He was steadying himself on my shoulder with a strong grip, while
his other arm, flung up rigidly, pointed a denunciatory finger at
the immense tranquillity of the ocean. After his first
exclamation, which stopped the swing of our oars, he made no sound,
but his whole attitude seemed to cry out an indignant "Behold!" . .
. I could not imagine what vision of evil had come to him. I was
startled, and the amazing energy of his immobilized gesture made my
heart beat faster with the anticipation of something monstrous and
unsuspected. The stillness around us became crushing.

For a moment the succession of silky undulations ran on innocently.
I saw each of them swell up the misty line of the horizon, far, far
away beyond the derelict brig, and the next moment, with a slight
friendly toss of our boat, it had passed under us and was gone.
The lulling cadence of the rise and fall, the invariable gentleness
of this irresistible force, the great charm of the deep waters,
warmed my breast deliciously, like the subtle poison of a love-
potion. But all this lasted only a few soothing seconds before I
jumped up too, making the boat roll like the veriest landlubber.

Something startling, mysterious, hastily confused, was taking
place. I watched it with incredulous and fascinated awe, as one
watches the confused, swift movements of some deed of violence done
in the dark. As if at a given signal, the run of the smooth
undulations seemed checked suddenly around the brig. By a strange
optical delusion the whole sea appeared to rise upon her in one
overwhelming heave of its silky surface, where in one spot a
smother of foam broke out ferociously. And then the effort
subsided. It was all over, and the smooth swell ran on as before
from the horizon in uninterrupted cadence of motion, passing under