y showing where he sank,
so that the ship could pick up the carcass later.

"How big do you suppose that whale was?" queried the boy as they started
to pull back to the ship.

"'Bout forty-five foot, I reckon," was the reply, "an' we ought to get
about twenty barrels of oil out of him."

"That ought to help some," said Colin, "and you see my coming didn't
hurt anything. Just think if I had missed all that fun!"

"It turned out all right," the old whaler said, "but I tell you it was a
narrow squeak. They'll have been worryin' on board, though, if any one
has been able to see that we were hitched up to a gray whale."

"Isn't there any danger with other whales?"

"Wa'al, you've got to know how to get at 'em, of course. But all you've
got to do is to keep out o' the way. There's no whale except the
California whale that'll charge a boat. I did know one chap that was
killed by a humpback, but that was because the whale come up suddenly
right under the boat and upset it--they often do that--an' when one of
the chaps was in the water the whale happened to give a slap with his
tail an' the poor fellow was right under it."

Colin was anxious to start the old whaler on some yarns of the early
days, but as the boat was nearing the ship he decided to wait for an
opportunity when there would be more time and the raconteur would have
full leeway for his stories.

"Forty-five-footer, sir," called Hank, as they came up to the ship.
"Gray devil, sir."

The captain lifted his eyebrows in surprise, for he had not thought of a
California whale so far north, but he answered in an offhand way:

"More sport than profit in that. Did you have a run for your money,
Colin?"

"I certainly did, Captain Murchison," the boy answered.

"All right, tell me about it some time. Hank, you're on board just in
the nick of time. I found out what the trouble was with the carriage of
the gun and repaired it while you were amusing yourselves out there. Get
in lively, now, there's work to do."

The men scrambled on board rapidly, and the boat was up in the davits in
less than a minute, while the yards were braced round, and under sail
and steam the _Gull_ headed north.

"There's four whales in sight, Hank," said the captain; "humpbacks, I
think, and two of them big ones."

"If they'll bunch up like that, sir," the gunner said, "we may make a
good trip out of it yet."

"I hope so," the skipper answered, and turning on his heel, he went to
the