“Even at that distance I could see that it was fully as long as the Pearl, and I sung out to the skipper to ask what he thought it was.
“‘Blest if I know,’ says he. ‘Barring its size, color and shape, it might be a whale. Some deep-sea critter, sure enough,’ and he dove below and came up with a heavy rifle.
“The crew was discussing it, too, and as the skipper was preparing to fire at the thing, Bill Darling, a Newfoundlander, exclaimed, putting up his hand:
“‘Have a care, Skipper. That ere is a squid and it’ll capsize ye if ye hurt him.’
“I’d heard of squid, and seen squid,” proceeded Mr. Hollister, “and so had the skipper. But we both laughed at old Bill. The skipper up with his gun and let her go. He hit the thing, and it shook all over; there was a great ripple all around him and he began to move.
“‘Out with all your axes and knives!’ shouted Bill, ‘and cut at any part of him that comes aboard.’
“The old fellow taking the deck in that way made the skipper mad, and I was some surprised myself. You know how old sailors are—superstitious, as Negroes were in slavery. We couldn’t do anything to move the schooner, of course, and the skipper and I didn’t say a thing to the crew. Bill and the two others got axes and one other a rusty cutlass. We were all looking over the side at the advancing monster; but I for one, didn’t believe it was dangerous.
“We could now see a huge, oblong mass, moving by jerks, just under the surface of the water, and an enormous train following. The oblong body was at least half the size of the Pearl and just as thick. The wake, or trail, might have been a hundred feet long.
“In the time I’ve taken to tell you,” said Mr. Hollister, “the brute struck us and the ship quivered under the thud; I wasn’t scared a mite until then. The skipper gave a yell and plugged away with his rifle another time. And then monstrous arms like trees seized the vessel and she keeled over; in another second the monster was aboard, squeezing its great polypus bulk in between the two masts.
“Bill screamed, ‘Slash for your lives!’ But all our slashing and yelling didn’t do a mite of good. Holding on by his arms, the monster slipped back into the sea again, and dragged the vessel down with him on her beam-ends.