"No; I guess we will not get wet," said Henry, laughing.
"But s'posin'—now mind I don't go fur to say it'll happen—but s'posin' ye was to go fur to come fur to git carried up aloft."
"What ever do you mean?" asked George.
"Look down yonder—quick!" exclaimed the Old Sailor, pointing to the southern horizon.
The boys saw an immense blue-black cloud, from which hung down a great dark cone. A similar cone, point upward, rose from the sea, and the two were joined by a slender wavering black column.
"Oh, what is it?" cried George.
"I know," exclaimed Henry. "It's a water-spout."
"It's going out to sea," ejaculated George.
"Werry good; werry good indeed," said the Old Sailor, sagely; "it sartainly are a-goin' out to sea. 'Cos w'y, it can't go on land, 'cos it are a water-spout an' not a landspout, w'ich the same there ain't none, 'ceptin' them on the sides o' houses fur rain to go down, an' them mostly leaks."
The three stood and watched the dreaded monster of the sea—a rare sight indeed near shore—until it passed out of sight.