"Just so."
"And across water?"
"It is heard, but more feebly."
For some time Fritz had been closely observing with the telescope a particular part of the horizon, when all at once he cried, "This time I see him distinctly; he is bearing down upon us."
"Who? the sloop?" cried Willis, starting up and letting fall the glass he had in his hand.
"What an extraordinary pace! he bounds into the air, then plumps into the water, then leaps up again, just like an India-rubber ball, that touches the ground only to take a fresh spring!"
"Impossible, Master Fritz; the Nelson tops the waves honestly and gallantly; but as to leaping into the air, she is a little too bulky for that."
"Ah, poor Willis, it is not the Nelson that is under my glass at present, but an enormous fish, ten or twelve feet in length."
"Oh, how you startled me!"
"Father! Ernest! prepare to fire! Jack, the harpoon! he is coming this way."