A BOY WHO WENT WHALING 219 



whaling gear and craft except the oars and a single lance. The 

 lance he chose for himself, with special care. Ordering them to 

 lower the boat, which the absence of the usual equipment made 

 especially light and buoyant, he spoke again to the second mate, 

 and went down the side with his picked men. The cask, which 

 now lay in the water beside the ship, they succeeded in taking 

 into the boat and balancing across the bow; then they pulled 

 out of earshot of the ship, and while the men rested on their oars, 

 the mate briefly addressed them. 



Again they began to row slowly toward the whale. The sky 

 was clear from horizon to horizon, and those on board the ship 

 could see every flash of the oars and every motion of the men. 

 The third mate, ordering his boat lowered, waited beside the 

 vessel for whatever should happen. 



The whale reared his colossal head from the sea, perpendicu- 

 larly, like a titanic column, and slowly turned and gazed about 

 with his small, unblinking eyes. The act was deliberate, almost 

 malicious. Crashing down on the water, he charged over the 

 surface, leaving a wake like an ocean liner, straight upon the 

 little boat in which were Malloy and his men. 



As the whale's head had risen, Malloy had changed places 

 with the boat-steerer. When the whale charged, piling up be- 

 fore his blunt brow a white wall of foam, Malloy pushed the 

 cask overboard and thundered, "Starn all!" 



The men drove the light boat back, and the cask floated 

 quietly in the path of the angry bull. Checking their head- 

 way, the crew rested, each man with his hands on the loom of 

 his oar, and waited for orders. 



Veering from a straight line, the whale turned until his small 

 eye perceived the floating cask; then he dashed at it. It re- 

 bounded unharmed from his broad head. Again he rushed 

 upon it, and again. Turning, he snapped at it with his long 

 lower jaw, but his teeth slipped off the rolling staves. He 

 turned again in growing fury, as he worried the elusive thing. 



Malloy stood in the bow of the whaleboat, lance in hand. He 

 waved to the oarsmen, and the boat shot forward and slightly 

 to the right. As she flashed along the side of the preoccupied 



