WHALE HUNTING WITH GUN AND CAMERA 



and just as the great snout passed under our boat, he plunged 

 it vertically right into the middle of the back. There was 

 the report of the gun, a heaving of the boat clear of the 

 water, a sensation like that of passing through a water- 

 spout, and the dull explosion of the shell all in the space 

 of the next second then the leviathan stretched out dead. 

 The bomb had killed him instantly, and it was well for 



Cutting in a sperm whale at sea by the old-time method. 



us that it did, for in the case of an ordinary iron being 

 used, we would have been stove to pieces. 



As we backed away, up came the black snout of another 

 whale, and then two or three more. They did not seem 

 to know that there was any mischief, and they rolled on 

 top of the dead one as though nothing had happened. What 

 an opportunity to get another one ! If there had been a 

 chance to mark our "fish" without getting stove by the 

 others, and cutting loose as we did in a former case, we 

 could have killed another and another; but that was im- 

 possible, so a "waif" was set for the second boat, and on 



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