e ship or from the other boats. As the line
grows less and less, another and another oar is hoisted to show that
help must be sent quickly. If no assistance can be sent, the only
thing that remains to be done is to cut the line and lose the fish; but
a whale-line, with its harpoon, is a very heavy loss, in addition to
that of the fish, so that whalers are tempted to hold on a little too
long sometimes.

When we saw the mate's boat dashing away in this style, we forgot our
grief at the loss of our whale in anxiety to render assistance to our
comrades, and we rowed towards them as fast as we could. Fortunately
the whale changed its course and came straight towards us, so that we
ceased pulling, and waited till they came up. As the boat came on I
saw the foam curling up on her bows as she leaped and flew over the
sea. I could scarcely believe it possible that wood and iron could
bear such a strain. In a few minutes they were almost abreast of us.

"You're holding too hard!" shouted the captain.

"Lines all out!" roared the mate.

They were past almost before these short sentences could be spoken.
But they had not gone twenty yards ahead of us when the water rushed in
over the bow, and before we could utter a word the boat and crew were
gone. Not a trace of them remained! The horror of the moment had not
been fully felt, however, when the boat rose to the surface keel up,
and, one after another, the heads of the men appeared. The line had
fortunately broken, otherwise the boat would have been lost, and the
entire crew probably would have gone to the bottom with her.

We instantly pulled to the rescue, and were thankful to find that not a
man was killed, though some of them were a little hurt, and all had
received a terrible fright. We next set to work to right the upset
boat, an operation which was not accomplished without much labour and
difficulty.

Now, while we were thus employed, our third boat, which was in charge
of the second mate, had gone after the whale that had caused us so much
trouble, and when we had got the boat righted and began to look about
us, we found that she was fast to the fish about a mile to leeward.

"Hurrah, lads!" cried the captain, "luck has not left us yet. Give
way, my hearties, pull like Britons! we'll get that fish yet."

We were all dreadfully done up by this time, but the sight of a boat
fast to a whale restored us at once, and we pulled away as stoutly as
if we had on