ross the bows of the
longboat at a distance of some fifty feet. I frankly confess that for a
moment I felt petrified with horror, for the creature was streaming with
faintly luminous phosphorescence, and thus, despite the darkness, it was
possible to see that it was certainly not a whale, or any other known
denizen of the deep, for it had a head shaped somewhat like that of an
alligator--but considerably larger than that of any alligator I had ever
seen--attached to a very long and somewhat slender neck, which it
carried stretched straight out before it at an angle of some thirty
degrees with the surface of the water, and which it continually twisted
this way and that, as though peering about in search of something.
Suddenly it paused, lifted its head high, and looked straight toward the
boats, and at the same moment a whiff of air came toward us heavily
charged with a most disgusting and nauseating odour, about equally
suggestive of musk and the charnel-house. Its eyes, distinctly
luminous, and apparently about two feet apart, were directed straight
toward the longboat, and the next instant it began to move toward us,
again stretching out its neck.

Instinctively I sprang to my feet and whipped a pistol out of my belt,
cocking it as I did so.

"Out pistols, men, and give it a volley!" I cried; and the next instant
a somewhat confused pistol discharge shattered the breathless silence of
the night. My own fire I had withheld, waiting to see what would be the
effect of the men's fire upon the monster. Whether any of them had hit
it or not I could not tell, but beyond causing the creature to pause for
an instant, as though startled by the flashing of fire, the volley
seemed to have had no effect, for the horrid thing continued to approach
the boat, while the disgusting odour which it emitted grew almost
overpowering. It must have been within ten feet of the boat when I
aimed straight at its left eye, and pulled the trigger of my pistol.
For an instant the bright flash dazzled me so that I could see nothing,
but I distinctly heard the "phitt" of the bullet, felt a hot puff of the
sickening stench strike me full in the face, and became aware of a
tremendous swirl and disturbance of the water as the huge creature
plunged beneath the surface and was gone.

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE BOATS IN A TORNADO.

We had scarcely begun to settle down again, and regain the control of
our nerves after this distinctly startling adve