Part 5 (2/2)

continued the sailor; ”and then out of the mud they got bushels of great eels, some of the biggest I ever saw.”

”Did you though?” said Tom.

”Ay, we did. When the water had got right down low, you could see 'em squirming about like snakes, and when they'd got all we could see they laid down boards over the mud, and punched about in the soft places when great fellows kept coming up to the top, and they got no end more. They were the biggest eels ever I see, and as fat as b.u.t.ter.”

”Were they though?” said Tom.

”Ay, they were, my lads; and what I wanted to say was this--If so be as those fish could live in that bit of a three-acre pool without people knowing of their being there, don't you think there can be no end of big fishes and things in the great waters, thousands of miles from sh.o.r.e, such as menfolks has never seen?”

”Well, it do seem likely,” said Tom; ”but I never could swallow the sea-serpent.”

”No, my lad, more likely to swallow you,” said the sailor drily.

”But come now,” said Tom drily. ”Did you ever come across the great sea-serpent?”

”A mate o' mine,” said the sailor, ”told me he once saw out Newfoundland way part of a great cuttle-fish that had been washed ash.o.r.e after a storm. It was a great jellyfish sort of thing, and it was thirty foot long; and he said he was sure it couldn't have been more than half of it, and the next day he saw one of its arms all full of suckers, and it was twenty foot long.”

”Well, that must have been a pleasant sort of thing,” said Tom, as I sat there listening thoughtfully, for the sailor seemed disposed to go on talking.

”I remember one year, fifteen years ago I daresay it is, we were going from Singapore to Hong Kong, and it was a strangely hot calm time, when all at once away about a mile on our lee bow I saw something rise up out of the sea five-and-twenty or thirty feet, as it seemed to be, but it went down again directly; and I rubbed my eyes, thinking it was fancy, but directly after out it came again, making a curious kind of thrust like as if it was a long neck of something under the water. Then down it went again, and I called the officer of the watch to look at it; and he came with his gla.s.s, laughing-like, but just then out it came again and he tried to get a glimpse of it through his gla.s.s, but he never could be quick enough, for there was no telling where the thing would dart out its head, and when it did come up it went down again directly.

”I was in hopes it would come nigher, but it went the other way, shooting out its head once when it was a good way off, and then we did not see it any more.”

”And what do you think it was?” I said eagerly.

”Not knowing, can't say,” he replied quietly. ”Our officer said, half-laughing, half-puzzled like, that he should have said it was the sea-serpent, only no one would believe him if he did.”

”Did you ever see anything else?” I asked.

”Oh, yes, my lad, I've seen a good many things that people wouldn't believe. I remember once seeing a curious thing off the muddy Malay coast, a long way north of Malacca, where you have mangrove swamps right down about the mouths of the rivers, places where the crocodiles go in and out.”

”I say, how big's a crocodile?” said Tom sharply.

”All sizes, mate,” said the sailor. ”I've seen 'em two foot long and I've seen 'em twenty.”

”Oh, not bigger than that?” said Tom contemptuously.

”No, my lad, that's the biggest I ever see, but I've heerd of 'em being seen five or six and twenty.”

”But tell us about the strange thing you saw off the Malay coast,” I said impatiently.

”Oh, ah! yes,” he said, ”that was just as the mist was lifting that lay between us and the coast. It was in a shallow muddy sea, and three or four of us was trying to make out the trees ash.o.r.e, and wondering whether there would be any chance of our getting some fresh fruit and vegetables before long; when, all at once, one of my mates claps his hand on my shoulder, and he says--'Lookye yonder, mate.' 'Why, it's the sea-sarpent!' says another. 'Well, that is a rum un,' says another.

And then we stood looking at what seemed to be a great snake swimming, with twenty or thirty feet of its neck outer water; and it was holding it up in a curve just like a swan, and sometimes its head was right up high and sometimes curved down close to the water with its neck in a loop, and all the time it was going along five or six knots an hour.

'Why, it _is_ the sea-sarpent!' says another of our mates, 'look all behind there; you can see its back as it swims, 'tis a hundred foot long, see if it isn't!' I looked, and sure enough it did seem to be a great length behind, nearly covered by the water; but, as I stood, it didn't seem to me like a snake swimming, for it seemed more than ever as if what we saw was a great slimy slaty-coloured thing, the make of a swan, swimming with its body nearly all under water and its head out; or, as I afterwards thought, just like one of the big West Indy turtles, such as you'll see by and by if you're lucky.”

”Like a turtle?” I said.

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