with their eyes fixed upon something
that was now slowly creeping across our bows,
and just entering one of the masses of fog I
spoke of. I was only in time to see a bit of
him, but that, and the wake the beggar left—
dash my grandmother's cat's tail!" ejaculated
Mr. Jacobs, breaking down suddenly, as if the
language of description failed. Presently he
resumed:

"' Pass the word for Bill Distance,' were
the first thing I heerd on deck.

"Which Bill had a wonderful eye, and could
tell you, almost to a fathom, how far you was
from any large object. Bill's way was to stuff
his cheek with baccy till it was as tight packed
as a middy's first kit, put his hands into his
waistband, stick his noddle on one side like a
jackdaw squinting into a marrow-bone, and
make some sort of calkylation which he couldn't
explain, and which nobody couldn't learn. It
seemed to have something to do with the
bobstay, as that was the only other thing Bill ever
looked at while doing the sum. Howsever, it
always ended in Bill's slapping his thigh, and
singing out such and such a number, as if he'd
suddenly guessed a riddle, or found out the
meaning of a joke. And, queer as it seems,
Bill was always within a few feet of the mark.
We consequently called him Bill Distance.

"Being ordered by the captain to put on his
considering cap, and report how far ahead the
serpint lay, Bill went through his usual tactics
(this time with the help of the leftenant's
glass, for, as I said, the beast had run into the
fog), consulted with his friend the bobstay, and
finally declared that 'twas half a mile, less nine
fathom, going large.

"' Coming about, I think,' says the skipper,
with his eye at the glass, and looking, as I
thought, rather puzzled. ' Hang me if I don't
think he'll speak us!'

"Just at that instant the mist closed
completely over him, and came lowering down in
the direction of the brig, seemingly bringing the
serpint with it. Leastwise, if he'd held his
course, he must have passed out again into the
clear. Which he didn't.

"By this time every soul on board was on deck,
and the crew was almost as excited as if they
had been going into action. 'Twas no wonder,
for Bill had told them something he didn't like
to tell the captain—firstly, because he warn't
asked to it; in the second place, because he
mought have been popped into the black-list
for romancing—namely, that the serpint,
according to the best calkylations of Bill and the
bobstay, was four hundred and seventy feet long,
and as broad across the lines as Plymouth
Breakwater!

"As the fog-bank come drifting down upon
us, the captain beckoned to Mr. Commersal, who
was on the rattlins trying to get a clearer view.
They talked together for a moment, then there
was an order to run in and double-shot the two
bow guns. Which was done in the twinkling
of a bedpost, Mr. Commersal standing by to
pint one of them himself. After that, there
was a moment of the deadest silence I ever
heerd on shipboard. We hadn't beat to quarters,
so the men had nothing for to ockipy their attention,
but some danger they couldn't understand.