BLUBBER AND SONG 203 



at a standstill and we could see its wild eye, as 

 big as a saucer, as the injured creature blew up 

 a fountain whose bloody spray fell all over us. 

 The boat it was dragging soon went flashing past 

 us, the crew sitting crouched down and silent. 



" Swing to him, fellers," shouted KaiuH, 

 standing up and waving his hat about his head. 



But the others paid no attention to our South 

 Sea island savage. They were intent just then 

 on tragedy. Their boat struck the whale at its 

 next rise. The animal went into a violent flurry. 

 It beat the sea into a lather with fins and flukes 

 and darted around on its side in a semi-circle, 

 clashing its great jaws, until it finally collapsed 

 and lay limp and lifeless. 



The whale struck by the other boat from the 

 Reindeer ran out a tub of line, but a second boat 

 had come up in time to bend on its own line 

 and took the animal in tow. Before the whale 

 had run out this new tub, a third boat harpooned 

 it. With two boats fast to it, it continued its 

 flight to windward and was at least two miles 

 from us when its pursuers at last overtook and 

 killed it. 



