while our boat, with two oars a side and the great leverage
at the stern supplied by the nineteen-foot steer oar, circled,
backed, and darted ahead like a living thing animated by
the mind of our commander. When the leviathan settled,
we gave a wide berth to his probable place of ascent; 10
when he rushed at us, we dodged him; when he paused, if
only momentarily, in we flew and got home a fearful thrust
of the deadly lance.

All fear was forgotten now--I panted, thirsted, for his
life. Once, indeed, in a sort of frenzy, when for an instant 15
we lay side by side with him, I drew my sheath knife and
plunged it repeatedly into the blubber as if I were assisting
in his destruction.

Suddenly the mate gave a howl: "Starn all--starn all!
oh, starn!" and the oars bent like canes as we obeyed. 20
There was an upheaval of the sea just ahead; then slowly,
majestically, the vast body of our foe rose into the air.
Up, up it went, while my heart stood still, until the whole of
that immense creature hung on high, apparently motionless,
and then fell--a hundred tons of solid flesh--back 25
into the sea. On either side of that mountainous mass the
waters rose in shining towers of snowy foam which fell in
their turn, whirling and eddying around us as we tossed and
fell like a chip in a whirlpool. Blinded by the flying spray,
bailing for very life to free the boat from the water with 30
which she was nearly full, it was some minutes before I
was able to decide whether we were still uninjured or not.
Then I saw, at a little distance, the whale lying quietly. As
I looked he spouted, and the vapor was red with his blood.

"Starn all!" again cried our chief, and we retreated to a
considerable distance. The old warrior's practiced eye had
detected the coming climax of our efforts, the dying agony, 5
or "flurry," of the great mammal. Turning upon his side
he began to move in a circular direction, slowly at first,
then faster and faster, until he was rushing round at
tremendous speed, his great head raised quite out of water
at times, clashing his enormous jaws. Torrents of blood 10
poured from his spout hole, accompanied by hoarse bellowings
as of some gigantic bull, but really caused by the
laboring breath trying to pass through the clogged air
passages. The utmost caution a