alf a day, and perhaps you may lose
him after all. The whale we were now after at last took to showing
fight. He made two or three runs at the boat, but the mate, who was in
command, pricked him off with the lance cleverly. At last we gave him
a severe wound, and immediately he dived.

"That was into his life," remarked Tom Lokins, as we sat waiting for
him to come up again. The captain's boat was close to ours, about ten
yards off. We had not to wait long. The sudden stoppage and slacking
off of all the lines showed that the whale was coming up. All at once
I saw a dark object rising directly under the captain's boat. Before I
could make out what it was, almost before I could think, the boat flew
up into the air, as if a powder magazine had exploded beneath it. The
whale had come up, and hit it with his head right on the keel, so that
it was knocked into pieces, and the men, oars, harpoons, lances, and
tackle shot up in confusion into the air.

Immediately after that the whale went into his flurry, but we paid no
attention to him, in our anxiety to pick up our companions. They all
came to the surface quickly enough, but while some made for the boats
vigorously, others swam slowly and with pain, showing that they were
hurt, while one or two floated, as if dead, upon the water.

Most of the men had escaped with only a few cuts and bruises, but one
poor fellow was hauled out of the water with a leg broken, and another
was so badly knocked about the head that it was a long time before he
was again fit for duty. The worst case, however, was that of poor Fred
Borders. He had a leg broken, and a severe wound in the side from a
harpoon which had been forced into the flesh over the barbs, so that we
could hardly get it drawn out. We laid him in the stern of the boat,
where he lay for some time insensible; but in a short time he revived,
and spoke to us in a faint voice. His first words were:

"I'm dying, messmates. It is into my life, too."

"Don't say that, Fred," said I, while my heart sank within me. "Cheer
up, my boy, you'll live to be the death of many a whale yet. See, put
your lips to this can--it will do you good."

He shook his head gently, being too weak to reply.

We had killed a big fish that day, and we knew that when he was "tried
in" we should have completed our cargo; but there was no cheer given
when the monster turned over on his side, and the pull to the ship that
evening seemed to us