CHARGED BY A WILD SEI WHALE 



"We'll leave them and see if we can find some 

 others. They are impossible." 



When we came up from breakfast six other ships 

 were visible, some of them not far away and others 

 marked only by long trails on the horizon. We passed 

 the San Hogci near enough to hear Captain Hansen 

 shout that he had seen no whales, and then plowed 



''Always the center of a screaming flock of birds which some- 

 times swept downward in a cloud, dipping into the waves 

 and rising again, the water flashing in myriads of crystal 

 drops from their brown wings." 



along due south directly away from the other ships. 

 In a short time, one by one, they had dropped away 

 from sight and even the smoke paths were lost where 

 sky and sea met. 



It was eleven o'clock before we raised another spout, 

 but this animal w r as blowing frequently and the great 

 cloud of birds hovering about showed that he was 

 "on feed." He was running fast but seldom stayed 

 down long, his high, sickle-shaped dorsal fin cutting 



109 



