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CHAPTER XXV. 



ON THE SOLANDER GEOUNDS. 



Our opening day was an auspicious one. We had not 

 been within the cruising radius more than four hours 

 before the long-silent cry of *' Blo-o-o-w ! " resounded 

 from the mainmast head. It was a lone whale, ap- 

 parently of large size, though spouting almost as feebly 

 as a calf. But that, I was told by the skipper, was 

 nothing to go by down here. He believed right firmly 

 that there were no small whales to be found in these 

 waters at all. He averred that in all his experience 

 he had never seen a cow-cachalot anywhere around 

 Stewart's Island, although, as usual, he did no theorizing 

 as to the reason why. 



Eagerly we took to the boats and made for our first 

 fish, getting alongside of him in less than half an hour 

 from our first glimpse of his bushy breath. As the 

 irons sank into his blubber, he raised himself a little, 

 and exposed a back like a big ship bottom up. Verily, 

 the skipper's words were justified, for we had seen 

 nothing bigger of the whale-kind that voyage. His 

 manner puzzled us not a little. He had not a kick 

 in him. Complacently, as though only anxious to 

 oblige, he laid quietly while we cleared for action, nor 

 did he show any signs of resentment or pain while he 



