CHAPTER XII 



CUTTING IN AND TRYING OU^ 



TWO boats were sent to secure the whale. 

 I lowered with one. As we came up to 

 the whale, I marveled at its immense bulk. 

 It looked even larger than when it had breached 

 and I had seen it shoot up, a giant column of 

 flesh and blood, against the heavens. It had 

 turned belly up as dead whales do, its ridged 

 white abdomen projecting above the waves. It 

 seemed much like a mighty white and black rock, 

 against which the waves lapped lazily. Seventy- 

 five feet long the officers estimated it — an un- 

 usually large bull whale. I had never imagined 

 any animal so large. I had seen Jumbo, said to 

 be the largest elephant ever in captivity. Jumbo 

 made ordinary circus elephants seem like pig- 

 mies. This whale was as big as a dozen Jumbos. 



The great hairy mammoth, of which I had seen 



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