2 SO 



Out of /ft e 



with which we sometimes added a dish to 

 our fare of cod and lobsters, and which served 

 Noel well in bagging a young seal for its oil 

 and skin. As the schooner lay balanced for 

 hours at a time between wind and tide, and 

 we saw with weariness another day without 

 gain and another salmon river unexplored, 

 there would be a sudden whoosh, like the 

 breath of forty locomotives, and a great 

 black back would come plunging up out of 

 the depths. Then the weariness would van- 

 ish, and all watched intently as somebody 

 grabbed the rifle and sent the bullets skip- 

 ping. Invariably they did no harm at all, 

 but only waked us up; for the huge black 

 back would go ponderously on its way, ris- 

 ing and sinking, with bullets skipping like 

 hornets athwart its path and lighting every- 

 where except on the shining hump. When 

 the magazine was exhausted Noel would 

 chuckle silently and go to sleep again. 



The whales were about us continually in 

 all shapes and sizes, only a few of which 

 were familiar; the rest plunged into sound- 

 less deeps or followed their own endless trails 



