ALL IN A DAY'S WORK 167 



line in ! There's Mr. Dunham going on, and the old man will be 

 with him in a minute. There he brings to!' as the whale sud- 

 denly stopped short in his mad career, and lay swashing up and 

 down, as if rallying his strength for a fresh effort. 



'''There's "stand up" in the waist-boat! There he darts! 

 Hurrah! two boats fast! Haul lively, us, and get this Hne in!' 



"The whale seemed staggered by the accumulation of 

 cold iron in his system, and lay wallowing in the trough of the 

 waves. It was a critical moment for him; for Mr. Dunham was 

 getting his lance on the half-cock, ready for darting; and as the 

 whale suddenly 'milled short round' to pass across the head of 

 his boat, the young man saw his advantage, and cried, 'Pull 

 ahead! Pull ahead, and we'll get a "set" on him! Lay for- 

 ward, Fisher! Lay forward hard, my lad! right on for his 

 fin ! Pull ahead ! So, way enough — hold water all' ; and driven 

 by a strong arm, the sharp lance entered his 'life,' its bright 

 shank disappearing till the pole brought it up. 



'"Hold her so!' said the second mate. 'Way enough! just 

 hold her so till he rises again!' as the whale hollowed his back 

 under the sea, now crimsoned with his life-tide, and again rising, 

 received the lance anew in his vitals; but the first 'set' was 

 enough, and the gush of clotted blood from his spiracle told how 

 effectually it had done its work." 



The story of the wild flurry of the dying whale, which writhed 

 and tumbled and raced in small circles until it rolled "fin out," 

 dead, and of the long, hard pull that was so often necessary 

 to tow the dead beast to the ship, has been many times retold. 

 Sometimes the boatmen were forced to "waif" their catch, or 

 mark it with waifs — pennants mounted on poles — thus the 

 better to find it and identify it, when they came back for further 

 hunting, or when daylight or quieter weather enabled them to 

 return. Sometimes, too, they were forced to lie all night in the 

 lee of the dead whale, which served them as a sea anchor. 



For the moment, follow a successful crew back to a becalmed 

 ship. With the whale in tow, nearly always head forward, 

 which experience had generally shown to be the easiest way, 

 but manifesting a perverse tendency to lie with the trough re- 



