

238 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



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STRIKING A WHALE. 



again ; and sure enough, the sun was hardly an hour high 

 just far enough out of the water to allow a fair view over its 

 surface when the cry, " There she blows, blows, blows !" 

 as new spouts followed the first, brought our ship to, and the 

 boats down again. 



This time the first boat-header, an old American, who had 

 been bred up to whaling, and done hardly any thing else all 

 his life, and at the same time the finest specimen of an old 

 tar I ever saw, was the first to come up with one of the whales, 

 and get fast, as he carried the largest sail. The other three 

 boats followed the rest of the shoal, which swam along on 

 the surface of the water a considerable time and then disap- 

 peared below it, the boats, without stopping, keeping in a 

 straight course in hopes of seeing the fish rise again after 

 awhile, and then having a fair throw at them. But the fish, 





