THE WHALE FISHERY. 47 



upon, and all possible taken in. And now the whale is upon the surface, and great jets of almost 

 pure blood, red and arterial, rise in the air and fall backward upon her head and shoulders. 

 That tells the story. The boat rushes forward, and now seems to be floating in blood, so thick 

 have the waters become with it, and the smell arising is deadly sickening and almost suffocating 

 to the inexperienced. 



" Down again the creature goes, to remain about the same time as at first. The speed hardly 

 diminishes. Up again she comes, and now the noise of her spouting is as of huge pipes obstructed, 

 aud soon great clots of blood and substance fall as before upon the surface of the water. Every 

 muscle in every man is as tense as whalebone, and every nerve like steel. Each says to himself, 

 Will the end never come ? 



"A breeze is rising on the eastern board, but its outer edge is still far from the schooner. 

 The two men left on board the latter have headed her in chase of the boat, but she is soon hull- 

 down in the view of the boat's crew. No matter. There are successive risings of the whale at 

 more frequent intervals, and now it is largely water that she spouts, and the wonder is if she has 

 any more blood left in her carcass. Usually when a finback is killed the body sinks at once, and 

 does not rise again for forty-eight hours ; and every lance is stamped with its owner's initials, 

 that carcasses found may be identified. Other varieties of whale, having more blubber, do not 

 sink, at least not so readily. 



"An idea strikes the captain. ' This whale,' he says, 'has lost so much blood that I do not 

 believe she will sink, and 1 will try an experiment.' He means that he will not haul up to the 

 animal by the harpoon line and dispatch her with another lance ; but that he will follow her till 

 she dies of exhaustion and her present wound. 



"Suddenly the whale turns square about, and starts back toward the Eace. There is some 

 confusion, a slacking and jerking of the line, and all at once the harpoon slips, and whale and 

 boat are parted. And now the men growl and lower at the captain, for allowing their hard-earned 

 prize thus to escape. But he knows that a short time must decide the contest and that the whale 

 must soon die. 



" She is followed by her frequent spoutings of black blood and matter, and, her speed slack- 

 ing, the chase draws upon her. She stops. Will the captain give her another lance? The 

 proposal is useless, for her death flurry is begun, and it will soon be seen whether the experiment 

 of the captain is to result favorably. 



" And now she leaps full length out of the water, and falls prone upon it with a crash like a 

 falling building. The surface is streaked and torn with foam mingled with blood. She stands 

 now upon her head, now upon her tail; like lightning she darts hither and thither. She sinks 

 and rises, spouts and half rolls over. Every man is in position to keep clear of her, if in her frenzy 

 she blindly comes their way. 'For God's sake, captain, look out!' shouts one; 'here she comes!' 

 The warning is justified; she is coming full head toward the boat. But momently she staggers, 

 ceases effort; her motion slows; she rolls three-quarters over, and lies dead in the middle of Mas- 

 sachusetts Bay. 



" The schooner is out of sight. From 3 o'clock an til 5 she has been battling for life, and leading 

 her capturers such a chase as the world cannot equal under other conditions. The breeze a stiff 

 caster has arrived. The whale must be towed home, but it is a serious matter with oars and 

 only the boat. Happily she has shut her mouth in dying, and will tow easier in consequence. 

 The captain's experiment has worked well, and this was about the only finback captured in these 

 waters that season without sinking. 



