120 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



terrible pressure on his brain, and a roaring as 

 of thunder in his ears. Yet he was conscious 

 of his situation, and made several efforts to 

 reach the knife that was in his belt. At last, 

 as he felt his strength failing, and his brain 

 reeling, the line for an instant slackened ; he 

 reached his knife, and instantly that the line 

 again became taut, its edge was upon it, and by 

 a desperate effort, of his exhausted energies he 

 freed himself. After this he only remembered 

 a feeling of suffocation, a gurgling spasm, and 

 all was over, until he awoke to an agonizing 

 sense of pain in the boat. 



Eut to come back from this digression ; 

 the whale to which our hero's boat was now fast 

 took out a large portion of the line with great 

 rapidity before it was deemed prudent to check 

 it; then an extra turn was taken around the 

 loggerhead, and the strain upon it became very 

 great; for the whale continuing to descend, 

 would bring the bow of the boat down, till the 

 water was just about to rush over the gunwale 

 and fill it, when the line would be "surged," 

 or slacked out. 



