218 TEE CRUISE OF THE " CACHALOT." 



the favoured sultana of his harem, I suppose. Prudence 

 whispered, "Go for the cow;" Ambition hissed, "All 

 or none — the bull, the bull." Fortunately emergencies of 

 this kind leave one but a second or two to decide, as a 

 rule ; in this case, as it happened, I was spared even that 

 mental conflict, for as we ran up between the two vast 

 creatures, Samuela, never even looking at the cow, 

 hurled his harpoon, with all the energy that he had 

 been bursting with so long, at the mighty bull. I 

 watched its flight — saw it enter the black mass and 

 disappear to the shaft, and almost immediately came 

 the second iron, within a foot of the first, burying itself 

 in the same solid fashion. 



" Starn — starn all ! "I shouted ; and we backed slowly 

 away, considerably hampered by the persistent attentions 

 of the cow, who hung round us closely. The temptation 

 to lance her was certainly great, but I remembered the 

 fate that had overtaken the skipper on the first occasion 

 we struck whales, and did not meddle with her ladyship. 

 Our prey was not apparently disposed to kick up much 

 fuss at first, so, anxious to settle matters, I changed 

 ends with Samuela, and pulled in on the whale. A good, 

 steady lance-thrust — the first I had ever delivered — was 

 obtained, sending a thrill of triumph through my whole 

 body. The recipient, thoroughly roused by this, started 

 off at a great lick, accompanied, somewhat to my surprise, 

 by the cow. Thenceforward for another hour, in spite 

 of all our efforts, we could not get within striking distance, 

 mainly because of the close attention of the cow, which 

 stuck to her lord like a calf to its mother. I was 

 getting so impatient of this hindrance, that it was all 

 I could do to restrain myself from lancing the cow, 

 though I felt convinced that, if I did, I should spoil a 



