i landed with a trampoline-like bounce on the half-unrolledtarpaulin covering a lifeboat forty feet below. it was a miracle ididn't hurt myself. i lost the life jacket, except for the whistle,which stayed in my hand. the lifeboat had been loweredpartway and left to hang. it was leaning out from its davits,swinging in the storm, some twenty feet above the water. ilooked up. two of the men were looking down at me, pointingwildly at the lifeboat and shouting. i didn't understand whatthey wanted me to do. i thought they were going to jump inafter me. instead they turned their heads, looked horrified, andthis creature appeared in the air, leaping with the grace of aracehorse. the zebra missed the tarpaulin. it was a male grant,weighing over five hundred pounds. it landed with a loud crashon the last bench, smashing it and shaking the whole lifeboat.

the animal called out. i might have expected the braying of anass or the neighing of a horse. it was nothing of the sort. itcould only be called a burst of barking, a kwa-ha-ha,kwa-ha-ha, kwa-ha-ha put out at the highest pitch of distress.

the creature's lips were widely parted, standing upright andquivering, revealing yellow teeth and dark pink gums. thelifeboat fell through the air and we hit the seething water.