406 " A MAN OVERBOARD ! " 



coming near, flung out a " short warp," which was duly 

 caught and made fast, so that the two boats were soon 

 being towed at nearly the same rate as the captain's boat 

 had been before. 



The men on board the whaling-ship, who had been 

 watching this headlong chase with great anxiety, now saw 

 the captain dart his lance at the whale as it almost flew 

 along ; but the blow seemed to have been ineffectual at 

 least, it did not check the speed of the whale ; and in a 

 very short time all disappeared together, being at too 

 great a distance to be visible to the naked eye from the 

 deck. The officer in charge ran aloft, and with his glass 

 could just discern three dark specks on the rippled surface 

 of the ocean. But soon these, too, could no longer be 

 traced, and he ordered the ship, therefore, to beat up in 

 the direction which they had apparently taken. 



" It was now," says an eye-witness of all that occurred, 

 " within half an hour of sunset, and there was every ap- 

 pearance of the coming on. of an ugly night ; indeed, the 

 wind began to freshen every moment. I remained aloft," 

 he continues, " until I saw the sun dip, angry and red, 

 below the troubled horizon, and was just about to descend, 

 when I was dreadfully shocked at hearing the loud cry of 

 * a man overboard ' from all upon deck. I looked astern, 

 and saw with horror one of our men grappling with the 

 waves, and calling loudly for help. The ship was soon 

 brought round, but in doing so she unavoidably passed a 

 long way from the poor fellow, who still supported him- 

 self by beating the water with his hands, although he was 

 quite unacquainted with the art of swimming. Several 

 oars were thrown overboard the moment after he fell, but 

 he could not reach them, though they were near him ; 



