2i 6 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



news, and Captain Josh and Captain Gabe and 

 Bert, Dave and Dan launch their boat amidst the 

 white foam of the breakers and a goodly crew they 

 make, none better pull an oar; but there are other 

 crews and other brave men who jump at the first 

 stroke of the bell, and as the sound reverberates 

 among the houses and fields,- shoe-makers drop their 

 lasts, tailors their thread and needle, blacksmiths 

 their hammer and farmers their plow handles, for 

 underneath the thin disguise of merchant, trades- 

 man and farmer are hidden the adventurous sea- 

 men and expert whalemen of Amagansett. 



WARY OLD WHALE. 



All the inhabitants rush for the beach, the kodak 

 man scorching on a wheel with his camera slung on 

 his back, summer boarders, women, dogs and 

 children hasten to be in time to see the oilskin-clad 

 men launch their boats and bend to the oar in the 

 mad race to be first in the chase. 



Wise and wary must be the whale who escapes 

 the hereditary foes of its race; but there is one 

 old spotted fellow (perhaps he is a descendant of 

 the celebrated "Moby Dick") who has led the 

 Amagansett people several chases. 



The whalers know old "spotty" by the big white 

 marks near his flippers. 



The black whale, which is the kind hunted at 

 Amagansett, was supposed to be totally extinct at 

 the time of the American revolution and has only 

 b.een recently introduced to science as a rediscovery. 



