stimated at less
than thirty miles an hour, and even during our maximum of speed, it
bullied the frigate, going round and round it. A cry of fury broke
from everyone!

At noon we were no further advanced than at eight o'clock in the
morning.

The captain then decided to take more direct means.

"Ah!" said he, "that animal goes quicker than the Abraham Lincoln.
Very well! we will see whether it will escape these conical bullets.
Send your men to the forecastle, sir."

The forecastle gun was immediately loaded and slewed round. But the
shot passed some feet above the cetacean, which was half a mile off.

"Another, more to the right," cried the commander, "and five dollars to
whoever will hit that infernal beast."

An old gunner with a grey beard--that I can see now--with steady eye
and grave face, went up to the gun and took a long aim. A loud report
was heard, with which were mingled the cheers of the crew.

The bullet did its work; it hit the animal, and, sliding off the
rounded surface, was lost in two miles depth of sea.

The chase began again, and the captain, leaning towards me, said:

"I will pursue that beast till my frigate bursts up."

"Yes," answered I; "and you will be quite right to do it."

I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible to
fatigue like a steam engine. But it was of no use. Hours passed,
without its showing any signs of exhaustion.

However, it must be said in praise of the Abraham Lincoln that she
struggled on indefatigably. I cannot reckon the distance she made
under three hundred miles during this unlucky day, November the 6th.
But night came on, and overshadowed the rough ocean.

Now I thought our expedition was at an end, and that we should never
again see the extraordinary animal. I was mistaken. At ten minutes to
eleven in the evening, the electric light reappeared three miles to
windward of the frigate, as pure, as intense as during the preceding
night.

The narwhal seemed motionless; perhaps, tired with its day's work, it
slept, letting itself float with the undulation of the waves. Now was
a chance of which the captain resolved to take advantage.

He gave his orders. The Abraham Lincoln kept up half steam, and
advanced cautiously so as not to awake its adversary. It is no rare
thing to meet in the middle of the ocean whales so sound asleep that
they can be successfully attacked, and Ned Land had harpooned more than
one during its sleep.