been picked out with greater accuracy if the
whaler had known the exact spot where the big cetacean was going to
appear. Within thirty feet of the boat the water began to swirl and
boil.

"He's right there!" said Colin with a thrill of expectation not wholly
devoid of fear.

In obedience to a wave of the old whaler's hand, the boat went astern
slowly and fifteen seconds later the great back appeared near the
surface and the monster 'blew,' his pent-up breath escaping suddenly
when he was still a foot below the surface, and driving up a column of
mixed water and air, the roar sounding like steam from a pipe of large
size.

"Stand by the line, Scotty!" shouted Hank, as he raised the clumsy
harpoon-gun to his shoulder.

The sailor who had been standing near the barrel nodded, as he drew his
sheath-knife from its sheath, holding it between his teeth, ready to cut
the line should a tangle occur, but keeping his hands free to attend to
the coils of rope. To Colin the seconds were as years while the old
whaler held the gun raised and did not fire. It seemed to the boy as if
he were never going to pull the trigger, but the old gunner knew the
exact moment, and just as the whale was about to 'sound' the back heaved
up slightly, revealing the absence of a dorsal fin, and thus determining
that it was a devil-whale in truth; at that instant Hank fired.

With the sudden pang of the harpoon the whale gave an upward leap for a
dive and plunged, throwing the flukes of the tail and almost a third of
his body out of water, and sounded to the bottom, taking down line at a
tremendous speed. The line ran clear, Scotty watching every coil, and
though the heavy rope was soaking wet, it began to smoke with the
friction as it ran over the bow.

[Illustration: WHALE HARPOON GUN LOADED AND BEING TURNED SO AS TO POINT
AT THE WHALE.

_Photograph by permission of Mr. Roy C. Andrews._]

[Illustration: FINBACK WHALE BEING STRUCK WITH THE HARPOON; THE INSTANT
OF DISCHARGE.

A remarkable photograph, scores of plates having been used in the effort
to catch the exact moment. Note the wadding in the air, the smoke, the
head of the harpoon, and the slick on the water as the whale sounded.

_Photograph by permission of Mr. Roy C. Andrews._]

"Fifty fathom!" cried Scotty, as the line flew out.

"Sixty!" he called a moment later, and then, immediately after,

"Seventy--and holding!"

As the pressure of the brake on the line tightened, the boa