74 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



places are kept a pair of huge ballistae, or catapults, with walrus-hide 

 thongs and a battery of sycamore-wood springs, brought from the 

 far south. These primitive engines shoot immense ironheaded spears 

 with twelve-foot shafts three inches in diameter. What is more, when 

 pointed somewhat downward they can shoot these shafts almost 

 right across the fjord. 



Now Biarni holds up his hand for silence and instructs the young 

 men each to take two of the women and some children and disperse 

 themselves below the ballistae on the steep cliffs and about the edge 

 of the water. They are then, he tells them, to remain silent even 

 after the sound of the boats is heard approaching up the fjord, and 

 particularly so if any whales should pass by. Nor are they even to 

 move until the signal is given, whereupon all but those carrying 

 ropes and nets are to cUmb along the shore banging the shields with 

 the hammers, throwing stones into the water, and shouting. Those 

 with ropes are to await the arrival of the boats and then cast their 

 lines to them, and so move slowly with them, forming a soHd chain 

 of boats and nets from shore to shore behind the whales, cutting off 

 their retreat to the sea. 



When the companies are gone and have taken their places, all is 

 once more silent but for the occasional slap of a hand on a face or a 

 bare arm as the countless mosquitoes become intolerable with their 

 biting. But the waiting is long, especially for the little children and 

 when everyone is straining his ears for the first sounds of the on- 

 coming multitude. The two companies wait, and wait, while it grows 

 darker, the clouds rush ever faster across the sky, a light cold rain 

 begins to fall, and the moaning of the storm above is heard even in 

 the depths of the fjord. Will they never come? 



But at last Biarni, who mans the ballista on the north side, which 

 is a little in advance of that of Thorvald and from which place he 

 can see farther round the curve of the canyon, leaps to his feet and 

 holds up his right arm. All faces are turned to him, and now they 

 hear too. From far away yet, but now clearly, come the yells and 

 the shouts and the horn blasts of a great company. The ships are 

 coming. Will the seigval come also? 



Then to everyone's amazement a huge form suddenly bursts out 

 of the still waters of the fjord. It blows like a bull and then it 

 whistles shrilly, and a puff of vapor rises into the air from where the 



