Queer Game 



silently the boat moved on. I now could see that the 

 animals were not seals, but cetaceans of some kind. 

 Suddenly there came a flash, and as one of the crea- 

 tures dashed out of the water, I saw that it was a 

 veritable unicorn, so far as the horn was concerned, 

 as from the head projected a long blade or tusk. The 

 sight appeared to spur the men on to greater exer- 

 tions, and, in a moment, we were in the midst of a 

 mass of boiling heads and tails. I knew what the 

 buck fever was from personal experience with a 

 moose; but I certainly never experienced the feeling 

 that came over me as the animals darted this way and 

 that about us. Suddenly a large horn gleamed by our 

 side; the next instant the harpoon was plunged into 

 its owner, and we were deluged with foam from the 

 big animal that rose high in air. It must have 

 sounded, as whales do, going directly to the bottom 

 with a rush that made the gunwale of the boat 

 smoke. Again it went down, the coils of rope fairly 

 leaping from the box; then came a stop, and the men 

 hastened to take in the slack, coiling it back with mar- 

 velous rapidity. The animal had to rise to breathe, 

 and soon an enormous white ivory tusk shot out of 

 the water not a foot from the bow. Then came a 

 curious performance: for a moment the narwhal 

 seemed to fairly balance, and then the boy, seeing the 

 long tusk so near, grasped it and was jerked off his 

 feet. For a second he clung to the horn as one would 

 to a flagstaff, then was dashed into the water and run 



