Another more to the right, cried the commander, and five dollars to whoever will hit that infernal beast. No, sir. But where shall we find him? said Ned Land. My friends, I answered, making a sign to them to enter, you are not in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards below the level of the sea.
In every place of great resort the monster was the fashion. They sang of it in the cafes, ridiculed it in the papers, and represented it on the stage. All kinds of stories were circulated regarding it. There appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary creature, from the white whale, the terrible Moby Dick of hyperborean regions, to the immense kraken whose tentacles could entangle a ship of five hundred tons, and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean. The legends of ancient times were even resuscitated, and the opinions of Aristotle and Pliny revived, who admitted the existence of these monsters, as well as the Norwegian tales of Bishop Pontoppidan, the accounts of Paul Heggede, and, last of all, the reports of Mr. Harrington (whose good faith no one could suspect), who affirmed that, being on board the Castillan, in 1857, he had seen this enormous serpent, which had never until that time frequented any other seas but those of the ancient Constitutionnel. You are welcome, professor; your cabin is ready for you. I believe we shall, I said in a tone of firm conviction. Well, have I convinced you?
Yes; I wish it settled finally. Speak for me, in my name only, if you like. The steam was shut off, and the Abraham Lincoln, beating to port, described a semicircle. I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the oppressor! Through him I have lost all that I loved, cherished, and venerated-country, wife, children, father, and mother. I saw all perish! All that I hate is there! Say no more! On December 15, we left to the east the bewitching group of the Societies and the graceful Tahiti, queen of the Pacific. I saw in the morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated summits of the island. These waters furnished our table with excellent fish, mackerel, bonitos, and albicores, and some varieties of a sea-serpent called munirophis.