RIVAL WHALEMEN. 177 



palm of my left hand under the abaft oar, while 

 with my right I guided the boat, and at each 

 stroke threw a part of my weight against it, 

 our boat would ' skim the water like a thing of 

 life/ 



" A few moments from the start brought us 

 up with the Portuguese. The crews of the dif- 

 ferent ships witnessing the chase, the excite- 

 ment was tremendous. Our shipmates cheer- 

 ed us as we came up with the first boat, and as 

 we passed, the whale again made its appear- 

 ance. Singing out to the men, ' There she 

 blows ! She 's an eighty-barrel right ahead. 

 Give way my boys ! ' &c., we were soon along- 

 side the Frenchman. The Frenchman was too 

 polite to oppose us, and we passed him with 

 ease. 



" The English boat was now about ten rods 

 in advance, and the whale about one and three 

 fourths of a mile. Now came the trial. The 

 English boat was manned by the same number 

 of stout, active hands as our own, and seeing 

 us pass the other boats, their whole strength 

 and force were put to the oar. We gained on 



M 



