e who studied such things. Mine was
going along six or seven knots an hour, with its snake-like head and
neck carried swan-fashion, and raised fifteen or twenty feet out of the
water as near as I could judge, for it was quite half-a-mile away. It
was flat-headed, and as I brought my spy-glass to bear upon it, I could
see that it had very large eyes. I kept it in sight for a good ten
minutes, and could not help thinking how swan-like it was in its
movements. Then it stretched out its neck, laid it down upon the water,
and went out of sight."

"And you think it was a sea serpent?"

"Something of that kind, gentlemen. Bartlett saw it too, and he was
sure it was a great snake."

"Yes, I feel sure it was," said the mate quietly.

"Very strange," said Sir John, who noted how Jack was drinking it all
in.

"Strange, sir, because we don't often see such things. That was in my
last long voyage, a year before I was introduced to Mr Ensler, but I
don't look upon it as particularly strange. Why, I hope that before
very long we shall be sailing through bright clear waters where I can
show you snakes single, in pairs, and in knots of a dozen together
basking at the surface in the sunshine."

"What, huge serpents?" said Jack shortly.

"No," replied the captain, turning upon him with a pleasant smile, while
the doctor kicked at Sir John's leg under the table, but could not reach
him. "They are mostly quite small--four, five, or six feet. The
biggest I ever saw was seven feet long, but I've heard of them being
seen eight feet."

"Yes, I saw one once seven feet nine. It was shot by a passenger on his
way to Rangoon, and they got it on board," said the mate quietly.

"Oh, but that's nothing of a size," said Jack.

"No, Mr Meadows," replied the captain; "but we know it as a fact that
there are plenty of sea serpents of that size, just as we know that
there are adders and rattlesnakes on land."

"Yes, poisonous serpents," said Jack.

"So are these, sir, very dangerously poisonous. I have known of more
than one death through the bite of a sea snake. But, as I was going to
say, we know of adders and rattlesnakes, and we know too that there are
boas and pythons and anacondas running up to eight-and-twenty and thirty
feet long on land. There's a deal more room in the sea for such
creatures to hide, so why should there not be big ones as well as small
there?"

"That's a good argument," said Sir John, "and quite reaso