Trailing the Sea-Bat 



settled in their seats in a moment. Each held the rope 

 and, I think, had it around some sort of snubbin post 

 at the bow. The sudden rush and speed might have 

 broken the rope or the barbs of the harpoon in less 

 skillful hands, but the craft was well managed. Rope 

 was let out in the rushes. Rope was drawn in on 

 curves or the least cessation of extreme effort on the 

 part of the wounded monster, which soon demon- 

 strated that its wounds or the restraint placed on it 

 had rendered it unable to maintain a straightaway 

 course. The rest of the party sat in their boats, 

 heard the thud as the harpoon was thrown, saw the 

 two men in their boat fairly fly toward the ocean, 

 but no one knew what to do to aid those who had 

 made the attack. General Cleary and his boat were 

 closer to the fish than any other person at the time 

 the harpoon was thrown. His boatman started in 

 pursuit, and as their boat was a light yawl or 

 " dinghy," as they call it there, he was able to keep in 

 pretty fair distance. The fish made its first swerve 

 from a straightaway course a few minutes after it 

 was struck. It made a quarter or half circle and 

 when it did it Cleary's boat attached itself to the boat 

 of Kline and Farley. Now it had two boats to pull 

 with four men. Soon it made another deviation and 

 another boat threw its anchor in the Cleary boat. 

 All the other boats, seeing the success of Cleary, were 

 rushing as fast as they could to do as he had done. 

 The result was that in half an hour the beast was 



27 



