100 A HUNDRED YEARS 



holder kindly told me the people were expecting a 

 catch of whales. 



" Then between tongues and telescope I became aware 

 that a line of six or eight boats were acting in concert 

 with the harbour boats, some of the men rowing and 

 others standing up on the thwarts and waving hats and 

 jackets to indicate something not yet visible to us 

 landlubbers. In a few minutes some thirty boats were 

 steering down the harbour close to the land on our side, 

 rowing as if for dear life or a £1,000 prize. We saw them 

 very soon pass the eight boats at the harbour mouth, 

 which, it seemed, had gone off early to their ordinary 

 long line fishings, when they fell in with a great school 

 of whales that were capering about like lunatics in 

 the sea. The moment the supporting boats passed 

 those which had discovered the whales, we saw them 

 wheel round outside them from the shore, and soon a 

 regular barrier of boats was formed quite across the 

 bay about one hundred yards beyond the original 

 fishermen, who then left their stations to join the new 

 flotilla. Meanwhile another line of boats, arriving later, 

 formed a second barrier one hundred yards or so nearer 

 the ocean than the first one. All this time our telescopes 

 showed us that the chase was going on vigorously. 

 The crews of the boats were waving coats and throwing 

 stones at the coveted mammals, and the sea was boiling 

 with the capers of the monsters, who were growing 

 alarmed at their danger. Oh dear, dear ! they have dived 

 under the first line of boats and are off back to sea ! 

 What a loss of booty ! But all is not over, for the 

 fugitives have taken fright at the second line of boats, 



