64 A YEAR WITH A WHALER 



until dere warn't nothin' left of dat boat but a 

 lot o' kindlin' wood. But dat warn't all. He 

 swim to a man who wuz lying across an oar to 

 keep afloat and he chew dat man up and spit 

 him out in lil' pieces and we ain't never see 

 nothin' o' dat feller again. 



" Guess that whale was goin' to give us all de 

 same medicine, but he ain't have time. De ud- 

 der boats come up and fill him full o' harpoons 

 and keep stickin' der lances into him and kill 

 him right where he lays and he never had no 

 chance to scoff the rest o' us. But if it ain't fer 

 dem boats, I guess dat feller eat us all jes' like 

 plum duff. Sperm whale, some fighter, believe 

 me. 



''Dere he white waters — blow!" added Gab- 

 riel as the whale came to the surface again. 



" Sperm whale try out de bes' oil," the garru- 

 lous old whaleman went on. " Bowhead and 

 right whale got thicker blubber and make more 

 oil, but sperm whale oil de bes'. He got big 

 cistern — what dey call a ' case ' — in de top ob 

 his head and it's full o' spermaceti, sloshing about 

 in dere and jes' as clear as water. His old head 



