's harpooner, a wonderfully smart fellow,
was not so startled as to lose his chance, getting an iron well home
before the animal realized what had befallen him. We had a lovely fight,
lasting over an hour, in which all the marvellous agility with which
this whale is gifted was exerted to the full in order to make his
escape. But with the bottom not twenty fathoms away, we were sure of
him. With all his supple smartness, he had none of the dogged savagery
of the cachalot about him, nor did we feel any occasion to beware of
his rushes, rather courting them, so as to finish the game as quickly as
possible.

He was no sooner dead than we hurried to secure him, and had actually
succeeded in passing the tow-line through his lips, when, in the
trifling interval that passed while we were taking the line aft to begin
towing, he started to sink. Of course it was, "let go all!" If you
can only get the slightest way on a whale of this kind, you are almost
certain to be able to keep him afloat, but once he begins to sink you
cannot stop him. Down he went, till full twenty fathoms beneath us he
lay comfortably on the reef, while we looked ruefully at one another.
We had no gear with us fit to raise him, and we were ten miles from the
ship; evening was at hand, so our prospects of doing anything that night
were faint.

However, the mate decided to start off for home at once, leaving us
there, but promising to send back a boat as speedily as possible with
provisions and gear for the morning. There was a stiff breeze blowing,
and he was soon out of sight; but we were very uncomfortable. The boat,
of course, rode like a duck, but we were fully exposed to the open sea;
and the mighty swell of the Pacific, rolling in over those comparatively
shallow grounds, sometimes looked dangerously like breaking. Still, it
was better than the cave, and there was a good prospect of supper. Long
before we expected her, back came the boat, bringing bountiful provision
of yams, cold pork and fruit--a regular banquet to men who were fasting
since daylight. A square meal, a comforting pipe, and the night's vigil,
which had looked so formidable, no longer troubled us, although, to tell
the truth, we were heartily glad when the dawn began to tint the east
with pale emerald and gold. We set to work at once, getting the huge
carcass to the surface without as much labour as I had anticipated. Of
course all hands came to the rescue.

But, alas for the fruit of