And up came the whaler captain; on his shoulders stood a cat,
With her eyes both brightly gleaming, with her tail outstretched, outstreaming.
Surely, thought I, I am dreaming, to see visitor like that,
See a captain come to see us in a way so strange as that!
What on earth can he be at?
Then the cabin did we enter, and before we could prevent her,
Came the cat with tail uplifted, straightway down the cuddy stair;
And the lamps were not yet lighted, and we sat down, half benighted,
We three; and the uninvited—the intruder, she was there,
On the shoulders of the captain, the intruder standing there,