With the third he put out its left.
Then everybody began to crowd around to look in safety at the whale, which, if it had not been for the Giant's darts, might have ended in drowning the whole fleet, but which was now rolling and staggering about on the waves, stunned and blinded. The creature was still alive, and might yet do some harm; and so Pantagruel, who was watching every movement, threw out a fourth dart, which struck it under the tail. Then the giant began to hurl his darts, one after another, on each side of the black hide, not wildly, but with the same care and skill with which he had once turned the leaves of Friar John's breviary. Fifty darts struck it on one side. Fifty darts more struck it on the other side. This was too much for the monster. It turned on its greasy back, as all dead fishes do, and floated without motion, looking, with the beams and darts upside down in the water, like a gigantic centipede crawling on the sea, with the tips of its hundred feet just showing, every now and then, above the surface of the waves.
THE DEATH OF THE MONSTER.
Just as soon as the whale was seen to be floating, James Brayer shouted, "A boat's crew, to bring yonder carcass to the island!"
In a trice a boat manned by strong men, and filled with harpoons, was towing the whale towards Wild Island. The Giant himself took no notice of all this; but, having seen from the deck a small deserted seaport towards the south, he fixed on a fine, pleasant grove near it, as a good place to pitch tent and have a gay time after their victory. Once there, Friar John, who was near his side, at a word from the Giant, rang the bell for supper. Pantagruel took to eating cheerfully with his men. Of a sudden, fierce cries were heard from the forest, a half mile or so back from the little grove.
LANDING THE MONSTER.
"What is that?" asked Pantagruel of Xenomanes.
"Only the wild creatures, sir, who have given this Wild Island its name. Some say they are demons. By raising your head you may see them over the hill in yonder thicket."