“That’s right,” grunted the skipper; “just like what I see about ten years ago in the Indian seas. I didn’t see enough of this one to be able to tell.”
“Well,” said the doctor gravely, “I for a long time have been of opinion that the reports that reach us from time to time about the sea-serpent must have some truth in them, though they have doubtless been greatly exaggerated.”
“Don’t hear of many reports now, sir,” said Captain Chubb. “We sea-going people have been laughed at too much.”
“Yes, I know,” said the doctor, “and I have thought over these matters a great deal, and fully believe that we have a great many things to discover, both at sea and on land, quite as wonderful as the so-called sea-serpent. There’s plenty of room, and I see no reason to doubt that there are great fish—”
“This warn’t a fish,” growled the skipper.
“Reptiles, then,” grunted Uncle Paul, “which as a rule dwell far down in the depths of ocean, and which only occasionally seek, or are forced up to, the surface.”
“Forced up, uncle? What could force up a great thing like that?”
“You ask that, Rodd? Why, what forces a fish up sometimes, to float upside down on the surface?”
“Oh yes, I know,” replied Rodd; “something wrong with its swimming bladder.”
“Exactly; and I should say such a creature as you saw would in its natural state be always living deep down in the ocean.”