e of action; but this
service he gratefully declined, saying that there was a fine fair wind
blowing and that his anchor was already a-trip. The party therefore
shook hands heartily with him, wishing him "Good luck," and he departed,
leaving Sir Reginald and his friends to finish their meal at their
leisure.

An hour later the _Flying Fish_ also weighed and stood out to sea after
the _Walrus_, now nearly hull down, to witness the sport.

The engines had scarcely begun to move when the whaler was seen to heave
to; and when the _Flying Fish_ ranged up alongside her, some ten minutes
afterwards, three whale-boats were in the water and pulling lustily
toward a school of some forty whales which were lazily sporting,
apparently quite unconscious of danger, about two miles away.

"Those whales do not appear in the least alarmed at the presence of the
boats," remarked Mildmay; "evidently they have not been chased for a
considerable period. If we only had the means of killing a few, now,
what a splendid opportunity there would be to do that poor fellow Hudson
a good turn."

"Well thought of!" exclaimed the professor. "Follow me, gentlemen; we
can do our friend a good turn, and, at the same time, test the powers of
our large-bore rifles with explosive shells for big game."

The party hurried below to the armoury, and each selected one of the
weapons indicated by the professor, providing himself at the same time
with a supply of cartridges from a large chest near at hand.

The rifles were truly formidable, being repeating weapons each capable
of firing ten shots without reloading. The barrels were not very long,
measuring only three feet from breech to muzzle, but they were of one-
and-a-half-inch bore and fired a conical shell four and a half inches in
length. Notwithstanding their somewhat ponderous appearance they were
very light, being constructed of aethereum throughout.

When the party returned to the deck they had the satisfaction of seeing
that, though each of the whale-boats had succeeded in fastening to a
fish, the remainder of the school manifested very little alarm, the
stricken whales having started to "run" in different directions and
quite away from their companions.

The _Flying Fish_ was moved as gently as possible into the very centre
of the herd, the huge monsters taking no apparent notice of her, and
perhaps mistaking her for one of themselves. They were swimming lazily
about, rolling over on the