HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WHALE FISHERY. 165 



" There 's 'stand up' in the waist-boat ! There he darts ! Hurrah! two 

 boats fast. Haul lively, MS, and get this line in !" 



His whaleship seemed staggered by this accumulation of cold iron in 

 his system, and lay wallowing in the trough of the waves. It was a 

 critical moment for him ; for Mr. Dunham was getting his lance on the 

 half cock, ready for darting, and as the whale suddenly " milled short 

 round" to pass across the head of his boat, the young man saw his ad- 

 vantage, and cried, " Pull ahead ! Pull ahead,* and we'll get a ' set' on 

 him ! Lay forward, Fisher ! Lay forward hard, my lad ! right on for his 

 tin ! Pull ahead ! So, way enough — hold water, all ;" and, driven by 

 a strong arm, the sharp lance entered his " life," its bright shank dis- 

 appearing till the pole brought it up. 



" Hold her so!" said the second mate. " Way enough ! just hold her 

 so till he rises again ! " as the whale hollowed his back under the sea, 

 now crimsoned with his life-tide, and again rising, received the lauce 

 anew in his vitals; but the first " set" was enough, and the gush of 

 clotted blood from his spiracle told how effectually it had done its 

 work. 



" There," said Father Grafton, who had just got his line gathered in 

 and was ready to renew the assault, " there's the red flag flying at his 

 nose. Blacksmith, we may as well put up our lance, we sha'n't want it 

 to-day. Well done, Mr. Dunham. Thick as tar the first lance. Hold 

 on line, Bunker ! heave on a turn !" as the whale, making a dying 

 effort, started up to windward, passing among the Pandora's boats 

 within easy hail. 



" Give us your warp, Pitman, if you want a tow," said Bunker, in 

 passing, to Mr. Ray's boat-steerer. 



"Every dog has his day," growled Pitman in reply. 



* It sometimes happens that it is desirable to draw up alongside the whale while fast 

 to him, the more effectually to use the lance. This operation is thus descrihed : " Hav- 

 ing hauled as well forward as the position of the harpoon will admit, the boat-header 

 reaches over the bows, and, taking hold of the Hue forward of the chocks, brings it 

 around outside the boat, then giving it into the hands of the bow-oarsman, who has 

 faced forward on his thwart. Now, as the man hauls on the line, the direction of 

 strain is oblique, well back ou the bow, and the course of the boat becomes parallel 

 with that of the whale a few feet distance from him. The boat-header then has his 

 chance to ply the lance with deadly effect. If the harpoon is well forward of the hump 

 of the whale, the boat will run in comparative safety, as the strokes of the tail will be 

 behind the boat, and the swing of the jaw in front. As long as the whale continues 

 running in a straight course on the surface, the persistent boat will cling behind his 

 fin as a bull-dog will to the nose of an ox. His only escape is to run deep, or, by sud- 

 denly milling or turning, to bring the boat in reach of jaws or flukes. The duty of the 

 bow-oarsman is arduous when the whale is running fast, or there is a high sea. By 

 his own strength he must keep the boat in its position, though drenched with the fly- 

 iug spray from the bow. Should the strain wrench the wet line through his burned 

 hands, the blessings of the excited boat-header are poured on his head with a vigor 

 heard only in the rushing hiss of this ' Nantucket sleigh-ride.' " (Nimrod of the Sea, 

 1). 142.) 



