PROGRESS OF THE "HUMPBACK" SEASON. 263 



intruder gave, be was right alongside of us. This was 

 too much for the semi-savage instincts of my gallant 

 harpooner, and before I had time to shout a caution he 

 had plunged his weapon deep into old Blowhard's broad 

 back. 



I should like to describe what followed, but, in the 

 first place, I hardly know ; and, in the next, even had I 

 been cool and collected, my recollections would sound 

 like the ravings of a fevered dream. For of all the 

 hideous uproars conceivable, that was, I should think, 

 about the worst. The big mammal seemed to have gone 

 frantic with the pain of his wound, the surprise of the 

 attack, and the hampering confinement in which he 

 found himself. His tremendous struggles caused such 

 a commotion that our position could only be compared 

 to that of men shooting Niagara in a cylinder at night. 

 How we kept afloat, I do not know. Some one had the 

 gumption to cut the line, so that by the radiation of the 

 disturbance we presently found ourselves close to the 

 wall, and trying to hold the boat in to it with our finger 

 tips. Would he never be quiet ? we thought, as the 

 thrashing, banging, and splashing still went on with un- 

 failing vigour. At last, in, I suppose, one supreme effort 

 to escape, he leaped clear of the water like a salmon. 

 There was a perceptible hush, during which we shrank 

 together like unfledged chickens on a frosty night ; then, 

 in a never-to-be-forgotten crash that ought to have 

 brought down the massy roof, that mountainous carcass 

 fell. The consequent violent upheaval of the water 

 should have smashed the boat against the rocky walls, 

 but that final catastrophe was mercifully spared us. I 

 suppose the rebound was suJEficient to keep us a safe 

 distance off. 



A peiifect silence succeeded, during which we sat 



