334 NIMSOD OF THE SEA; OR, 



of a mile of the place where he first rose to our sight, and we 

 voted him a seventy-five-barrel whale. As we returned on 

 board, with good humor restored, we at once rigged the cut- 

 ting-fall, and by set of sun had his blanket in the blubber- 

 room, the head remaining overboard. 



June 22. Bright and early we hove in the junk, and were 

 bailing the case, when we saw whales coming to windward 

 head out, and evidently flying from the pursuit of a ship^ 

 which we saw manoeuvring to leeward. All four boats were 

 lowered, but a hard chase resulted in their escaping us. 

 About 3 P.M. we raised another school. The third mate, 

 after an hour's close chase, succeeded in fastening and kill- 

 ing a forty-barrel bull, which we hove in next . day. Our 

 blubber-room pretty well filled, we now started the try-works 

 on the two whales. 



eTune 24. Raised whales ; lowered three boats. The sec- 

 ond and third mates had two darts at them and missed. 



June 25. About 11 a.m., lowered three boats in chase of 

 whales to leeward of the ship. The first and third mates 

 had chances to fasten, but their boat - steerers missed and 



gallied the whales. Captain B was aroused. "Now 



your time-has come. Bill," he said to me. " Clear away the 

 boat, and let's get after them." It would be untrue to claim 

 that my nerves didn't flutter as I cleared the irons and 

 placed them in the crotch, but ten minutes' tugging at the 

 oars settled me. We were now directly to windward of the 

 coming whales, when we hove up, set the sail, and bore down 

 directly for them. We had a spanking breeze, and the boat 

 made splendid headway. When I turned from setting the 

 sail, I saw two gi-eat bulls coming for us, noses on a square 

 line, rising to spout, and pitching under in exact unison. 

 The space between them was so narrow that their sides 

 must have touched under water. The moment was grand, 

 beyond my poor powers of description. Their heads were 



