Not dreaming that such was the case, however, Stump continued to snore, while thoughts something like the following passed through his mind:
“Ay, ay--I never tried to deceive anybody before--twist me if I did. But it’s in a good cause--that it is--and there’s no use for me to flinch now. Here’s this poor lad a-worrying out his life about this gal, and I am tortured about it too, though not exactly in the same way. But, he _must_ be cheered up--ay, that he must; and if snoring can do it--why if that can do it, there’s nothing more simple.”
A peculiar noise, like that which might have been made by the rubbing of some person’s hands against the outside surface of that portion of the tarred roof opposite to the position occupied by the harpooner, turned the reflections of the shipkeeper into another channel. His nose became silent, and raising himself upon his elbow, he listened eagerly, wondering who the author of the disturbance could be.
The scratching continued, and just as the shipkeeper was on the point of calling the attention of his chum to it, the edge of the tarred cloth resting upon the gunwale, was pushed up, and Stump beheld a pair of fierce looking eyes gleaming upon him through the gloom.
He drew quickly back, at the same time giving vent to a prolonged whistle of astonishment.
“Who is that!” he yelled, at length, in a voice so shrill and startling, that Marline sprung to his feet. “Ay, blast you, who are you? Not the devil, surely, for that creatur’ never comes to disturb honest men! Speak! you infernal ghoul-eyed thing--speak and tell me who or what you be!”
But before the sailor had concluded, the mysterious orbs disappeared, like two sparks of fire that are suddenly quenched.
“What is the matter, Stump?” inquired Harry, thrusting his head into the boat at the same moment.
His friend’s explanation was short, but graphic.
“Perhaps your imagination deceived you,” said the young man.
“Imagination! As true as my name is Stump, I haven’t a bit of that article in me. The Stumps have all been matter-of-fact, from generation to generation!”
Harry then proposed that an immediate search should be made for the mysterious creature, and, followed by Stump, who had provided himself with a harpoon and the boat hatchet, he moved quickly forward. They had not gone far when they heard a low growl, which seemed to proceed from some one of the masses of ice directly ahead of them. They were also enabled to distinguish a pair of gleaming eyes bent fiercely upon them, and which Stump declared were the same he had seen peering into the boat.