Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1876-06-29

iy 60 back. rdn q few minutes ever
passenger was crowding onto th
stern, even the ladies appearin.
though in unfinished costume. f,
carnations of the EXTREMIST aston
ishment broke from all, and then s
lence fell, rs the crowd stared at tn
hideous creature. The children a
the firstsight ran hack below scream
ing. and some refused to come agai
on deck, though their nurses an,
ayahs-desirOus of looking on them
selves--used all possible means t.
make them. Some, however, return
ed, curiosity overcoming fear, bu
even these looked on in a perpctua
tremor of terror, and held them
selves ready at the first movement O
the thing to rush away. Noticed a
this time that the captain was no
present, and turned to an old Euro
pean sailsf:by-iae and asked him t.
go and tell him. "Captain won
come, no fear of that, sir" replied th,
man. Iasked if he was navigatin.
the ship. "No, he was not naviga
ting the ship" said the sailor, "bu
he would not come for all that
however, he would go and tell him
But though he went, the captain
would not come. We all remained
absorbed in the strange sight till the
first breakfast bell rang at $50
when VIC had perforce to hurry away
and take our chance OF bathing al
that hour. Up to this time the
thing had kept steadily in our wake
its movement continuing absolutely
smooth and constant, and the specks
of light in the glaring eyes never
changed a hairs breadth from their
position. At breakfast sat one re-
moved from the captain. We began,
of course, talking of the thing we
had seen, hut the captain, for some
reason we could not then understand,
seemed to dislike the subject, and
soon we abandoned it, falling then
into absolute silence, for we could
talk of nothing else. When we went
on deck again--we were only a few
minutes at breakfast--we found the
thing still following steadily in our
wake. The children had in great
measure got over their fear, aud had
made q long line by joining hands,
and the whole lot of them would now
crouch down and then suddenly rise
up, open their mouths at the thing,
and cry out at it. No notice appar-
emily being taken of this they grew
bolder, and at last their cries increas-
ed till they shrieked shrilly. SUD
denly the hideous creature seemed
reused by these cries, it raised its
head IN the air, uttered7l strange bei-
low, and came forward at a great
pace toward the ship. None of us
could at first move from fear; the
thing seemed to have grown in size,
its eyeballs were more burningly
bright; the children fell on the deck
crying, and some of the women
But we who remained
standing, suffering though we were
under intense terror, still could not,
when we were ut last able to move,
retreat, or even take our eyes off the
thing. 1t came swiftly up to the
ship, always uttering the same pec,l-
lar cry or below. When but a few
ieet from the stern it suddenly turn
ed and came up close on the port
side. Here the side awnings had
been put up to keep off the sun, but
,hrcc of us rushed up to the awning
md quickly got it down that we
might better watch the thing. For
myself, / must say that while doing
,his l was still suffering from extreme
ear, but my curiosity was so intense,
50 irresistible, that | could only act
Is / did. No sooner was the thing
evel with us than it raised it.
,elf with q sudden movement
high out of the water, till it's head
vas thirty or forty feet above US. 1t
still uttered the same peculiar cry or
)ellOw. Under our intense curiosi
Y we stood out on the bulwarks to
ollow its movements. 1t opened
great mouth, cried more loudly than
before, and made three blows ut the
The last of these touch
ID it, and caused the ship to sway
so that we were nearly cast
,ff into the water. When we again
Ooked for the thing it had gone.
There was no ripple, no disturbance
IF any kind in the water to show
where it had been. 1t was gone alb
olutely. We looked constantly for
t during the rest of that day, but
lot the slightest trace did we dis
,over.
And now let me state shortly why
!, not over facile in writing, or fitted
or the subject by knowledge, write
his. Attiffin of that same day, just
IS we were rising to return on deck, the
,aptain rose and asked us to remain
or few minutes. Then he shortly
eferred to the strange sight we had
een that day, laying stress on the
act, however, that he himself had
lot seen it, and he went on: "Now
lone of you can doubt what you saw.
But wouldn't talk abOutit it if | saw
t. 1t only needs to make people
augh, and the papers take it up and |
ut jokes on it, and it won't do you
my good, and it would not do me
my good. But then remember I did |
lot see it, so I've nothing to do with
his one. But, if you take my ad-
ice, you won't talk about it. Punch
ook up one sea serpent, and that cap
ain never got over it---never. Re
though, 1 didn't see this
me-"
You will see now, Mr.. Editor, that |
f you don't publish this, most ex-
fact may be lost to the
world. This account, / may state,
las been read over by some of the |
and their disagreement |