THE SEA-SERPENT. 
61 
been there, I doubt if I or you could have viewed 
these monsters borne by the waves about them, 
or ever believed that men by such sights could 
be deceived. Five or six sharks came up to see 
if they of any service could be ; the devil, dog¬ 
fish, whales, Krakens, and all, forsook for a 
while the banquet-hall. In spiral curve, and glit¬ 
tering _ ring, the snakes their coils round that 
doomed boat fling, and almost before you could 
think or look, one of the crew from the boat 
they took ; that was our serpent, — but Soe, his 
brother, in a moment more had taken another. 
The sharks, at this, went half mad with glee, and 
splashed about in the heaving sea ; while the 
whales and the Krakens rejoiced beyond meas¬ 
ure, at whatever afforded their monarch such 
pleasure, and the devil-fish laughed, and looked 
on at his leisure. Soe turned to his brother, and 
wanted to bet, that in less than ten minutes he ’d 
all of them get ; and then, to prove he was as 
good as a better, he came up ’neath the boat, and 
just overset her. 
