FLENCING THE WHALE. 
161 
stands prepared, his stern face tells of his responsi¬ 
bility. The whale is close to us, and as the chance 
offers the deadly missile is driven with horrid force 
into the quivering flesh, and after one short dive, 
one dying struggle on the surface, the huge leviathan 
lies floating dead. 
We cannot tell of the excitement of a chase of this 
kind—by comparison all other sport is tame—the 
size, the vast strength of the whale, the danger, the 
scene altogether, cannot be told in words, and while 
all are evidently full of the thoughts such a scene will 
raise in the brain even of the dullest amongst us, we 
are too preoccupied to care to express ourselves, and 
almost in silence we fasten our prize by the tail with a 
rope rove through two holes cut in the broad extremi¬ 
ties. This rope we trice to the bows of one boat, and 
we tow it towards the schooner ; then, indeed, we give 
vent to our pent-up thoughts in three hearty cheers, 
whilst the bottle is passed round with many a hearty 
quaff to success to the future. 
Then ensued a scene of laborious toil greater than 
that endured in the capture. The flensers, with their 
sharp spades, dug out and stowed away the precious 
blubber with many a song and cheery laugh, turning 
the great mass over with great toil as though it were 
mere child’s play, and a sport most enjoyable. 
M 
