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CHAPTER YI. 



"dirty work for clean MONET." 



If in the preceding chapter too much stress has been 

 laid upon the smashing of our own boat and consequent 

 sufferings, while little or no notice was taken of the 

 kindred disaster to Mistah Jones' vessel, my excuse 

 must be that the experience " filled me right up to the 

 chin," as the mate concisely, if inelegantly, put it. 

 Poor Goliath was indeed to be pitied, for his well-known 

 luck and capacity as a whaleman seemed on this occa- 

 sion to have quite deserted him. Not only had his 

 boat been stove upon first getting on to the whale, but 

 he hadn't even had a run for his money. It appeared 

 that upon striking his whale, a small, lively cow, she 

 had at once "settled," allowing the boat to run over 

 her; but just as they were passing, she rose, gently 

 enough, her pointed hump piercing the thin skin of 

 half-inch cedar as if it had been cardboard. She settled 

 again immediately, leaving a hole behind her a foot 

 long by six inches wide, which effectually put a stop to 

 all further fishing operations on the part of Goliath 

 and his merry men for that day, at any rate. It was 

 all so quiet, and so tame and so stupid, no wonder 



Mistah Jones felt savage. When Captain Slocum's 

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