“Steady it is!” answered the man at the wheel.
“Call all hands and get the boats out, Mr Bolton,” said the captain.
“All hands ahoy!” shouted the mate in a tempestuous voice, while the men rushed to their respective stations. “Boat-steerers, get your boats ready.”
“Ay, ay, sir!”
“There go flukes!” cried the look-out as the whale dived and tossed its flukes, that is its tail, in the air, not more than a mile on the lee-bow; “she’s heading right for the ship.”
“Down with the helm!” roared the captain. “Mr Bolton, brace up the mizzen top-sail! Hoist and swing the boats! Lower away!”
In another moment three boats struck the water, and their respective crews tumbled tumultuously into them. Fred and Singleton sprang into the stern-sheets of the captain’s boat, just as it pushed off, and in less than five minutes the three boats were bounding over the sea in the direction of the whale like race-horses. Every man did his best, and the tough oars bent like hoops as each boat’s crew strove to outstrip the others.