r jaw, and hung on there, while the whale
threw himself out of the water in his agony, with his great mouth open
like a huge cavern, and the blood flowing so fast from the wound that
the sea was dyed for a long distance round. This killer fought like a
bulldog. It held on until the whale was exhausted, but they passed
away from us in such a confused struggle, that a harpoon could not be
fixed for an hour after we first saw them. On this being done, the
killer let go, and the whale, being already half dead, was soon killed.

The Yankee boats were the first to come up with this fish, so the prize
belonged to them. We were well pleased at this, as we could afford to
let them have it, seeing that we could scarcely have found room to stow
away the oil in our hold. It was the Yankee's first fish, too, so they
were in great spirits about it, and towed it to their ship, singing
"Yankee-doodle" with all their might.

As they passed our boat the captain hailed them.

"I wish you joy of your first fish, sir," said he to the Yankee captain.

"Thank you, stranger. I guess we're in luck, though it ain't a big
one. I say, what sort o' brute was that that had hold of him? Never
seed sich a crittur in all my life."

"He's a killer," said our captain.

"A killer! Guess he just is, and no mistake: if we hadn't helped him,
he'd have done the job for himself! What does he kill him for?"

"To eat him, but I'm told he only eats the tongue. You'll not forget
that you've promised to gam with us to-night," cried our captain, as
they were about to commence pulling again.

"All right, stranger, one half will come to-night, before sundown;
t'other half to-morrow, if the calm holds. Good day. Give way, lads."

The men dipped their oars, and resumed their song, while we pulled back
to our ship. We did not offer to help them, because the fish was a
small one, and the distance they had to go not great.

It was near sunset when, according to promise, the Yankees came on
board, and spent a long evening with us. They were a free,
open-hearted, boastful, conceited, good-humoured set of fellows, and a
jolly night we had of it in the forecastle, while the mates and
captains were enjoying themselves and spinning their yarns in the cabin.

Of course, we began with demands for home-news, and, when we had pumped
out of them every drop they had, we began to songs and spinning yarns.
And it was now that my friend Tom Lokins came out stron