XXXIV

Hans comes down, then stretches his arm to the south, saying: “ Der nere! ” “Down there?” repeated my uncle. Then, seizing his glass, he gazes attentively for a minute, which seems to me an age. “Yes, yes!” he cried. “I see a vast inverted cone rising from the surface.” “Is it another sea beast?” “Perhaps it is.” “Then let us steer farther westward, for we know something of the danger of coming across monsters of that sort.” “Let us go straight on,” replied my uncle. I appealed to Hans. He maintained his course inflexibly. Yet, if at our present distance from the animal, a distance of twelve leagues at the least, the column of water driven through its blowers may be distinctly seen, it must needs be of vast size. The commonest prudence would counsel immediate flight; but we did not come so far to be prudent. Imprudently, therefore, we pursue our way. The nearer we approach, the higher mounts the jet of water. What