ALBACORA 31 



he hadn't heard me. "You know there have been some 

 whales around us ever since we left that mess with the 

 birds and the anchovies a long while back." 



"Well, just steer clear of them, will you please," I 

 said. 



Walt was finally beginning to sympathize with me. 

 "All right," he said, "we'll keep our distance." Then 

 I saw the whales myself. There seemed to be hundreds 

 of them all over the ocean: big, black storage tanks in 

 blue water. They really frightened me, but had no effect 

 whatsoever on the marlin that was jumping on the end 

 of my line. The marlin dashed right into the middle of 

 them, leaping and twisting wildly. 



Walt looked at me, but said nothing. We both knew 

 it was either follow the whales or lose the marlin. "Let's 

 get after him," I said, with more enthusiasm than I felt. 

 Walt smiled and nodded. I realized that it was unlikely 

 any whale would come up directly under our skiff, and 

 except for that we were safe, since Walt with the out- 

 board could navigate far more speedily than any whale. 

 We took off into the school of monsters, and though 

 the three-hundred-pound marlin now looked like a 

 midget, he continued to display a giant's strength. He 

 tore out my line and made Walt keep the WaWa flying. 

 The whales were oblivious both to our WaWa and to the 

 marlin that was fighting for his life, but there was that 

 awful danger that one might rise under us or lash us 

 with his tail. 



Walt Gorman was now all business. Watching for 



