He turned on the gas inlet, and with a rush and hiss the bag began to fill. But he shut it off before sufficient buoyancy was obtained to lift them. He did not wish to waste gas unnecessarily, for although an extra supply of the gas-making material was on board, still there was not any too much of it.
The patch appeared to hold perfectly. So interested were they all in seeing if this vital part of the craft was to prove efficient, that none of them paid any attention to what was going on about them.
It was Dick Donovan who excitedly called their attention at length to a great commotion on the water ahead of them. The sea was boiling up almost as if a volcano had suddenly opened beneath it. Then from the midst of the confusion, a great spout of water shot heavenward as if it had been projected from some mighty fountain.
“It’s a whale!” shouted Captain Sprowl, who had served his time in the “fishery,” as it is called.
“Himmel! So idt is!” cried the German naturalist. “Ach! A big vun, too! Blitzen, see him!”
As he uttered these excited cries the whale leaped from the water,—“breached,” as it is called by whale-men. High into the air the huge form, fully eighty feet in length, rose much as though the colossal fish were imitating a leaping salmon. As it settled back with a mighty crash that sounded like the report of a cannon, a second and much smaller whale leaped from the water.
“It’s an old whale and her calf!” shouted the captain. “Oh! if I had a harpoon!”
“Poys, dot is a sight vot iss not possible to be seen efery day,” exclaimed the professor enthusiastically.
“Well, I hope they don’t decide to investigate us,” spoke Dick Donovan, “I’d as soon have the Flatiron Building coming alongside.”
“They’d make mincemeat of us sure enough,” declared the captain, “but I guess they won’t make trouble for us. It’s mostly the old bulls that attack boats. Cows is peaceable enough if you leave ‘em alone.”