At that moment a great round black back appeared above the surface of the water, some hundred yards or so away, and in another moment a great black blunt head joined itself to the back, and a spout of white vapor rose from the head. "A whale!" cried several voices at once. "Oh!" said Aunt Amanda. "Suppose he should come this way?" The five or six fins of the great fish near the sardines now disappeared. The whale threw up his enormous tail, and went down head first beneath the water. Almost immediately, one of the saw-toothed fins reappeared, much nearer the raft than before. "Merciful heavens!" cried Aunt Amanda. "He's coming towards us! Oh dear!" The great fish was in fact evidently making straight towards the raft. Freddie clutched Aunt Amanda's arm. The fin cut the water at a high speed; it disappeared at times, but on each reappearance it was still pointed towards the raft. "He's nearly on us!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Hold on tight, Freddie!" The great fish came on with a rush, and as he reached the raft struck it with his back and slid under it. There was a tremendous bump, which nearly sent the company flat; then there was a rubbing under the raft, and everything was quiet again. "He's gone," said Toby. "No, 'e isn't," said Mr. Punch. "Look at 'is tail!" A great tail could be seen beyond the edge of the raft, just below the surface of the water. It thrashed about and churned up the water violently for a few seconds, and then waved back and forth quietly; but it did not disappear. "By crackey," said Toby, "he's stuck! His fin has got stuck into the bottom of the raft! He's got the whole kit and bilin' of us on his back!" "Mercy on us!" said Aunt Amanda. "Is it really true?" said Freddie. "On due consideration," said the Churchwarden, "I think Toby's right." "Hi believe 'e is!" said Mr. Punch. "Blimy if I ever rode on the back of a fish before! Now 'e's got us on 'is back, what's 'e going to do with us?" "We're moving!" cried Freddie. "So we are!" said Aunt Amanda. "Blamed if we ain't," said Toby. The mattress craft was in fact moving; very slowly, indeed, but still moving; and it was moving in the opposite direction to the fish's tail, which could be seen now and then under the water, waving back and forth like the tail of a swimming fish. "If this don't beat all," said Toby. "That fish down there has certainly got his fin hooked into our mattress, and he's swimming along with us on top of him. I've seen a snail crawlin' with his shell on top of him, but a fish with a load of mattresses and live-stock is a new thing to me!" "I'm the captain," said Aunt Amanda, "and my orders is to sit as still as you can and see where he's taking us to." "Ay, ay, sir," said the Churchwarden. "I mean, ay, ay, ma'am."