As soon as the _Catamaran_ had fairly recovered her equilibrium,
Snowball condescended to climb aboard. The ludicrous appearance of the
negro, as he stood dripping upon the deck, might have excited laughter;
but neither Ben Brace, nor his acolyte, nor the little Lalee, were in a
mood for mirth. On the contrary, the curious incident that had just
occurred was yet unexplained; and the awe with which it had inspired
them still continued to hold all three in a sort of speechless control.
Snowball himself was the first to break silence.
"Good Gorramity!" he exclaimed, his teeth chattering like castanets, as
the words passed between them. "Wha's all de rumpus 'bout? Wha you
tink, Massa Ben? Wha make dat dratted fuss under de raff? De water be
plash bout so I've see nuffin, 'cepting a big black heap o' someting.
Golly! I b'lieve it war de _jumbe_,--de debbil!"
The terrified looks of the speaker, while giving utterance to these
words,--especially when pronouncing the dreaded name of the _jumbe_--
told that he was serious in what he said; and that he actually believed
the devil to have been the agent who had been causing the mysterious
commotion!
The English sailor, though not entirely free from a certain tinge of
superstition, did not share Snowball's belief. Though unable, by any
experience he had ever gone through, to account for the odd incident,
still he could not ascribe it to supernatural agency. The blow which
started the plank on which Snowball had been standing had communicated a
shock to the whole structure. It might have been given by some huge
fish, or other monster of the deep; and though unaccountable and
unexpected, might, nevertheless, be quite natural. It was the shaking
which the _Catamaran_ kept up afterwards,--almost to the spilling of the
whole crew into the water,--that most perplexed the old
man-o'-war's-man. He could not imagine why a fish, or any other
creature, having butted its head once against the "keel" of the craft,
would not instantly desist from such an idle encounter, and make off as
fast as fins could carry it.
Ben's first impression was, that a whale had by chance risen under the
raft; as he had known them to do against the sides of ships. But then
the persistence of the creature, whatever it was, in its odd attack,
argued something more than accident. On the other hand, if the attack
was designed, and had been made by a whale, of whatever species, the
sailor knew that it would not have left off after merely shaking the
raft. A whale, with a single flirt of his tail, would have sent the
whole structure flying into the air, sunk it down into the deep, or
scattered it in fifty fragments over the surface of the water.
One of these things a whale would undoubtedly have done. So believed
Ben Brace; and therefore the creature that had come so near capsizing
them could not be a whale. What was it, then? A shark? No. It could
not be a shark. Though there are two or three species of these
monsters, quite as large as good-sized whales, the sailor never knew of
their assaulting anything after that fashion.
As they stood speculating on the cause of their curious adventure, a
shout from Snowball announced that the ex-cook had at length discovered
the explanation.
Snowball's first thought, after having partially recovered from his
fright, was to examine the plank from which, like an acrobat from his
spring-board, he had made that involuntary somersault.
There, just by the spot on which he had been standing, appeared an
object that explained everything: a sharp, bony, proboscis-like
implement, standing up a full foot's length out of the timber, slightly
obliqued from the perpendicular, and as firmly imbedded in the wood as
if it had been driven in by the blows of a blacksmith's hammer!
That it had penetrated the plank from underneath could be easily seen,
by the ragged edge, and split pieces around the orifice where it came
out.
But the negro did not stay to draw deductions of this nature. On
catching sight of the object,--which he knew had not been there
before,--his terror at once came to an end; and a long cachinnation,
intended for a peal of laughter, announced that "Snowball was himself
again."
"Golly!" he exclaimed. "Look dar, Massa Brace. Look at de ting dat hab
gub us sich a frightnin. Whuch! Who'd a beliebed dat de long-nose had
got so much 'trength in im ugly body? Whuch!"
"A sword-fish!" cried Ben. The rostrum of one of these singular
creatures was the sharp bone protruding above the plank. "You're right,
Snowy, it be a sword-fish, and nothing else."
"Only de snout o' one," jocularly rejoined the negro. "De karkiss ob de
anymal an't dar any more. Dat was de black body I seed under de raff;
but he an't dar now. He hab broke off him long perbossus; and no doubt
dat hab killed him. He gone dead, and to de bottom, boaf at de same
time."
"Yes," assented the sailor. "It must have broke off while he was
struggling to get clear, I heerd the crash o't, like the partin' o' a
spar; and just after, the raft stopped shakin', an' began to settle down
again. Lor ha mercy on us! what a thrust he have made! That plank be
five inches thick, at the very least, an' you see he's stuck his snout
through it more'n a foot! Lor 'a mercy on us! What wonderful queery
creeturs the ocean do contain!"
And with this philosophic reflection, from the lips of the
man-o'-war's-man, ended the adventure.