The mate thought he detected a light pull on the line; it seemed to draw backward, underneath the boat; and he said softly:
"Pull her around."
The oars dipped; the boat swung slowly on a pivot.... The line now ran straight down....
Abruptly, Mr. Ham, bending above the water, thought he saw a black bulk far down and down.... A bulk that seemed to rise.... He watched....
It was ahead of the boat; it became more plainly visible.... He waved his hand, pointing: "There ..." he said. "There...."
Deep in the water, that black bulk swiftly moved; it darted to one side, circling, rising.... Mr. Ham saw a flash of white, a huge black head, a sword-like, saw-toothed jaw.... The big man towered; he flung his left hand up and back in a tremendous gesture.
"Starn.... Oh, starn all!" he cried.
The oars bent like bows under the fierce thrust of the men as they backed water.... The boat slid back.... But not in time....
Willis Cox, and the men in his boat, saw the long, narrow under jaw of the cachalot—a dozen feet long, with the curving teeth of a tiger set along it—slide up from the water, above the bow of the boat. The bow lifted as the whale's upper jaw, toothless, rose under it.... The creature was on its back, biting.... The boat rolled sidewise, the men were tumbling out....
But that narrow jaw sheared down resistlessly. Through the stout sides of the boat, crumpling and splintering ribs and planking.... Through the boat.... And clamped shut as the jaws closed across the thick body of the mate.... They saw the mate's body swell as a toy balloon swells under a child's foot.... Then horribly it relaxed and fell away and was lost in a smother of bloody foam....