THE SEA-SERPENT. 
41 
The lieutenant’s brow grew suddenly black ; 
(you have seen a cloud come over the skies;) but 
the captain was back on the other tack, and, to 
calm the rage he had kindled, cried, “Now, Hunt, 
forgive me, and, ladies, you must pardon the word 
untimely sped ; believe me, till now I never knew 
such monstrous ears the monster had.” Captain 
Skip was rich ; just such men you may meet on 
“ Change ” between two and ten, and those men 
often have a way of saying things they should n’t 
say. 
Miss Wood looked up with her blandest smile, 
and begged that Hunt would go on. “Meanwhile, 
Captain Skip, I join your party, and doubt if there 
is such a fish as he ’s talking about.” The lieu¬ 
tenant went on ; but little he knew that the ser¬ 
pent was there, and listening too. Under the 
yacht the serpent lay, thinking that Skip was a 
horrid old fellow. “I’ve done some mischief, 
it’s true, to-day, but I’d like to know if he ’s 
black or yellow.” 
“ These Northmen, in their dark-ribbed ship, 
