That movement caused Paul to become
greatly excited in his turn. He stood up in the water and with the sword
blade raised and pointing at the crew, he glared at them with blazing
eyes and told them he would rip open the first man that dared to touch
him.
The men took to their oars again. Boyton began to sing, with the
intention of encouraging the men and dissipating their apprehensions.
At seven-thirty o'clock, he was again lost sight of in a heavy overfall,
the current setting to the eastward at a place commonly known as La
Ballesta. He was sighted after the lapse of about twenty minutes. The
increasing darkness and bad state of the weather necessitated harder
work on the part of those on board the boat in order to keep near him.
Clouds gathered fast and a heavy mist partly obscured the moon, which
wore a large circle, called by the sailors a "weather band." Directly
after finding Boyton, those on board of the felucca, were startled by
his cry of "Watch; oh, watch!"
In answer to excited inquiries from on board, he directed that they
should stand by with arms, at the same time calling attention to
the weather side of the boat, where was observed a great commotion in
the water causing a bright, phosphorescent glow, which left no doubt of
the unpleasant proximity of a shark, or some other huge denizen of the
deep.
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