352 ' NIMBOD OF THE SEA; OS, 



have never heard why the captain fell in love with him. 

 This I'll tell you first, that you may know your man. Dur- 

 ing the last voyage of the Anaconda, of Ipswich, the captain 

 laid Bully on to a sperm-whale, and Bully darted his iron 

 real mad ; for they had had a hard chase. The next minute 

 the captain saw the iron pole bobbing end out, ten feet the 

 other side of the whale. 



" < Thunder ! You missed him !' he said to Bully. 



"' Missed your granny!' rejoined the harpooner; 'that 

 iron went through him.' 



" Sure enough, when they killed him they found the tow- 

 line rove through below the hump, and the iron acting tog- 

 gle on the other side. Sartori swore that he never would 

 have any other boat-steerer while Bully lived ; and so Bully 

 sailed on a second mate's lay until he quit and took to farm- 

 ing back of Ipswich. 



" But he came near losing his number in the mess on the 

 second voyage after this, and he tells his own story in this 

 way : ' Down off Timor, Captain Sartori laid me on to an all- 

 fired big bull-whale. Soon as I stood up I knew it was Ti- 

 mor Tom I was on. He was grizzly and white; his hide scar- 

 red an' furrowed, and old irons stood out of his white hump 

 like stubbs in a corn-field in snow-time. I was gallied s^>me 

 when I saw his white back, but I couldn't help hitting him, 

 you know, from long habit; so I added two irons to the 

 score in his back. 



"'Just as quick as winkin', his old jaw came up and cut 

 the bow right off at the bow-thwart, an' we two (that is, the 

 bow and me) went a-kiting, I tell you ! When I turned to 

 come down, there was the whale end up, mouth wide open, 

 waitin' for me; his throat looked like a whitewashed cellar 

 door, but I saw his teeth were smooth with the gum, an' I 

 took some comfort in that. When I struck his throat, he 

 snapped for me, but I had good headway on, and was splash- 



