A LONG BLUE WHALE CHASE 



"I'd have shot him in the tail if he had only come 

 up," Captain Olsen shouted, "but we'll get him yet." 



Shortly afterward the whale blew near us, dead 

 ahead, and as he turned to go down a school of por- 

 poises dashed along beside his back. When he rose 







"The rope attached to the first harpoon floated backward in dan- 

 gerous proximity to the propeller and it required some care- 

 ful work to get the animal fast to the bow and the line safely 

 out of the way." 



a few seconds afterward the porpoises were leaping 

 all about his head, and, bewildered, he did not know 

 which way to turn. We almost reached him but he 

 slid under the w^ater just before the ship came up. 

 For the next few minutes he was lost in the fog and 

 gathering darkness and I shouted to Captain Olsen: 



137 



