CAPTURING THE WHALE. 113 



away we (viz. some of the midshipmen) went," says 

 the Captain, "in our wild-goose whale -chase. All eyes 

 were now upon us, and, after a pause, it was agreed 

 unanimously that we should run right on board of 

 him and take our chance. So we rowed forward, 

 but the whale slipped down, clean out of sight, leaving 

 only a monstrous pool, in the vortex of which we 

 continued whirling about for some time. As we were 

 lying on our oars, and somewhat puzzled what to do 

 next, we beheld one of the most extraordinary sights 

 in the world ; at least, I do not remember to have 

 seen many things which have surprised me so much, 

 or made a deeper impression on my memory. Our 

 friend the whale, probably finding the water dis- 

 agreeably shallow, or perhaps provoked at not being 

 able to disentangle himself from the sharp coral 

 reefs, or from some other reason of pleasure or pain, 

 suddenly made a leap out of the water. So com- 

 plete was this enormous leap, that for an instant 

 we saw him fairly up in the air, in a horizontal 

 position, at a distance of at least twenty perpendi- 

 cular feet over our heads ! While in his progress 

 upwards, there was in his spring some touch of the 

 vivacity with which a trout or a salmon shoots out 

 of the water ; but he fell back again on the sea, like 

 a huge log thrown on its broadside, and with such 

 a thundering crash, as made all hands stare in 

 astonishment, and the boldest held his breath for a 

 time. Total demolition, indeed, must have been 

 the inevitable fate of our party, had the whale 

 taken his leap one minute sooner, for he would 



