light to enable us to escape the fearful inundation which threatened to overwhelm us.

Presently the captain shouted, "Stand by to fire the gun for'ard."

It had been loaded with shot. The gun was run out, he went forward, and pointing it at the column of water, fired. As the shot struck it, the mass seemed to melt away, a large portion falling into the sea, while the rest was suddenly drawn up into the clouds, which floated by overhead. We were heartily glad when we saw the last of those tremendous waterspouts disappear.

As we were sailing on with a pretty stiff breeze, and tolerably smooth sea, we caught sight, at a distance to windward, of what we took to be a long snake-like creature, with a large head, going along as fast as we were. We got our glasses to bear on it, and could even count its coils as they rose above the water and sank again.

"It's as long as a cable, and no mistake,' observed old Sam. "Now, boys, there's the seaserpent, and you can swear that you've seen it, notwithstanding what the philosophers say."

Certainly there seemed to be little doubt about the matter. Some of the seamen said that they could see its open jaws, though they could not count its teeth, as the mouth was turned away from us.

Just then, not five fathoms from us, we saw three huge snakes as thick as a man's leg, their bodies beautifully banded, the colours showing

brilliantly as they sported gracefully on the surface, diving and rising again rapidly. There could be no mistake about them.

"They are the creature's young ones, I'll make my 'davy," cried Sam.

The captain ordered the man at the helm to keep his luff, and we braced up our yards, hoping to keep in the wake of the serpent, if we could not overtake it. But on and on it went, totally disregarding us. Fortunately the breeze freshened, and we got nearer and nearer.

Mat looked rather uncomfortable.

"Do you

think there's a chance of its turning round and making a grab at the brig?" he asked. "I wonder the captain is in such a hurry to get up to the brute. I would rather shorten sail, or put about, and stand away."

"Very likely, young gentleman," observed the captain, who had just come up to where we were standing. "Look out again, and you will see that your serpent has broken into two or three parts, and if ever I saw a troop of porpoises following one another like a flight of ducks, I see one now."

Such, in truth, was our sea-serpent, for, as we got nearer, we could distinguish the animals as they swam with curving backs, going along in their own peculiar fashion. Probably the leader was bigger than the rest, and under him they were migrating to some other part of the ocean.

Wonders of the Ocean-KINGSTON.

Indian Ocean.-The name given to that part of the ocean that lies between the east coast of Africa and India. Windward means, literally, towards the wind; hence the point from which the wind blows.

Our glasses.-Telescopes, or field-glasses.

'Davy.-A corruption for affidavit, a law-term meaning a declaration made upon oath.

To keep his luff.-To keep the ship's head near to the wind ―e.g., nearly facing the direction from which the wind was blowing.

EXERCISES.

1. Explain all the sea-terms occurring in the Lesson.

2. Give the meaning of these phrases-(a) We could tell by our senses; (b) A funnel-like shape; (c) The sails were trimmed; (d) The gun was run out; (e) We braced up our yards.

3. Give the etymology of these words-electricity, descend, reversed, torrent, instrument, measure, subsided.

4. Divide each of the following words into its component parts, and give the meaning of each part :-commotion, inundation, disappear, notwithstanding, gracefully, uncomfortable.

I HAVE often been struck with the singular attachment hunters sometimes have for some bird or animal, while all the rest of the species they

pursue with deadly hostility. About five hundred yards from Beach's hut stands a lofty pine tree, on which a grey eagle has built its nest annually during the nine years he has lived on the shores of Raquette. The Indian who dwelt there before him says that the same pair of birds made their nest on the same tree for ten years previous, making, in all, nineteen years they have occupied the same spot, and built on the same branch.

One day, however, Beach was near losing his bold eagle. He was lying at anchor, fishing, when he saw his favourite bird, high up in heaven, slowly sweeping round and round in a huge circle, evidently awaiting the approach of a fish to the surface. For an hour or more, he thus sailed with motionless wings above the water, when all at once he stopped and hovered a moment with an excited gesture, then, rapid as a flash of lightning, and with a rush of his broad pinions, like the passage of a sudden gust of wind, came to the still bosom of the lake.

He had seen a huge salmon trout swimming near the surface; and plunging from his high watch-tower, drove his talons deep in his victim's back. So rapid and strong was his swoop that he buried himself out of sight when he struck; but the next moment he emerged into view, and, flapping his wings, endeavoured to rise with his prey.

But this time he had miscalculated his strength; in vain he struggled nobly to lift the salmon from

the water. The frightened and bleeding fish made a sudden dive, and took eagle and all out of sight, and was gone a quarter of a minute. Again they rose to the surface, and the strong bird spread out his broad dripping pinions, and, gathering force with his rapid blows, raised the salmon half out of the water. The weight, however, was too great for him, and he sank again to the surface, beating the water into foam about him. The salmon then made another dive, and they both went under, leaving only a few bubbles to tell where they had gone down.

This time they were absent a full half-minute, and Beach said he thought it was all over with his bird. He soon, however, reappeared, with his talons still buried in the flesh of his foe, and again made a desperate effort to rise. All this time the fish was shooting like an arrow through the lake, carrying his relentless foe on his back. He could not keep the eagle down, nor the bird carry him up; and so, now beneath, and now upon the surface, they struggled on, presenting one of the most singular yet exciting spectacles that can be imagined. It was fearful to witness the blows of the eagle, as he lashed the lake with his wings into spray, and made the shores echo with the report.

At last the bird thinking, as they say in the West, that he had "waked the wrong passenger," gave it up, and loosening his clutch, soared heavily and slowly away to his lofty pine tree, where he