ir sides until their pectoral fins appeared
above the surface, and occasionally throwing themselves entirely out of
the water.

The engines being stopped the four sportsmen took up their positions,
two on each side of the deck, and, having loaded their weapons, waited
for a favourable opportunity to use them.

The baronet was the first to fire. He had selected for his victim a
huge bull, fully eighty feet in length, and this creature he patiently
watched, hoping for an opportunity to inflict a fatal wound. It soon
came. The animal rolled lazily over on its right side, exposing the
whole of its left fin, and before it could recover itself Sir Reginald
had levelled and discharged his piece. There was a very faint puff of
thin fleecy vapour, but no report or sound of any kind save the by no
means loud click of the hammer, above which could be distinctly heard
the dull thud of the shell. The whale shuddered visibly at the blow,
and made as though about to "sound" or dive; but before it had power to
do so the shell must have exploded, for the immense creature made a
sudden violent writhing motion, half leapt out of the water, and rolled
over on its side, dead. The professor scored the next success, closely
followed by the colonel, Lieutenant Mildmay signalising his first essay
with the new arm by making a palpable miss, much to his disgust. His
failure, however, taught him a valuable lesson, and he succeeded in
killing two whales before either of the others had been able to secure
another shot. In ten minutes eight whales had been killed, and the
professor, who was very rigid in his objection to the wanton sacrifice
of life, then suggested that probably as many had been killed as the
whaler could successfully deal with at one time, especially as the boats
now had signals flying which showed that each had killed her fish. The
_Flying Fish_ was accordingly ranged up close alongside the _Walrus_,
and the baronet hailed:

"_Walrus_ ahoy! how many fish can you `cut in' at one operation?"

"I wish I had the chance of trying my hand upon half a dozen," was the
reply, given, the baronet thought, in rather a sulky tone.

"Well," returned Sir Reginald, "there are eight which we have killed and
three taken by your boats, making eleven altogether. Can you handle any
more? because, if so, we will kill them for you; but, if not, we think
it best not to disturb them further."

"Do you mean to say that you've killed those fi