es too big for its tail--with eyes an' mouth to match. It had also
two great horns above its eyes, an' a cravat or frill o' bristles round
its neck. Its round eyes and half-open mouth gave it the appearance o'
bein' always more or less in a state of astonishment. P'r'aps it was--
at the fact of its havin' bin born at all! Anyhow, it swum'd slowly
along till it cotched sight o' Skinclip, when it went at him, an' looked
at the back of his helmet in great astonishment, an' appeared to smell
it, but evidently it could make nothin' of it. Then it looked all down
his back with an equal want of appreciation. Arter that it came round
to the front, and looked straight in at Skinclip's bull's-eye! They do
say it was a sight to see the start he gave!

"He jump up as smart a'most as if he'd bin in the open air, an' they
obsarved, when he turned round, that a huge lobster of some unbeknown
species was holdin' on to his trousers with all its claws like a limpet!
The fish--or ripslang, as one of the men called it, who said he knowed
it well--turned out to be a pugnaceous creetur, for no sooner did it see
Skinclip's great eyes lookin' at it in horror, than it set up its frill
of spikes, threw for'ard the long horns, an' went slap at the bull's-eye
fit to drive it in. Skinclip he putt down his head, an' the ripslang
made five or six charges at the helmet without much effect. Then it
changed its tactics, turned on its side, wriggled under the helmet, an'
looked in at Skinclip with one of its glarin' eyes close to the glass.
At the same time the lobster gave him a tree-mendious tug behind. This
was more than Skinclip could stand. They see'd him jump round, seize
the life-line, an' give it four deadly pulls, but his comrades paid no
attention to it. The lobster gave him another tug, an' the ripslang
prepared for another charge. It seemed to have got some extra spikes
set up in its wrath, for its whole body was bristlin' more or less by
this time.

"Again Skinclip tugged like a maniac at the line. The ripslang charged;
the lobster tugged; the poor feller stepped back hastily, got his heels
entangled in sea-weed, and went down head first into the grove!

"The men got alarmed by this time, so they pulled him up as fast as they
could, an' got him inboard in a few minutes; but they do say," added
Maxwell, with emphasis, "that that ripslang leaped right out o' the
water arter him, an' the lobster held on so that they had to chop i