THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 345 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



Posey's first Whale, and lost Whale ; we struck him, he struck back. — The 

 Boat crushed by his Jaw, but Whale saved. — Boat cut in two by a 

 Whale, and Hinton a Shade whiter. — The Portuguese Man-of-war, or 

 Sea-nettle. — Passage from Japan. — Pets all consumed. — Grub does not 

 improve with Age. — Minutes longer by Day and shorter at Night. — Bul- 

 ly Sprague, and Jonah's Whale. — Well-spun Yams a Necessity. — Cap- 

 tain Covin, and fighting Whale. — Boat bit in two. — Tried to butt the 

 Ship. 



Sept. 6. To-day Posey won his spurs. Early in the morn- 

 irfg we raised sperm-whale. They were traveling slowly to, 

 windward. At 2 p.m. we lowered away, and after about two 

 hours' chase, the second mate's boat went on. I saw Posey 

 stand up, and the next minute white water showed that he 

 had dropped a thought of his sweetheart into that whale. 

 He had won his Nantucket love by that good blow. The 

 whale, spouting thin blood, sounded out all their line. Our 

 crew were to windward, and took the game as he came up, 

 and, between the lances of the two boats, he was soon con- 

 sidered a dead whale. Again he sounded, and remained 

 down nearly an hour. The second mate had returned to 

 the ship for a new line, and we were carelessly reposing on 

 our oars, when we were aroused by the rasp of the whale's 

 teeth against the boat as he rose, with open mouth, the boat 

 fairly in it. He caught the boat between the tub and after- 

 oar, and closed on it. The dropping of the long end of the 

 boat brought the stern-sheets square with his great square 

 snout. The men leaped into the sea ; and the shortest way to 

 safety for the boat-steerer was right across the enormous junk. 

 I stepped on to the head, and thence plunged clear of imme- 



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