ater.

One of these things a whale would undoubtedly have done. So believed
Ben Brace; and therefore the creature that had come so near capsizing
them could not be a whale. What was it, then? A shark? No. It could
not be a shark. Though there are two or three species of these
monsters, quite as large as good-sized whales, the sailor never knew of
their assaulting anything after that fashion.

As they stood speculating on the cause of their curious adventure, a
shout from Snowball announced that the ex-cook had at length discovered
the explanation.

Snowball's first thought, after having partially recovered from his
fright, was to examine the plank from which, like an acrobat from his
spring-board, he had made that involuntary somersault.

There, just by the spot on which he had been standing, appeared an
object that explained everything: a sharp, bony, proboscis-like
implement, standing up a full foot's length out of the timber, slightly
obliqued from the perpendicular, and as firmly imbedded in the wood as
if it had been driven in by the blows of a blacksmith's hammer!

That it had penetrated the plank from underneath could be easily seen,
by the ragged edge, and split pieces around the orifice where it came
out.

But the negro did not stay to draw deductions of this nature. On
catching sight of the object,--which he knew had not been there
before,--his terror at once came to an end; and a long cachinnation,
intended for a peal of laughter, announced that "Snowball was himself
again."

"Golly!" he exclaimed. "Look dar, Massa Brace. Look at de ting dat hab
gub us sich a frightnin. Whuch! Who'd a beliebed dat de long-nose had
got so much 'trength in im ugly body? Whuch!"

"A sword-fish!" cried Ben. The rostrum of one of these singular
creatures was the sharp bone protruding above the plank. "You're right,
Snowy, it be a sword-fish, and nothing else."

"Only de snout o' one," jocularly rejoined the negro. "De karkiss ob de
anymal an't dar any more. Dat was de black body I seed under de raff;
but he an't dar now. He hab broke off him long perbossus; and no doubt
dat hab killed him. He gone dead, and to de bottom, boaf at de same
time."

"Yes," assented the sailor. "It must have broke off while he was
struggling to get clear, I heerd the crash o't, like the partin' o' a
spar; and just after, the raft stopped shakin', an' began to settle down
again. Lor ha mercy on us! what a thrust he have m