“Likely enough they will,” observed Dick, “because, you see, there’s little chance of the lieutenant ever getting there.”
He had for some time been drilling these troops of his, as he also occasionally designated the fellows, making them march up and down, and pointing every now and then to an imaginary enemy, whom he ordered them to charge and annihilate, when there came a shout from aloft, “There she blows!” In a moment all the crew jumped to their feet. Our stout captain tumbled up from below, crying out, “Where away!” and four boats being lowered and manned, off they pulled, led by Mr Falconer in the direction in which the look-out pointed. We could see, about a quarter of a mile from the ship, a huge hump projecting three feet out of the water, while from the fore part of the monster’s enormous head arose at the end of every ten seconds a white jet of foam.
“There again! there again!” shouted the crew. Away dashed the boats at full speed.
“His spoutings are nearly out,” said Dick.
“He is going down,” cried others.
Again a spout rose, and we could see the small, as it is called, of his back rise preparatory to his descent.
“His tail will be up directly,” said Dick, “and they will lose him, I fear;” but at that moment Mr Falconer’s boat dashing on, as he stood up in the boat with his glistening harpoon raised above his head, away it flew with unerring force, and was buried in the side of the huge animal. A loud cheer rose from the men in the boats and those on deck, and the whale, hitherto so quiet, began to strike the water with his vast tail, aiming with desperate blows at his advancing enemies. Now his enormous bottle-nose-shaped head rose in the air—now we saw his flukes lashing the water, his body writhing with the agony of the wound the sharp iron had inflicted. The water around him was soon beaten into a mass of foam, while the noise made by his tail was almost deafening.
Kitty stood eagerly watching the scene, and looking somewhat pale, for it seemed as if the boat could scarcely escape some of those desperate blows dealt around.
I had felt very anxious about my friend.
“Never fear,” said Dick; “he knows what he is about. See, it’s ‘stern all.’”