838 NIMBOD OF THM SEA; OS, 



whale to leeward. Thus we were saved by the first mate 

 having pulled promptly to windward when signal of ' stove 

 boat' was made from the ship. A little time lost would 

 have cost the' lives of as good a boat's crew as ever went on 

 a sperm-whg,le." 



"Why don't you keep her steady ? She's three points off 

 the wind," said Captain B to the interested helmsman. 



" Steady she is, sir," said I, as I put the helm down and 

 brought the ship again close to the wind. 



The cigars were out, and the captains retired to the cabin 

 again to wind up the chronometer. I suppose that is a duty 

 never to be neglected, lest you lose your reckoning on the 

 deep water. I guessed it worked hard, as their faces were 

 a little redder than ever when they returned. 



Then Captain B told of another fighting whale, which 



fought nearly all day, staving three boats with his jaw, and 

 cutting every thing which caught his eye, whether mast, 

 sails, boats, or water-kegs. But this behavior made Yankee 

 just as mad as old Spermaceti, who was now fated to be 

 scalped. Accordingly, the captain took advantage of the 

 whale's bad humor, and towed down a ninety-gallon cask 

 for the brute to practice on, and while the whale was dis- 

 cussing this nimble float, he probed industriously with the 

 keen lance. Thick blood and the flurry followed, and eighty 

 barrels of oil repaid for the lost boats, leaving a handsome 

 balance also. 



In reply to a question. Captain West said : 



" I went to s6a as cabin-boy at ten years of age ; at four- 

 teen, I steered a boat and struck my first whale ; at sixteen, 

 I was second mate. Our first mate didn't much like a whale; 

 a wife and children hung on his lance-arm, and made its 

 aim uncertain. They freighted his boat down, and I could 

 always beat him in the chase. I was a boy who meant to 

 be captain or to go under, and didn't mean to go under if 



