Half -Light over Warm Seas loi 



until the whale breached again farther up the line, and Jindo San 

 let out a roar. Then harpoons flew and men leaned furiously upon 

 their oars, everything forgotten but the work at hand. Nobody had 

 time to think about a lost friend and his stupid sister. 



The whale had been in difficulties from the start, but it was now 

 becoming frantic with no fewer than eight harpoons fast in its 

 blubber and seven floats holding it back. It was Jindo San who first 

 noticed that one float was missing, and as soon as he had shouted or- 

 ders to Masatoshi for the net to be put overboard, and had assembled 

 a sufficient number of boats in a rough circle around the whale to 

 drive it towards this trap, he took a quick look around. To his amaze- 

 ment he saw, somewhat astern and just visible in the outer fringes of 

 the fog which they were rapidly approaching, not only the missing 

 float but also two heads bobbing about in the water beside it. Blink- 

 ing his extremely small black eyes under their heavy lids, he sucked 

 in his breath with a tremendous hiss and murmured to himself, 

 ^'Arar and then more thoughtfully, ''OyaP' which may be said 

 to mean, first, "Well, God bless my soul!" and secondly and liter- 

 ally, "By jingo!" Then he turned his attention to the taking of the 

 whale. 



This proved easier than anyone could have expected, for the 

 crazed beast was easily turned, and being too weak already to breach 

 any more with any force, it just charged straight into the net. This 

 did indeed cause the total loss of the smaller boat holding the net's 

 other end, for the animal's rush was still so powerful that it hauled 

 the two boats together, and the smaller one simply caved in, was 

 swamped, and came apart while its occupants jumped overboard or 

 leaped for the big boat. The whale then tried to sound, but the pull 

 of some two dozen floats, the great net, and the big boat were too 

 much even for its vast bulk and strength, and it just floated up to 

 the surface, where it was immediately stabbed from all sides by the 

 now assembled boats, the men using every implement available. It 

 died within minutes. 



Meantime the fleet had broken up and become widely dispersed. 

 Two other whales were fast farther up to the north; the boats to 

 the south were scattered far and wide; while a few lone bladders 

 careened across the sea. Jindo San at last found a moment from his 

 duties as leader of the expedition to look around for the missing 



