An’ we couldn’t catch ’em, the best we’d do—
an’ oh, how the Old Man swore!
He went an’ he gargled his throat in ile, ’twas
peeled so raw an’ sore.
But at last, ’way off at the edge of the sea, we
suddenly chanced to spy
A tall back-fin come fannin’ in, ag’inst the sun-
set sky.
An’ the sea ahead of it shivered an’ gleamed
with a shiftin’ an’ silvery hue,