110 WHALING AND Fl S H 1 N G . 



was thought portentous of evil. Suffice it to say, 

 that fortunately for us, the mate s lance had not 

 touched him in any very vulnerable spot, and that 

 after lying for half an hour side by side with the 

 boat, and for another half hour in such a position 

 that with every swell our boat's sharp stern rub- 

 hed against his side, just as the sun sank bcluw 

 the horizon he turned flukes, and to our great 

 relief, came up at a distance from us of some half 

 dozen ship's lengths. It should have been before 

 mentioned, that from the moment when our boat 

 was stove, all the other whales who had till then 

 borne us company, disappeared, and we saw them 

 no more. 



Scarcely had " our whale " risen to the surface, 

 when we descried a boat-sail at but a short dis- 

 tance off. It was fast growing dark, as there is 

 scarcely any twilight in those latitudes, so that it 

 was with no ordinary joy we hailed the approach 

 of what proved to be the Captain's boat. 



" Are you all there ? " he asked, as he came 

 within hail. 



" Yes, sir." 



" Well, just hang on there till I kill your whale." 

 was the cool rejoinder. Saying which, he turned 

 the boat toward the fish. She had scarcely got- 

 ten within two boat's lengths cf him when, snap 

 ping his jaws together with a sharp report which 

 showed that his ire was fully roused, the whale 

 made for the boat. 



" Stern all ! back water for your lives ! ! " cried 



