WHALING STORY. 273 



Soon the harpoon was plunged into the whale, and they 

 were carried, with almost the speed of the wind, about 

 fifteen miles from the ship. Then the whale plunged per- 

 pendicularly into the depths of the ocean. It was not 

 long ere they saw him, fathoms deep in the crystal 

 waters, rushing up, with open jaws, to destroy the boat. 

 By skilfully sheering the boat, the whale missed his aim, 

 and again disappeared in the fathomless sea. Soon he 

 reappeared in the almost transparent abyss, again rushing 

 upward to attack the boat. Again he was foiled. 



The third time he descended, and, as he arose, with in- 

 vigorated fury, he struck the boat in the centre of the 

 keel, threw it some fifteen feet into the air, and, scattering 

 the crew and fragments of the boat over the waves, again 

 plunged into the deep and disappeared. The captain and 

 the crew were now in the water, clinging to the pieces of 

 the demolished boat. They were fifteen miles from the 

 ship, and could not be seen from its deck. The other 

 boats were gone, they knew not where. Apparently, every 

 chance of rescue was cut off, and nothing awaited them 

 but a watery grave. It was noon. The hours passed 

 slowly away until six o'clock in the evening, and still they 

 were floating and drifting about, almost exhausted, upon 

 the heaving billows of the Pacific. 



" Oh, how fervently I prayed," said one of these mariners, 

 when afterwards relating the scene, " that God would in- 

 terpose to save our lives ! I thought of my wife, of my 



I 



