sorbed in
the interest of the exciting spectacle that the little craft was almost
left to take care of herself.

The whale had got very nearly straight ahead of us by this time, and not
more than half a mile distant.

Bob went forward, and stood leaning against the mast, to get a somewhat
better view. Suddenly, the chase bore sharply up, and dashed away at
tremendous speed in exactly the opposite direction to that which he had
been pursuing before. Almost at the same instant Bob shrieked, in a
shrill unnatural tone of voice:

"Luff! Harry--luff! round with her for the Lord's sake! Oh, my God!"

Down went the helm, and up flew the little _Lily_ into the wind, and I
was just stooping to let go the head-sheets (which led aft), when I
caught a glimpse of Bob's face, white and drawn with horror, and his
eyes--almost starting out of his head--staring fixedly at something
apparently broad on our starboard-bow.

I looked, naturally, in the same direction myself, and never to my dying
day shall I forget the frightful, appalling object which met my gaze.

At a distance of not more than three cables' lengths from us, rushing
through the water at a speed equal to that of a railway train, and
lashing the water into foam with the rapid movement of his huge
convolutions, a monstrous serpent appeared, darting towards the wretched
persecuted whale.

His vast head and fully twenty feet of his body towered nearly erect
above the water, and I believe I am not exaggerating, nay, that I am
_within_ the mark, when I say that the remaining portion of his body, to
the tail, was at _least six_ times that length.

His head was shaped much like that of a python, and his enormous jaws,
which he frequently opened, disclosed a formidable array of strong sharp
fangs. His body was of a deep dead brown, broadly marked with irregular
stripes and rings of pale stone-colour; and he emitted a strong musky
odour, which, even at our distance from him, was almost overpowering.

Once, when he was closest to us, he turned his head in our direction,
and for one dread moment he paused, seeming to gather his folds together
as though about to dart upon us, and the bitterness of a frightful death
thrilled through me.

The next instant he sped on once more at still greater speed, and before
another minute passed the whale was overtaken.

The ocean was, for a single instant, lashed into the semblance of a
boiling caldron; we saw a rapid whirling movem