78 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



forty yards and in rougher weather, and the harpoon plunged 

 in at the centre of the target ! What a boom and whirl of 



Harpooning a Whale 



rope and smoke, and what a glorious moment of suspense 

 and then intense satisfaction when the great line tautened 

 up and began to run some excuse for a wave of the 

 cap. 



But wait . . . ! What is this ? the line is suddenly 

 slack. There was no miss what has happened we cannot 

 tell. All we can do is to wind up we have lost him, 

 somehow or other ! 



I know men who feel almost relieved at missing a whale, 

 for they say they have had the hunt, which is better than the 

 actual harpooning, and after-play, and so I have heard some 

 salmon-fishers talk, who say they hook their salmon, then 

 hand the rod to their gillie. Not so with the writer ; one 

 part of whaling or fishing is as good as the other to me, and 

 to harpoon your whale and lose it is too distressing for words. 



At last the harpoon comes on board the flanges have 

 never opened ! there is flesh on them, and a foot up the 

 shaft two and a half feet it had entered, and yet came out ! 

 possibly the marlin round the flanges was too strong to allow 

 of them spreading. Possibly the explosive point made too 



