>*=&.e>* 



-v 



toes had barely touched the huge back when 

 — plunge ! kuk-kuk ! There was a lightning 

 swirl and a smother of soapy water. The 

 whale was gone; and a frightened and wide- 

 awake gull was jumping upward, humping 

 his back and threshing the air and kukku- 

 king his astonishment at the disappearance 

 of his late landing-place. 



Here were more feelings, delicate enough 

 to feel the touch of a bird's toes on a back 

 so big that, judging by what the whalemen 

 had told me of the whale's insensibility while 

 being lanced, I had supposed its nerves must 

 be arranged about as plentifully as telegraph 

 wires in the country. The whole proceed- 

 ing was like the lightning jump of a sleep- 

 ing wolf when a twig cracks, or a leaf drops 

 close to his ear. 



One day, while the schooner lay becalmed, 

 I jumped into the dory with Noel and pulled 

 inshore to see what the herring boats were 

 doing, and to collect some of the queer, 

 unknown fish that were brought up in the 

 nets. As we moved among the boats I caught 

 sight of a big whale gliding in towards us 



