there was only
about another hundred fathoms out. Our amazement may be imagined, when
suddenly we were compelled to sleek away again, the sudden weight on the
line suggesting that the fish was again sounding. If ever a young hand
was perplexed, it was I. Never before had I heard of such unseemly
behaviour, nor was my anxiety lessened when I saw, a short distance
away, the huge body of my prize at the surface spouting blood. At the
same time, I was paying out line at a good rate, as if I had a fast fish
on which was sounding briskly.

The skipper had been watching me very closely from his seat on the
taffrail, and had kept the ship within easy distance. Now, suspecting
something out of the common, he sent the boat again to my assistance,
in charge of the cooper. When that worthy arrived, he said, "Th' ol' man
reckens yew've got snarled erp'ith thet ar' loose keow, 'n y'r irons hev
draw'd from th' other. I'm gwine ter wait on him,'n get him 'longside
'soon's he's out'er his flurry. Ole man sez yew'd best wait on what's
fast t' yer an' nev' mine th' other." Away he went, reaching my prize
just as the last feeble spout exhaled, leaving the dregs of that great
flood of life trickling lazily down from the widely expanded spiracle.
To drive a harpoon into the carcass, and run the line on board, was the
simplest of jobs, for, as the captain had foreseen, my irons were drawn
clean. I had no leisure to take any notice of them now, though, for
whatever was on my line was coming up hand-over-fist.

With a bound it reached the surface--the identical cow so long attendant
upon the dead whale. Having been so long below for such a small whale,
she was quite exhausted, and before she had recovered we had got
alongside of her and lanced her, so thoroughly that she died without
a struggle. The ship was so close that we had her alongside in a
wonderfully short time, and with scarcely any trouble.

When I reached the deck, the skipper called me, and said several things
that made me feel about six inches taller. He was, as may be thought,
exceedingly pleased, saying that only once in his long career had he
seen a similar case; for I forgot to mention that the line was entangled
around the cow's down-hanging jaw, as if she had actually tried to bite
in two the rope that held her consort, and only succeeded in sharing
his fate. I would not like to say that whales do not try to thus sever a
line, but, their teeth being several inches apart, c