170 TEE CRUISE OF TEE " CACEALOT:' 



and stood by to lower away the moment he should re- 

 appear. Meanwhile another ship was working up from 

 to leeward, having evidently noted our movements, or else, 

 like the albatross, " smelt whale," no great distance to 

 windward of him. Waiting for that whale to rise was one 

 of the most exciting experiences we had gone through 

 as yet, with two other ships so near. Everybody's 

 nerves seemed strung up to concert pitch, and it was quite 

 a relief when from half a dozen throats at once burst 

 the cry, " There she white-waters ! Ah blo-o-o-o-w ! " 

 Not a mile away, dead to leeward of us, quietly beating 

 the water with the flat of his flukes, as if there was no 

 such thing in the watery world as a whale-ship. Splash ! 

 almost simultaneously went the four boats. Out we 

 shot from the ship, all on our mettle ; for was not the 

 skipper's eye upon us from his lofty eerie, as well as the 

 crew of the other ship, now not more than a mile away ? 

 We seemed a terrible time getting the sails up, but the 

 officers dared not risk our willingness to pull while they 

 could be independent of us. 



By the time we were fairly off, the other ship's boats 

 were coming like the wind, so that eight boats were 

 now converging upon the unconscious monster. We 

 fairly flew over the short, choppy sea, getting drenched 

 with the flying spray, but looking out far more keenly 

 at the other boats than at the whale. Up we came 

 to him, Mr. Count's boat to the left, the other mate's 

 boat to the right. Almost at the same moment the 

 irons flew from the hands of the rival harpooners ; 

 but while ours was buried to the hitches in the whale's 

 side, the other man's just ploughed up the skin on the 

 animal's back, as it passed over him and pierced our 

 boat close behind the harpooner's leg. Not seeing what 



