her an arm twisted
out of joint. They all, however, seemed to think that my escape was
much more wonderful than theirs; but I cannot say that I agreed with
them in this.

We now turned our attention to the whale, which had dived again. As it
was now loose, we did not know, of course, where it would come up: so
we lay still awhile. Very soon up he came, not far from us, and as
fierce as ever.

"Now, lads, we _must_ get that whale," cried the mate; "give way with a
will."

The order was obeyed. The boat almost leaped over the swell, and,
before long, another harpoon was in the whale's back.

"Fast again, hurrah!" shouted the mate, "now for the lance."

He gave the monster two deep stabs while he spoke, and it vomited up
great clots of blood, besides spouting the red stream of life as it
rolled on the sea in its agony, obliging us to keep well out of its way.

I could not look upon the dying struggles of this enormous fish without
feelings of regret and self-reproach for helping to destroy it. I felt
almost as if I were a murderer, and that the Creator would call me to
account for taking part in the destruction of one of His grandest
living creatures. But the thought passed quickly from my mind as the
whale became more violent and went into its flurry. It began to lash
the sea with such astonishing violence, that all the previous struggles
seemed as nothing. The water all round became white like milk, with
great streaks of red blood running through it, and the sound of the
quick blows of its tail and fins resembled that of dull hollow thunder.
We gazed at this scene in deep silence and with beating hearts.

All at once the struggles ceased. The great carcass rolled over belly
up, and lay extended on the sea in death. To me it seemed as if a dead
calm had suddenly fallen around us, after a long and furious storm, so
great was the change when that whale at length parted with its huge
life. The silence was suddenly broken by three hearty cheers, and
then, fastening a rope to our prize, we commenced towing it to the
ship, which operation occupied us the greater part of the night, for we
had no fewer than eight miles to pull.

CHAPTER VIII

DEATH ON THE SEA

The whale which we had taken, as I have related in the last chapter,
was our largest fish of that season. It produced ninety barrels of
oil, and was worth about 500 pounds, so that we did not grieve much
over the loss of our boat.

But our n