240 THE OCEAN. 



up ahead. We liad now all the boats on our lee- 

 "beam, while the ships were all astern of us, the most 

 distant not being more than half a mile, so that we 

 enjoyed an excellent view of this most exciting and 

 animated scene. True to his time, the leviathan at 

 length arose right ahead of the boats, and at not 

 more than a quarter of a mile distant from them. 

 The excitement among the crews of the various 

 boats, when they saw his first spout, was tremen- 

 dous ; they did not shout, but we could hear an 

 agitated murmur from their united voices reverbe- 

 rating along the surface of the deep. They flew over 

 the limpid waves at a rapid rate : the mates of the 

 various boats cheered their respective crews by 

 various urgent exclamations. ' Swing on your oars, 

 my boys, for the honour of the Henrietta !' cried 

 one ; ' Spring away, hearties ! ' shouted another ; and 

 yet scarcely able to breathe from anxiety and exer- 

 tion ; ' It's our fish !' vociferated a third, as he passed 

 the rest of his opponents by a trifling distance. ' Lay 

 on, my boys ! ' cried young Clark, our first mate, as 

 he steered the boat with one hand and pressed down 

 the after oar with the other ; ' she'll be ours yet ; 

 let's have a strong pull, a long pull, and a pull all 

 together !' he exclaimed, as he paused from his exer- 

 tions at the after oar, which soon brought up his boat 

 quite abreast of the foremost. 



" But the giant of the ocean, who was only a short 

 distance before them, now appeared rather ' gallied,' 

 or frightened, having probably seen or heard the 

 boats, and as he puffed up his spout to a great height, 

 and reared his enormous head, he increased his speed, 



