“Well, well,” said one of the men, wringing the water out of his wet clothes as he walked forward, “we got a good laugh at Peter Grim, if we got nothin’ else by our trip.”
“How was that, Jack?”
“Why, ye see, jist before the whale gave in, it sent up a spout o’ blood and oil as thick as the main-mast, and, as luck would have it, down it came slap on the head of Grim, drenchin’ him from head to foot, and makin’ him as red as a lobster.”
“’Ow did you lose the fish, sir?” enquired Mivins, as our hero sprang up the side, followed by Singleton.
“Lost him as men lose money in railway speculations nowadays. We sank him, and that was the last of it. After he had towed us I don’t know how far-out of sight of the ship at any rate,—he suddenly stopped, and we pulled up and gave him some tremendous digs with the lances, until he spouted jets of blood, and we made sure of him, when, all at once, down he went head foremost like a cannon-ball, and took all the line out of both boats, so we had to cut, and he never came up again. At least if he did it became so dark that we never saw him. Then we pulled to where we thought the ship was, and, after rowing nearly all night, caught sight of your lights; and here we are, dead-tired, wet to the skin, and minus about two miles of whale-line and three harpoons.”
Chapter Five.
Miscellaneous Reflections—The Coast of Greenland—Uppernavik—News of the Pole Star—Midnight Day—Scientific Facts and Fairy-like Scenes—Tom Singleton’s opinion of Poor Old Women—In Danger of a Squeeze—Escape.
In pursuance of his original intention, Captain Guy now proceeded through Davis’ Straits into Baffin’s Bay, at the head of which he intended to search for the vessel of his friend Captain Ellice, and afterwards prosecute the whale-fishery. Off the coast of Greenland many whalers were seen actively engaged in warfare with the giants of the Polar Seas, and to several of these Captain Guy spoke, in the faint hope of gleaning some information as to the fate or the Pole Star, but without success. It was now apparent to the crew of the Dolphin that they were engaged as much on a searching as a whaling expedition; and the fact that the commander of the lost vessel was the father of “young Mr Fred”, as they styled our hero, induced them to take a deep interest in the success of their undertaking.