4 OLD WHALING DAYS. 



atmosphere delightfully clear. By noon the lines were 

 coiled in the boats, and the crew went to dinner, one 

 officer and a few men being left on deck to work the ship 

 and look out. I came out of the cabin during the time the 

 captain was eating his meal, to have another look at the 

 great stretch of ice. Something like smoke was rising from 

 amongst the broken masses, and I said to the officer, 

 "Look, Philip, there's some smoke behind that piece of 

 ice." Apparently amused, he replied, "Nonsense, my 

 little man ; there are no houses here." Seeing the same 

 thing once more, I said, " Look, Philip, there it is again." 

 Following my gaze he instantly became excited, and shouted, 

 " A fish close to." I was confounded and astonished at the 

 confusion so soon made. All hands rushed upon deck, 

 and the captain went to the mast-head. The call to 

 action had been so sudden and unexpected that the boats 

 had not got the guns in, only the hand harpoons bent to 

 the lines. Without a moment's waste of time the boats 

 were lowered, and in about a quarter of an hour they were 

 away from the ship. The captain called from the crow's 

 nest, "A fall ! a fall !" signifying that one of the harpooners 

 had struck the whale. It was my friend Philip who had 

 been so fortunate. We reached close to him with the ship, 

 and ascertained that there were two and a half lines out. 

 The rope was running swiftly round the bollard of the boat 

 and smoking, and the crew were throwing water upon it to 

 keep it from Burning. The boats hoist a flag when they 

 fasten to a whale, to show which is the fast boat, and the 

 ship does also. Now the boats were all placed in the 

 direction where the whale is expected to rise. In about 

 twenty minutes she came to the surface, and two more boats 

 got fast, leaving three to lance. It was most interesting to 

 see our boats so dexterously managed. The whale began 

 to blow blood, and in a few minutes the sea, the boats and 

 the men in them, were crimsoned with the life fluid of the 



