The optical orbs of Moses expanded wider and wider, as the form of the winged monster loomed larger and larger, until, with a flap of its tremendous pinions, it came alongside, and, after several times sweeping around the ship, finally settled down on the water in the wake.
The Professor having ascertained that this object, on which Moses was gazing with wonder and awe, was an albatross, attached a piece of pork to a line and threw it overboard, with an invitation to the stranger to lay hold, so that he might hoist him on board. The gigantic bird eagerly accepted the invitation, and snatching the delicious morsel in his beak, held on with a pertinacity which indicated his appreciation of the prize. And now he was seen to stretch out his neck with an extraordinary projection, and his huge body following it at a run, beating the water with two enormous wings, over the poop he came, with a tremendous fluttering, and down on the deck, where he stood like a prodigious goose, wholly unable to define his position.
The creature walked the deck with a curious stare, until coming in proximity to M. T. Pate, it stopped and gazed in his face, when some wicked wag cried out,—
"Put a saddle and bridle on him, Mr. Pate."
"By all means," cried another passenger; "and if the Brazilian man-of-war should overhaul the vessel, you can ride away on the back of your winged courser and easily effect your escape."
These suggestions so irritated Pate that he suddenly seized a handspike and dealt the albatross a blow, the lethal effects of which laid it a lifeless corpse at his feet. There was a loud hurrah for the Noble Grand Gander, and Pate, boiling with indignation, walked forward and leaned against the forecastle.
He was now sternly denounced by Old Nick, who told him, in emphatic terms, that he would never have any more good luck as long as he lived; and Peter and Paul coincided with him in the prediction. Not many moments elapsed before these vaticinations of ill fortune began to be verified. Neptune, with indignation, had beheld the murderous deed, and prepared a fitting punishment. He sent a huge wave, which broke over the bow with a crash. The sailors saw it coming and sprang into the rigging; while the assassin of the albatross was knocked off his feet and went wallowing into the scupper. Amidst loud and boisterous laughter, M. T. Pate hurried into the cabin with a stream of salt-water flowing from the tail of his coat; while a number of voices commenced singing,—
"A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep," etc.
A few days subsequent to these events, they came in sight of Tierra del Fuego; and as the ship ran down within a league of the shore, there was a suggestion that the officers had determined to leave the slayer of the albatross on this desolate coast; being afraid to venture round the Horn with such a Jonah on board. The Professor told Pate to pay no attention to these remarks, as the captain had a cousin who had emigrated to this part of the world and opened a hotel, and he was going to take the passengers on shore and give a "general treat." But the ship stood away to the south, and, followed by clouds of Cape pigeons and albatrosses, went rolling around the Horn, and after a rough controversy with old ocean, which lasted for several weeks, eventually came in sight of the Island of Juan Fernandez.