286 TEE CRUISE OF THE " CACHALOT:' 



manoeuvre seemed to please him mightily, for he ran at 

 top speed several minutes, and then repeated it. This 

 time he was nearly successful in doing us some real 

 harm, for it was now so dark that we could hardly see 

 the other boat's form as she towed along parallel to us 

 about three or four lengths away. The two boats swung 

 round in a wide circle, rushing back at each other out of 

 the surrounding darkness as if bent on mutual destruc- 

 tion. Only by the smartest manipulation was a collision 

 avoided, which, as each boat's bows bristled with lances 

 and harpoons, would have been a serious matter for 

 some of us. However, the whale did not have it all his 

 own way, for the skipper, having charged his bomb-gun, 

 patiently laid for him, and fired. It was rather a long 

 shot, but it reached him, as we afterwards ascertained, 

 making an ugly wound in the small near his tail. 



Its effect upon him was startling and immediate. He 

 rushed off at so furious a rate dead to windward that 

 for a great while we had all our work cut out to keep 

 her free by baling. The sea had risen a little, and as 

 we leapt from one wave to another the spray flew over 

 us in an almost continuous cloud. Clearly our situation 

 was a parlous one. We could not get near him ; we 

 were becoming dangerously enfeebled, and he appeared 

 to be gaining strength instead of losing it. Besides all 

 this, none of us could have the least idea of how the ship 

 now bore from us, our only comfort being that, by obser- 

 vation of the Cross, we were not making a direct course, 

 but travelling on the circumference of an immense circle. 

 "Whatever damage we had done to him so far was evi- 

 dently quite superficial, for, accustomed as we were to 

 tremendous displays of vigour on the part of these 

 creatures, this specimen fairly surprised us. , 



The time could only be guessed at ; but, judging from 



