184 THE WHALE AND 



Lower away ! Flukes Peaked. Game up. 



" Hoist and swing !" In a moment the boats 

 are hanging by their tackles, and clear of the 

 cranes, ready for the word " Lower away!'' 

 The mates, in the mean time, were aloft, watch- 

 ing the movements of the whale, in order to 

 judge how to pull for her. 



Now comes the word, " Lower away !" In a 

 moment all the boats are off, and in chase at a 

 good speed, in order to see who will be up with 

 the whale first. However, at this time, it did 

 not make so much difference which boat pulled 

 the best, as the whale peaked her flukes and 

 went down before any boat came up with her. 

 Now each boat-header uses his own judgment 

 as to where the whale will come up next, for 

 a sperm whale is almost always going some 

 when she is down or under water. The whale 

 was gone an hour, when we caught sight of 

 the signal at the main, which said plainly that 

 the whale was up. All eyes gaze eagerly 

 around in all directions for the whale. 



" There she is," cries one of the men, " not 

 twenty rods from the chief mate's boat ! There, 

 he sees her !" 



" Down to your oars, lads !" said the captain, 

 in whose boat I was. " Give way hard !" Now, 



