Year: 1876

| There was thick bank of clouds or
the horizon, and as the sun rose from the


sea, behind the dark bank great masses


of color-red and blue and yellow-lit


up the whole expanse of sky and sea.


was locking at a strange ruddy plot OF
red on the water right astern when


saw, apparently near the horizon, but in


the red blot, dark moving shadow. 1t
shadows on the sea, and this fixed my at
tention to it. Soon l saw it was steadily


approaching the vessel. l could distin-


guish no form, only dark shadow, but


made out certainly that it was advanc-


ing toward us and at a great rate.


Fifteen minutes must have passed when


at last became able to distinguish the


form of the advancing object. Il spoke
to the captain afterward as to the dis


tance the object could have been from us


when first distinguished it, and he told


me / must have been deceived by the


moving lights in supposing it near the


horizon and he guessed, from what l


said, that it was then three or four miles


distant. Mistakes of a like nature, he


said, are commonly made by the mex


perienced.) IcannOt accurately describe


my feelings on beholding that hideous


sight. At first / turned to call out, to


bring others to look on with me; but be-


fore cry could pass my lips, second


feeling of selfish pleasure that alone saw


that fearful thing, seized me, and turned


my eyes again to the sea and kept them


there. Within a hundred feet of the
stern of our vessel, not now approaching
us, but simply following steadily in our
wake, was this hideous thing. A great
mass of what looked like tangled sea-
weed, on which futile attempt at comb
ing had been made, rose out of the
water. This mass must have been
twenty or thirty feet in length and ten
feet in width, and as it came on it caused
a wide ripple in the water that showed
there must be still greater part below
the surface. From the center part of this
mass, raised just clear above it, and fac
ing the vessel, was great black head.
TIE top was quite fiat, in shape not un-
like that of a monstrous toad. A thick
fringe of coarse, reddish hair hung over
the mouth, quite concealing it. But the
eyes were the most awful part of this
fearful thing. They were placed far
apart, ut either extremity Of the flat
head, distant from each other at least
three feet. must here state that all the
passengers and all the crew, except the
captain himself, saw the thing afterward,
but that they were scarcely two who
could agree as to the color and nature of
these eyes. / can only, therefore, write
as they appeared to me. The eyeballs
were enormous; they must have been
four or five inches in diameter. They
scintillated constantly. Every one knows
the extraordinary appearance of sur
face covered with small alternate squares
Of bright red and bright blue, the quiv-
ering, uncertain, unfxed look such
surface has, the difficulty, the impos-
sibility experienced by the looker-on to
fix the color of any particular square.
The eyeballs of this thing had such a
quivering, uncertain look but they were
not red, nor blue, i'm their color; they
were of bright, burniDgly bright, cop
per hue; they panied our eyes-and in
this we were all agreed-as we looked at
them. In the center of each eyeball, q
mere speck, but visible from its extreme
brightness, was a point of light, of
WnlVc ugub. LII WIS impOooiuic W Uell
whether these points were or were not
material points of the eye or merely
caused by reflection, but they were clearly
defined, and seemed to remain in the
same place. The motion, however, of
the thing was no steady that no deduc-
ton could fairly be drawn from their not
changing their position. The appear
ance of this extraordinary creature was
so new to me, so entirely outside all my
previous experience, that i had no pre-
conceived ideas with which TO compare
the thoughts it raised in my mind. So
the impression it caused was vague and
indefinite, and can only say that
IL raised In me extreme horror and
dislike.


] had been so absorbed in the pleasing
pain Of looking at the thing, that had
quite forgotten the other people on
board, and was first reused by hearing
Captain Davidson step upon the stern BY
me. rive one look below at the water.