WHALING SAILORS' YARNS. 165 



I thought I had seen large sperm whales, 

 but this old chap beat them all; he cut and 

 thrashed with his flukes a while, but did not 

 take to sounding or running, as some whales 

 do, The mate pulled up to lance him ; but. 

 let him go on as he would, the whale would 

 head for his boat, and prevent his getting a 

 chance at her with his lance. 



" Now, then, Mr. ," said the captain to 



me, " you must kill that whale." The captain 

 steered me this day, as he had done several 

 times before, as we were short of a boat-steerer. 

 We pulled up to her, and I set my lance into 

 her life, as I thought, the whole length ; she 

 spouted a little thin blood. " You are not low 

 enough," said the captain ; " set your lance 

 lower down ; this fellow is deep, and you must 

 lance lower." 



The whale settled away under water after 

 she felt the lance, and I kept a look-out for her, 

 expecting she would break water near the head 

 of the boat. Pretty soon I saw her whiten 

 under water, and got my lance ready as soon 

 as she should come to the surface ; the next 



