jump!"

The whale disappeared in a smother of foam, as Frank, with desperate
energy, bent to his oars and swung his boat in the direction of the
sinking one containing his brother.

CHAPTER II

THE WRECKED MOTOR BOAT

"Hold on, Andy! Hold on! You'll float for a while yet!" called Frank,
while he threw all his strength upon the oars in the endeavor to reach
his brother. He cast anxious eyes about, fearing a return of the
whale, but there was no sign of the big creature.

"All right--take your time!" called Andy. "I can keep afloat for quite
a while yet. Maybe I won't sink after all."

"I'm not taking any chances," returned Frank, and then he swung his
craft up alongside that of his brother. As Andy had said, his skiff
was in pretty good condition. This was due to two causes. The blow of
the whale's tail had been a glancing one, and the skiff had an
unusually high freeboard, so that though it was splintered down to the
water edge, not much of the sea had entered.

"I believe she'll float when I'm out of it so she'll ride higher,"
declared the younger lad. "Take me into your boat, and maybe we can
tow mine in and fix it up. It's too good to lose."

"That's right. Wow! But you had a narrow escape!" and Frank looked
very grave as he assisted his brother into the undamaged craft. "I
thought it was all up with you."

"So did I, when I saw that beast coming for me. But he sheered off
just in time. Then I felt sure my boat would fill and sink in an
instant, when I saw the water pouring in, after he swiped me, so I got
ready to jump. I didn't want to be carried down with it."

"That's right. Say, that's cut through as clean as if done with a
knife," and Frank looked at the slash in the side of his brother's
boat. It was indeed a sharp cut, and showed with what awful force the
tail of the monster must have descended.

"As much water came pouring in over the side as there did through the
hole," went on Andy. "That's what gave me a scare. But did you see
the harpoon in that whale?"

"No, was there one?"

"Sure as you're a foot high. There was a short piece of line fast to
it, and the whale had a big hole in his side. He's been wounded,
probably by a steamer's propeller after he was harpooned up north, or
else that's the wound of a bomb gun. I could see it quite plainly."

"Yes, you had a nearer view than I'd want," observed Frank, as he made
fast Andy's boat to the stern of his own. A