THE SHIP IMPRISONED 8l 



whales and saw one of them quickly made fast without 

 delay. It was Todd's boat and seated at one of the oars 

 was Sykes, his quarrels forgotten for the time in the all- 

 absorbing task of hunting the whale. 



The whale sounded at once and the line went down at 

 a steep angle so that Todd was forced to let it run freely 

 around the loggerhead. 



Soon Todd called out to Macy's boat in which Chimoo 

 was about to cast his harpoon at another whale and Macy 

 came alongside and bent his own whale-line on to the end 

 of Todd's; and not a second too soon. The last of Todd's 

 line whipped out of its tub and now it was Macy's boat 

 which was attached to the whale. 



They did not know that a 'gallied' Greenland whale 

 would take as much as eight hundred fathom of line and 

 both crews waited tensely as the second two hundred and 

 fifty fathoms length of hemp rope was taken out of the 

 boat and down into the green depths. But unlike the 

 deep-feeding sperm whale the Greenlander was not fitted 

 to remain long in the enormous pressure of those extreme 

 depths and when to the great relief of the whalemen the 

 line ceased to run o" t it was not very long before Macy's 

 men were hauling in hand over hand. 



Over Jonathan's head the wind howled through the 

 rigging as it steadily rose to gale force. Captain Slocum 

 looked anxiously away from the boats to windward. The 

 ice was drifting in more thickly than ever, past the 

 Pilgrim which was now almost hove to and tov/ards the 

 boats which pitched and tossed in the choppy sea. 



Macy's men were still hauling and nearby Todd's boat 

 waited for the chance to be in at the kill when the whale 

 broke surface. High upon the small bow platform stood 

 Todd himself, lance poised and ready for the climax. 



Then to his great surprise Jonathan saw Todd reel 

 backwards. The boat's prow was lifted suddenly from the 

 sea by the vast power of the breaching whale which shot 



