bo'sun, remarking that it might prove of use for firing; but he smiled at
me, telling me that the dried weed would make a very abundant fire, and
this without going to the labor of cutting the mast into suitable logs.

And now, he, in turn, called my attention to the place where the huge
fungi had come to a stop in their growing, and I saw that in the center
of the valley there was a great circular opening in the earth, like to
the mouth of a prodigious pit, and it appeared to be filled to within a
few feet of the mouth with water, over which spread a brown and horrid
scum. Now, as may be supposed, I stared with some intentness at this; for
it had the look of having been made with labor, being very symmetrical,
yet I could not conceive but that I was deluded by the distance, and that
it would have a rougher appearance when viewed from a nearer standpoint.

From contemplating this, I looked down upon the little bay in which our
boat floated. Job was sitting in the stern, sculling gently with the
steering oar and watching us. At that, I waved my hand to him in
friendly fashion, and he waved back, and then, even as I looked, I saw
something in the water under the boat--something dark colored that was
all of a-move. The boat appeared to be floating over it as over a mass
of sunk weed, and then I saw that, whatever it was, it was rising to the
surface. At this a sudden horror came over me, and I clutched the bo'sun
by the arm, and pointed, crying out that there was something under the
boat. Now the bo'sun, so soon as he saw the thing, ran forward to the
brow of the hill and, placing his hands to his mouth after the fashion
of a trumpet, sang out to the boy to bring the boat to the shore and
make fast the painter to a large piece of rock. At the bo'sun's hail,
the lad called out "I, I," and, standing up, gave a sweep with his oar
that brought the boat's head round towards the beach. Fortunately for
him he was no more than some thirty yards from the shore at this time,