and Colin grew restless.

"Why doesn't he come up again?" he said impatiently. "First thing we
know he'll be out of sight!"

The old whaler smiled again at the lad's eagerness.

"While the gray is the fastest swimmer of all the whales," he said, "you
needn't be afraid that we'll lose sight of him. Most whales swim very
slow, not much faster than a man can walk."

"There he is," called another of the sailors, pointing to a spout three
or four hundred yards away.

"All right, boys," Hank said, "he's makin' towards the shore."

The long oars bit into the water again and Colin was glad to feel the
boat moving, for it rolled fearfully on the long heaving swell. But with
six good oars and plenty of muscle behind them, the little craft was
not long in reaching the place where the 'slick' on the water showed
that the whale had come up to breathe and then dived again. Acting under
the gunner's orders the crew rested on their oars a short distance
beyond the place where the whale had sounded. Presently, a couple of
hundred yards from the boat, on the starboard side, the whale came up to
spout, evidently having turned from the direction in which it had been
slowly traveling, and the rowers made for the new objective. This time
there was another long wait.

"How long do they stay down, Hank?" asked the boy.

"No reg'lar rule about it," the whaler answered; "sometimes for quite a
while, but I reckon ten to fifteen minutes is about the usual. Some of
'em can stay down a long while sulkin' when they've got a harpoon or two
in 'em, but I reckon three-quarters of an hour would be about the
limit."

Again the boat sped onward, this time without any order from Hank, for
all hands had seen the whale not more than fifty yards away, and Hank
grasped the shoulder harpoon-gun. But before the boat could reach the
whale and turn stern on so as to give the gunner a good chance for a
shot, the whale had 'sounded' or dived.

"Next time," said Hank quietly, and told Scotty, one of the sailors, to
clear away the first few coils of the rope in the barrel and make sure
that it was free from tangles.

Colin noticed that the three places where the whale had spouted formed a
slight arc and that Hank was directing the boat along a projection of
this curve, so he was quite ready when a command came to stop rowing.
Then, at the whaler's orders, the boat was swung round and the men held
their oars ready to back-water.

The place could not have