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 only begun the day's work. The whale was heading in the
direction of the ship, and when we came up to the scene of action the
second mate had just "touched the life"; in other words, he had driven
the lance deep down into the whale's vitals. This was quickly known by
jets of blood being spouted up through the blow-holes. Soon after, our
victim went into its dying agonies, or, as whalemen say, "his flurry."

This did not last long. In a short time he rolled over dead. We
fastened a line to his tail, the three boats took the carcass in tow,
and, singing a lively song, we rowed away to the ship.

Thus ended our first battle with the whales.

CHAPTER FOUR.

"CUTTING-IN THE BLUBBER" AND "TRYING OUT THE OIL."

The scene that took place on board ship after we caught our first fish
was most wonderful.

We commenced the operation of what is called "cutting-in," that is,
cutting up the whale, and getting the fat or blubber hoisted in. The
next thing we did was to "try out" the oil, or melt down the fat in
large iron pots brought with us for this purpose; and the change that
took place in the appearance of the ship and the men when this began was
very remarkable.

When we left port our decks were clean, our sails white, our masts well
scraped; the brass-work about the quarter-deck was well polished, and
the men looked tidy and clean. A few hours after our first whale had
been secured alongside all this was changed. The cuttin