198 The Story of the New England Whalers 



The females almost always show sympathy 

 when one of their companions is attacked. They 

 gather around the stricken one and act, the whalers 

 say, as if anxious to render assistance. Through 

 this habit the whalers have often secured two 

 or three from a school of females. The cow 

 whales also remain with their male companions 

 in spite of danger. The first whale that Frank 

 Bullen struck, he says, was a big bull that had 

 a cow of small size for a companion. The cow 

 followed the bull as it fled for life, and finally, 

 after it was lanced mortally, she sounded with 

 it. In due time the bull came up to the surface 

 and died. Then Bullen found that his har- 

 poons had been withdrawn from the dead bull, 

 and yet the harpoon line was fast to something. 

 Finally the cow came up much exhausted and 

 it was easily killed. An examination of her 

 carcass showed that the harpoon line was en- 

 tangled with her teeth, "as if she had tried to 

 bite in two the rope that held her consort," says 

 Bullen, "and only succeeded in sharing his fate. 

 I would not like to say that whales do not try 

 to thus sever a line." 



