His CAPTORS. 187 



Liable to be Left. Hard Swimming. Mending Holes. 



it was no use for me to lay still, and be picked 

 up like a squid; so I made a regular shove 

 off with my feet against the whale's head, and 

 struck out for the boat. I saw that all was 

 confusion in the boat, and that the men did not 

 notice me at all. I had on thick clothes, and 

 found it hard swimming. Finally one of the 

 men saw me, and stopped the boat, which some 

 of them were steering away from me as fast as 

 they could. 



As I got in at the bow, I saw the captain 

 come over the stern. " Hallo !" said he, " where 

 have you been to?" " After the whale," said 

 I. " And I have been after you," said the cap- 

 tain. We had a good laugh, wrung our hair, 

 and started for the whale again. She lay still, 

 with her jaws open, and head toward the boat; 

 the rest of her body was under water, so that 

 she gave no chance to kill. We lay still, watch- 

 ing her motions. All at once she let her jaws 

 fly back, striking the boat in the bow, and 

 smashing a hole through her. The boat began 

 to fill; but, fortunately, we had a jacket ready, 

 and stopped the hole up, and so we kept from 

 filling, and pulled up to the whale again. 



This time she headed the mate, and lay her 



