lynn sat on the after thwart,
and did good service on this occasion.

It soon became evident that the affair would be decided by the boats of
the two captains, both of which took the lead of the others, but as they
were advancing in opposite directions it was difficult to tell which was
the fleeter of the two. When the excitement of the race was at its
height the whales went down, and the men lay on their oars to wait until
they should rise again. They lay in anxious suspense for about a
minute, when the crew of Captain Dunning's boat was startled by the
sudden apparition of a waterspout close to them, by which they were
completely drenched. It was immediately followed by the appearance of
the huge blunt head of one of the whales, which rose like an enormous
rock out of the sea close to the starboard-quarter.

The sight was received with a loud shout, and Tim Rokens leaped up and
grasped a harpoon, but the whale sheered off. A spare harpoon lay on
the stern-sheets close to Glynn, who dropped his oar and seized it.
Almost without knowing what he was about, he hurled it with tremendous
force at the monster's neck, into which it penetrated deeply. The
harpoon fortunately happened to be attached to a large buoy, called by
whalers a drogue, which was jerked out of the boat like a cannon-shot as
the whale went down, carrying harpoon and drogue along with it.

"Well done, lad," cried the captain, in great delight, "you've made a
noble beginning! Now, lads, pull gently ahead, she won't go far with
such an ornament as that dangling at her neck. A capital dart! couldn't
have done it half so well myself, even in my young days!"

Glynn felt somewhat elated at this unexpected piece of success; to do
him justice, however, he took it modestly. In a few minutes the whale
rose, but it had changed its course while under water, and now appeared
close to the leading boat of the other ship.

By the laws of the whale-fishery, no boat of one vessel has a right to
touch a whale that has been struck by the boat of another vessel, so
long as the harpoon holds fast and the rope remains unbroken, or so long
as the float to which the harpoon is connected remains attached.
Nevertheless, in defiance of this well-known law, the boat belonging to
the captain of the strange ship gave chase, and succeeded in making fast
to the whale.

To describe the indignation of Captain Dunning and his men on witnessing
this act is impossible. The forme