Frank sprang to the falls of the boat to which he belonged, and by the time it was fairly settled in the water, he was in his seat with his oar in his hand. Much scrambling and confusion followed; but a few oaths from the captain restored order, and almost before he knew it Frank was flying over the waves in pursuit of his first whale—the whale he had raised, but which he had not yet seen.
[CHAPTER X.]
FRANK'S FIRST WHALE.
ALL this happened in much less time than we have taken to describe it. To Frank, whose brain was in a great whirl, it seemed that scarcely half a minute had elapsed after the raising of the whale, before he was in the boat and pulling for dear life. He afterwards recalled every exciting incident of that hour, and wondered that he did not feel any fear. Perhaps it was because he was too busy to think. He was not so busy, however, but that he could take note of and marvel at one thing, and that was the great change that had suddenly come over the captain. He looked and acted like a different man. He even smiled, and that was something Frank had never seen him do before. Holding the steering-oar with one hand and assisting the stroke-oar with the other, he kept up a running fire of small-talk to encourage his men.
"Now, my good sons," said he, in a low voice and in much such a tone as an affectionate father might use, "all my 'lay' in that whale will go straight to your credit just as soon as we get back to the ship, if you will only put me alongside of him so that I can get one chance at him with the lance. I declare, it has been so long since I used a lance that I don't know how it seems, and I shall get all out of practice if you don't take pity on me. We must beat that other boat anyhow, and if you pull this way, you are sure to do it. That's it; pick her right up out of the water and walk along with her. She isn't a feather's weight to such long-armed, broad-shouldered fellows as you are. That's the way to do it; only raise her just an inch higher, my lads. She touched that wave; I felt it, didn't you? There! she didn't touch that one and I know it. Keep her there, my good lads. She's in the air now. Talk about your balloons! Give me this boat and crew and I'll go anywhere they can!"
For the first time since he came on board the Tycoon, Frank felt like laughing. The captain reminded him of Hans Breitman's velocipede, which, even before it became frightened and started to run away with its rider, went so fast that it
"——didn't touch the dirt, by shinks,