but he'll be down again," said an old whaler.

Still the boats dashed on, as if it was a matter of life and death. The
chief mate was in the leading boat. He had reached the whale just as
the monster gave a sign that it was going down. The oars were thrown
up; the harpoon, shot with certain aim, sank deep into the monster's
side. A cheer rose from the men in the boats--we on board took it up.
At the same moment the whale began to strike furiously with its huge
tail, right and left, beating the water into foam. One of the boats was
struck, and knocked to pieces, and the crew had to swim towards the
other boats; another was upset, but the crew hung on to her as if they
were accustomed to it, and righted her. One of them got in, and baled
her out; the oars and other articles were picked up, and away they
pulled in chase. The whale, meantime, had sounded; that is, gone down
towards the bottom. A two hundred fathom line was run out, and another
fastened on; a third was called for from another boat, and a fourth was
about to be added, when the line became slack--the whale was rising. A
whale breathes the air like a land animal, and therefore cannot remain
under water many minutes at a time. Were it not for this, it could not
be caught and used by man. The line was hauled in, and coiled away in
the tub. Up came the whale at some distance, and off it darted at a
great rate, towing the fast boat, the others following. But he became
wearied with loss of blood and the weight of the boat. One of the other
boats got up, and a lance was plunged into him; then another, and
another. Again he began to lash about furiously--the boats backed away
from him. He made one leap, right out of the water, and then lashed his
tail more furiously than before. Then he once more went down, but only
for a short time. He soon appeared--swam slowly on--then the
death-struggle came on. It was fearful to look at. Every part of the
monster quivered and shook, and then he lay dead--our prize.

The sperm whale we had taken is very different to the Greenland whale of
the North. It had a blunt nose, like the bottom of a quart bottle;
thin, pointed lower jaw; the eyes very far back, and a hump on its back;
the tail or flukes being set on flat with the surface of the water, and
not up and down, like the Greenland whale. This one was eighty-four
feet long, and thirty-six feet round the body, or, suppose it had been
cast ashore, it would have