Water-devil

In truth, I was alone, -- alone with the Water-devil!

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

The Water-devil had us, there was no mistake about it, and no use trying to think of anything else.

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

Water-devil, 'said he,' is about as big as six whales, and in shape very like an oyster without its shell, and he fastens himself to the rocks at the bottom with a million claws.

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

A Water-devil is one of two things: he is real, or he's not real.

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

All that this Water-devil gets to eat is what happens to come swimmin 'or sailin' along where he can reach it, and it doesn't matter to him whether it's a shark, or a porpoise, or a shipful of people, and when he takes a grab of anything, that thing never gets away. '

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

I think the chief officer must have told the men below about the Water-devil, for pretty soon the whole kit and boodle of them left their work and came on deck, skipper and all.

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

I had gone over the whole question, and the skipper had gone all over it, and everybody else had gone all over it, and no one could think of anything but a Water-devil that could stop a steamer in this way in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, and hold her there hour after hour, in spite of wind and wave and tide.

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

Water-devil? 'said he, trying to make believe he thought it all stuff and nonsense.

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

"There was no doubt about it, if it hadn't been for that Water-devil she would have been no more to me than the Queen of Madagascar was; but under the circumstances, if I wasn't everything to her, who could be anything -- that is, if one looked at the matter from a practical point of view?"

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868

At what time did this Water-devil begin to take you in tow? '

The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories Frank Richard Stockton 1868