It soon
began to move and send masses of water into the air. The
calm continued, and some anxiety was felt lest the leviathan
should playfully come towards us and test its power of
lifting. It passed close to where we lay, and then shaped a
course towards the opposite shore. Naturally our interest
was excited, and as a favourable breeze sprang up and
gradually strengthened we were able to follow at a discreet
distance from the tail of the sea disturber. It would have
taken the vessel out of our way to have followed it far, so
a course was set for Campbeltown, and the monster was soon
lost to view. Navigation was made intricate by a large fleet
of fishing boats beating up towards the playground of the
fish they sought to catch. The day following our arrival at
Campbeltown this fleet re-entered the port, their crews
stricken with a conviction that they had encountered the
much-spoken-of sea-monster. Their tales varied only in
degree, but their convictions were similar, and as they
unfolded with touching solemnity the story of peril, the
little town became the centre of wild, fluttering pulses.
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