40 TEE CRUISE OF THE "CACEALOT." 



whale was something to admire and remember. Hatless, 

 his shirt tail out of the waist of his trousers streaming 

 behind him like a banner, he lunged and thrust at the 

 whale alongside of him, as if possessed of a destroying 

 devil, while his half articulate yells of rage and 

 blasphemy were audible even to us. 



Suddenly our boat fell backward from her " slantin- 

 dicular " position with a jerk, and the mate immediately 

 shouted, " Haul line, there ! look lively, now ! you — so 

 on, etcetera, etcetera " (he seemed to invent new epi- 

 thets on every occasion). The line came in hand over 

 hand, and was coiled in a wide heap in the stern sheets, 

 for silky as it was, it could not be expected in its wet 

 state to lie very close. As it came flying in the mate 

 kept a close gaze upon the water immediately beneath 

 us, apparently for the first glimpse of our antagonist. 

 "When the whale broke water, however, he was some 

 distance off, and apparently as quiet as a lamb. Now, 

 had Mr. Count been a prudent or less ambitious man, 

 our task would doubtless have been an easy ' one, or 

 comparatively so ; but, being a little over-grasping, he 

 got us all into serious trouble. We were hauling up to 

 our whale in order to lance it, and the mate was stand- 

 ing, lance in hand, only waiting to get near enough, 

 when up comes a large whale right alongside of our 

 boat, so close, indeed, that I might have poked my 

 finger in his little eye, if I had chosen. The sight 

 of that whale at liberty, and calmly taking stock oi* 

 us like that, was too much for the mate. He lifted 

 his lance and hurled it at the visitor, in whose broad 

 flank it sank, like a knife into butter, right up to 

 the pole-hitches. The recipient disappeared like a 

 flash, but before one had time to think, there was an 



