WHICH TREATS OF THE KRAKEN. 143 



the time, I remember, being so tired and sleepy that 

 I knew not bow to keep awake. I did not imagine that 

 anything would happen to make me prize that night's 

 experience for the rest of my life, or I should have taken 

 matters with a far better grace. 



At about eleven p.m. I was leaning over the lee rail, 

 gazing steadily at the bright surface of the sea, where 

 the intense radiance of the tropical moon made a broad 

 path like a pavement of burnished silver. Eyes that 

 saw not, mind only confusedly conscious of my sur- 

 roundings, were mine ; but suddenly I started to my feet 

 with an exclamation, and stared with all my might at 

 the strangest sight I ever saw. There was a violent 

 commotion in the sea right where the moon's rays 

 were concentrated, so great that, remembering our 

 position, I was at first inclined to alarm all hands ; for 

 I had often heard of volcanic islands suddenly lifting 

 their heads from the depths below, or disappearing in 

 a moment, and, with Sumatra's chain of active vol- 

 canoes so near, I felt doubtful indeed of what was now 

 happening. Getting the night-glasses out of the cabin 

 Bcuttle, where they were always hung in readiness, I 

 focussed them on the troubled spot, perfectly satisfied 

 by a short examination that neither volcano nor earth- 

 quake had anything to do with what was going on ; 

 yet so vast were the forces engaged that I might well 

 have been excused for my first supposition. A very 

 large sperm whale was locked in deadly conflict with 

 a cuttle-fish, or squid, almost as large as himself, 

 whose interminable tentacles seemed to enlace the whole 

 of his great body. The head of the whale especially 

 seemed a perfect net-work of writhing arms — naturally, 

 I suppose, for it appeared as if the whale had the tail 



