12. The whale becomes exhausted from the blood which flows from his deep and dangerous wounds, and the two hundred fathoms of line belonging to the overturned boat, which he is dragging after him through the water, checks him in his course; his pursuers again overtake him, and another harpoon is darted and buried deeply in his flesh.
13. The fatal lance is, at length, given; the blood gushes from the nostrils of the unfortunate animal in a thick, black stream, which stains the clear blue water of the ocean to a considerable distance around the scene of the affray. The immense creature may now again endeavor to "sound," to escape from his unrelenting pursuers; but he is powerless. He soon rises to the surface, and passes slowly along until the death-pang seizes him, when his appearance is awful in the extreme.
14. Suffering from suffocation, or from the stoppage of some important organ, the whole strength of his enormous frame is set in motion, for a few seconds, when his convulsions throw him into a hundred different contortions of the most violent description, by which the sea is beaten into foam, and boats are sometimes crushed to atoms, with their crews.
15. But this violent action being soon over, the now unconscious animal passes rapidly along, describing in his rapid course the segment of a circle; this is his "flurry," which ends in his sudden dissolution. The mighty rencounter is finished. The gigantic animal rolls over on his side, and floats an inanimate mass on the surface of the crystal deep,—a victim to the tyranny and selfishness, as well as a wonderful proof of the great power of the mind of man.
QUESTIONS.—1. How are whales generally discovered? 2. Why do they come to the surface of the water? 3. How far do they sometimes descend in the ocean? 4. Describe the manner in which they are captured.
[!-- Marker --] LESSON LXXVIII.
A'ER O NAUT, one who sails in the air.
RE DOUB LED, repeated.
MAG NIF I CENT, grand; splendid.
EL' E VA TED, raised; excited.
GON' DO LA, small boat.
BE GIRT', surrounded.
RO TA RY, turning; revolving.
IN TEN' SI TY, extreme degree.
A' ER OS TAT, air-balloon.
IN TER MI NA BLE, boundless.
VA' RI E GA TED, diversified; varied.
VERG' ING, tending; inclining.
OB LIQUE' LY, slantingly.
RES PI RA' TION, act of breathing.
ZE' NITH, point in the heavens directly over head.
MAN' DI BLES, jaws.
EU ROC' LY DON, tempestuous wind.
LEAVES FROM AN AERONAUT.
WILLIS GAYLORD CLARK.