98 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



heaving bosom of the sea which was as slick and oily as a wrestler's 

 skin. 



The steersman in the lead boat was young Daikyo Miyoshi, liye's 

 brother. Not even the more experienced hands could understand 

 how, on that eventful day, he steered the boats to the fishing fleet 

 which waited off shore, for he not only took them through the 

 blanket of fog for many miles out to sea to the point where the mist 

 suddenly thinned and gave way to brilliant sunshine, but he also 

 brought them directly to the other boats waiting beyond. 



These were now strung out for miles, the nearest just outside the 

 fog bank to landward, the farthest well beyond the horizon. The 

 whales had been encountered in the fog, traveling leisurely north- 

 wards, and had obviously — from their unhurried progress and con- 

 stant, gentle blowing — been feeding. They were seis and they had 

 yearlings with them. However, they turned seaward just after 

 Masatoshi's boat departed into the fog to fetch the gear and help 

 necessary to attack them, and the only thing the others could do was 

 follow them by stringing out to the Hmits of vision and contact. At 

 one time they had thought the whole thing a lost cause because the 

 whales went so far out to sea, but now they learned by signals that 

 the animals had turned about and were heading slowly back towards 

 the coast. What is more, they were still undisturbed and apparently 

 quite unaware that humans were watching them. 



As soon as the two fleets joined up, the more experienced men 

 had their boats rowed together around Jindo San. While they 

 waited, the whales slowly moved shorewards, and one by one the 

 other boats, that had been strung out over the ocean watching them, 

 came in to join the crowded fleet. By the time the big boat ar- 

 rived, they were almost all assembled in a tight knot, and Jindo San 

 stood up and shouted out his suggestions so that all might hear and 

 understand. And this time even liye was silent and listened atten- 

 tively, for not only was she fully aware of her position in their midst 

 on sufferance, but she was also a very intelligent person and had 

 often listened to her father and others when they had recounted 

 their experiences hunting the kujira. Then, at a signal, the fleet de- 

 ployed and moved off northward in a double line, with the big boat 

 in the middle, in order to intercept the whales at a tangent as they 

 moved slowly back towards the coast. Nobody spoke and they all 



