ike this, only it was
the afternoon, not the morning. We were doing nothing, and whistling
for a breeze, when, all of a sudden, up comes five or six whales all
round the ship, as if they had spied her from the bottom of the sea,
and had come up to have a squint at her. Of course the boats were
manned at once, and in less than no time we were tearing after them
like all alive. But them whales were pretty wildish, I guess. They
kept us pullin' the best part of five hours before we got a chance at
them. My boat was out of sight of the ship before we made fast to a
regular snorer, a hundred-barreller at the least. The moment he felt
the iron, away he went like the shot out of a gun; but he didn't keep
it up long, for soon after another of our boats came up and made fast.
Well, for some two or three hours we held fast, but could not haul on
to him to use the lance, for the moment we came close up alongside of
his tail he peaked flukes and dived, then up again, and away as fast as
ever. It was about noon before we touched him again; but by that time
two more harpoons were made fast, and two other boats cast tow-lines
aboard of us, and were hauled along. That was four boats, and more
than sixteen hundred fathoms of line, besides four harpoons that was
fast to that whale, and yet, for all that, he went ahead as fast as we
could have rowed, takin' us along with him quite easy.

"A breeze having sprung up, our ship overhauled us in the course of the
afternoon, and towards evening we sent a line on board, to see if that
would stop the big fish, and the topsails were lowered, so as to throw
some of the ship's weight on him, but the irons drew out with the
strain. However, we determined to try it again. Another line was sent
aboard about eight o'clock, and the topsails were lowered, but the line
snapped immediately. Well, we held on to that whale the whole of that
night, and at four o'clock next morning, just thirty-six hours after he
was first struck, two fast lines were taken aboard the ship. The
breeze was fresh, and against us, so the top-gallant sails were taken
in, the courses hauled up, and the topsails clewed down, yet, I assure
you, that whale towed the ship dead against the wind for an hour and a
half at the rate of two miles an hour, and all the while beating the
water with his fins and tail, so that the sea was in a continual foam.
We did not kill that fish till after forty hours of the hardest work I
ever we