830 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the whale broke water, however, he was some distance off, and appar- 

 ently as quiet as a lamb. Now, had Mr. Count been a prudent or less 

 ambitious man, our task would doubtless have been an easy one, or 

 comparatively so; but, being a little over-grasping, he got us all into 

 serious trouble. We were hauling up to our whale in order to lance 

 it, and the mate was standing, lance in hand, only waiting to get 

 near enough, when up comes a large whale right alongside of our boat, 

 so close, indeed, that I might have poked my finger in his little eye, 

 if I had chosen. The sight of that whale at liberty, and calmly taking 

 stock of us like that, was too much for the mate. He lifted his 

 lance and hurled it at the visitor, in whose broad flank it sank, like 

 a knife into butter, right up to the pole-hitches. The recipient disap- 

 peared like a flash, but before one had time to think, there was an 

 awful crash beneath us, and the mate shot up into the air like a bomb 

 from a mortar. He came down in a sitting posture on the mast 

 thwart ; but as he fell, the whole framework of the boat collapsed like 

 a derelict umbrella. Louis quietly chopped the line and severed our 

 connection with the other whale, while in accordance with our in- 

 structions we drew each man his oar across the boat and lashed it firmly 

 down with a piece of line spliced to each thwart for the purpose. This 

 simple operation took but a minute, but before it was completed we 

 were all up to our necks in the sea — still in the boat, it is true, and 

 therefore not in such danger of drowning as if we were quite adrift; 

 but, considering that the boat was reduced to a mere bundle of loose 

 planks, I, at any rate, was none too comfortable. Now, had he known 

 it, was the whale's golden opportunity; but he, poor wretch, had had 

 quite enough of our company, and cleared off without any delay, won- 

 dering, no doubt, what fortunate accident had rid him of our very 

 unpleasant attentions. 



I was assured that we were all as safe as if we were on board the 

 ship, to which I answered nothing; but, like Jack's parrot, I did some 

 powerful thinking. Every little wave that came along swept clean 

 over our heads, sometimes coming so suddenly as to cut a breath in 

 half. If the wind should increase — but no— I wouldn't face the 

 possibility of such a disagreeable thing. I was cool enough now in 

 a double sense, for, although we were in the tropics, we soon got thor- 

 oughly chilled. 



Help came at last, and we were hauled alongside. Long exposure 

 had weakened us to such an extent that it was necessary to hoist us on 

 board, especially the mate, whose " sudden stop," when he returned to 

 us after his little aerial excursion, had shaken his sturdy frame con- 

 siderably, a state of body which the subsequent soaking had by no 

 means improved. In my innocence I imagined that we should be 

 commiserated for our misfortunes by Captain Slocum, and certainly 



