xciting. The
belugas seemed to take no notice of the boats, but they were going
rapidly through the water in chase of their prey, and when a fine one
was selected it dived and went away swiftly beneath the water, so that
it was difficult to tell where the creature would rise again.

Johannes gave his orders to the men, so that they might row toward the
spot where the whale was likely to rise, and so give him a chance to
hurl his harpoon before the animal had time to dive again. But this was
not easy. Whether the curious blunt-nosed, white-skinned, active
creature, with its back clear of all fish-like fin, was on the alert for
the coming harpoon or for the meal it was seeking it is impossible to
say, but certainly it showed a remarkable activity in keeping just out
of reach. It would rise just exactly where not expected, and the whole
business of the chase had to be gone through again and again.

Steve was too much occupied with the efforts of their own harpooner to
pay any heed to what was going on aboard the other boat, and divided his
time between watching the tall, active Norseman and the spot where it
was anticipated that the whale would rise.

At last, after hard pulling, fortune favoured the men's efforts. They
had had a long tug, and there being no sign of the quarry they sought
Johannes bade the rowers rest, while he stood with one foot resting upon
the gunwale expectant.

"It's of no use," said the captain; "it must have gone right on. Look,
Steve, how plentiful they are yonder. That's where we ought to have the
boat."

He pointed to where pretty well a hundred of the great creatures were
flapping in and out of the water; but Steve shook his head.

"Be too dangerous," he said. "Ah, look!"

He started to one side, for at that moment something of a creamy-white
suddenly shot out of the water close to the bows of the boat, rose high
with a graceful bend, and was curving over to make a plunge down into
the depths, when--_whish_! _thud_!--the harpoon was thrown; it stuck a
short distance behind the creature's head, and then with one blow the
water was sent flying over the occupants of the boat, while the line was
running rapidly out of the tub as the white whale disappeared from
sight.

Like its relative the leviathan, of fifty or sixty feet in length, which
boasts of a mouth big enough to hold a jollyboat and crew, who would
doubtless find their quarters exceedingly uncomfortable on account of
the