" WHALES HAS FEELIN's." 177 



we hastily prepared the most severely abridged 

 outfit — not an inch of line, and not a single piece 

 of craft beyond a gun and a bomb-lance in the 

 mate's boat and two hand-lances in mine. We 

 manned the boats with strong crews. The mate 

 took the second mate along with him, and I took 

 the third mate. We lowered the boats and sped 

 away toward our prey. 



How bright, how amber-hued, the southern 

 sunlight, as it fell languorous and beautiful upon 

 the ocean billows ! How buoyant the dance of our 

 hurrying boats ! How impressive the swoop and 

 the soaring of the white gulls and albatrosses ! 

 And yet, I dare say, not one of us responded to 

 the fine romanticism of nature — we were bent 

 upon too desperate an errand. There may be a 

 perennially fascinating charm in whaling life when 

 viewed from afar, but there are times when the 

 business assumes a grim ugliness at close range. 

 The poetry of the sea has always been written by 

 landsmen. It always will be. 



Charm assuredly there had been in the suspense 

 and expectant anxiety preceeding this desperate 

 fight — charm enough, when its horrors were only 

 a possibility ; but now, when the mystery was 

 pierced, the terrors become hideous facts, and the 

 nature of the foe fully known, the fun was gone 



12 



