62 
THE SEA-SERPENT. 
All in a moment were eaten then, — while the 
blue sea blushed at this deed of blood, — all but 
one, who escaped from the flood ; he climbed up 
the cliff and stood on the rock, while Soe came 
up and began to mock him, and ask him if really 
he thought himself king of the heaving sea. 
Each particular hair on his head stood up, as he 
saw each hideous snake a sort of dance or meas¬ 
ure tread round the rock, with the devil-fish 
close in their wake ; he felt like a prisoner tied 
to the stake ; he felt, — O, who can say what he 
felt ? His heart within him seemed to melt, when 
he heard them mock him with horrid glee, while 
they laughingly roared, u Ha, ha, he, he ! ” 
In a moment they came. He saw them com¬ 
ing ; one was an air from u Diavolo ” humming. 
Soe crawled up and sat down beside him, while 
five serpents beneath most wistfully eyed him ; 
but this man had always been a believer, so 
Soe’s sister said, — and naught could deceive 
her, — and they should n’t eat him ; and though 
she was right, in less than a minute he died of 
