70 TEE CRUISE OF THE "CACHALOT:' 



rapid heart-beat than usual, I was not half so scared 

 as I expected to be — that the excitement was rather 

 pleasant than otherwise. There were a few traces of 

 funk about some of the others still ; but as for Abner, 

 he was fairly transformed ; I hardly knew the man. 

 He was one of Goliath's boat's crew, and the big darkey 

 was quite proud of him. His eyes sparkled, and he 

 chuckled and smiled constantly, as one who is conscious 

 of having done a grand stroke of business, not only for 

 himself, but for all hands. " Lower away boats ! " came 

 pealing down from the skipper's lofty perch, succeeded 

 instantly by the rattle of the patent blocks as the falls 

 flew through them, while the four beautiful craft took 

 the water with an almost simultaneous splash. The 

 ship-keepers had trimmed the yards to the wind and 

 hauled up the courses, so that simply putting the helm 

 down deadened our way, and allowed the boats to run 

 clear without danger of fouling one another. To shove 

 off and hoist sail was the work of a few moments, and 

 with a fine working breeze away we went. As before, 

 our boat, being the chief's, had the post of honour ; but 

 there was now only one whale, and I rather wondered 

 why we had all left the ship. According to expec- 

 tations, down he went when we were within a couple of 

 miles of him, but quietly and with great dignity, ele- 

 vating his tail perpendicularly in the air, and sinking 

 slowly from our view. Again I found Mr. Count 

 talkative. 



" Thet whale '11 stay down fifty minutes, I guess," said 

 he, " fer he's every gill ov a hundred en twenty bar'l ; and 

 don't yew fergit it." " Do the big whales give much 

 more trouble than the little ones ?" I asked, seeing him 

 thus chatty. " Wall, it's jest ez it happens, boy — ^just ez 



