to
myself, `There's something in that doctor's stuff, there's no doubt
about that, though whether its worth a shilling a bottle is another
matter.' Just then I felt more queer than ever. `Heugh! heugh!' There
was a rattling and a kicking, and such commotion in my inside, and up
came what I soon knew was the smoke-worms right out of my mouth, and
overboard they went as I put my head over the gunwale. There was a
bushel of them if there was one.

"Never afore nor since have I seen such things, for every mother's son
had hairy backs and forked tails. Yes, gentlemen and ladies, forked
tails and hairy backs. Believe Jerry Vincent for the truth of what he
says. The moment they got into the water they began to frisk and frolic
about as if it was natural to them, and to grow bigger and bigger and
bigger, till the first which came up was as big as a frigate's
jolly-boat. I made short work of it, and threw them all up till I felt
there wasn't another morsel of any one of them in my locker. Then
thinks I to myself, `It's time to look out sharp, or some of these merry
chaps with forked tails will be playing me a trick;' for you see that
they'd already begun to open their mouths very wide, and to splash the
water right over me as they whisked about round the boat, just like
sharks in the West Indies. So I got out my oars pretty sharp, and began
to pull away towards Spithead, thinking to get clear of them, and to
carry my freight ashore as I'd engaged to do. But I soon found that the
smoke-worms weren't quite so ready to part company with me, and as my
boat began to gather way, they began to swim after her. The big fellow
led, and all the others followed. There was hundreds of them, of all
sizes, and one little chap, who brought up the rear, was no bigger than
a sprat. After me they came with open months and big red eyes, all the
hair on their backs standing up, and their tails whisking about like the
flukes of a whale in a flurry. Didn't I just pull for dear life, for I
knew what they'd be after if they once grappled me. They would have
swallowed me, every one of them. I soon gave up all thoughts of
fetching up the ship I was bound for. It would never have done to have
gone alongside one of his Majesty's crack frigates with such a train
after me. I should have lost my character, you know. On I pulled; I
didn't spare the oars, depend upon it; but, somehow or other, the way in
which the tide set, and the manner in