FAB E WELL TO VAU VAU. 285 



he was disappearing. He stopped his descent imme- 

 diately, and turned savagely to see what had struck 

 him so unexpectedly. At that moment the sun went 

 down. 



After the first few minutes' "kick-up," he settled down 

 for a steady run, but not before the mate got good and 

 fast to him likewise. Away we went at a rare rate into 

 the gathering gloom of the fast-coming night. Now, had 

 it been about the time of full moon or thereabouts, we 

 should doubtless have been able, by the flood of molten 

 light slie sends down in those latitudes, to give a good 

 account of our enemy ; but alas for us, it was not. The 

 sky overhead was a deep blue-black, with steely sparkles 

 of starlight scattered all over it, only serving to accentuate 

 the darkness. After a short time our whale became 

 totally invisible, except for the phosphoric glare of the 

 water all around him as he steadily ploughed his way 

 along. There was a good breeze blowing, which soon 

 caused us all to be drenched with the spray, rendering 

 the general effect of things cold as well as cheerless. 

 Needless to say, we strove with all our might to get 

 alongside of him, so that an end might be put to so 

 unpleasant a state of affairs ; but in our crippled condition 

 it was not at all easy to do so. 



We persevered, however, and at last managed to get 

 near enough for the skipper to hurl a lance into the 

 brightness of which the whale formed the centre. It 

 must have touched him, for he gave a bound forward and 

 disappeared. We suddenly came to a standstill, but in 

 a moment were whirled round as if on a pivot, and away 

 we went in the opposite direction. He had turned a com- 

 plete somersault in the water beneath us, giving us a 

 " grue " as we reflected what would have happened had 



he then chosen to come bounding to the surface. This 

 20 



