But, as he spoke, the maintopsail of the next ship, the stranger, swung in to the mast, and his lee quarter boat could be seen projecting from under his counter.
"He sees whales!" I shouted; but the old man was already shaking me on my perch, as he strided up the rigging, two ratlines at each step.
"Hard up your helm!" said he. "Square in the after yards, Mr. Grafton, and get the boats ready as fast as possible. Call all hands there, one of ye!"
The Pandora showed as yet no manœuvres, having filled again on the same tack, and his starboard boat was still in its place on the cranes; but three boats were down from our next neighbor, and the supposed Leonidas was in the act of wearing round to close with the rest of us.
"Where's the whale?" asked the captain, as he appeared by my side. "Steady, there!"
"I've seen no whale yet, sir," I answered, "and I can't see any boats down from the Pandora."
"Perhaps the stranger has lowered his boats, blackfishing," he suggested. "Worth has got no extra men aloft, and keeps his course as usual. If that is all, we may as well luff to again."
He gave no order to that effect, however, and we continued running off, rapidly nearing the other ships. A few minutes of puzzled suspense followed, when the Pandora's main tack, sheet and lee braces were all let go at once, and she, also, lay hove-to, just as her two boats shot out of range of their ship under her lee, fast to a whale, as was evident from the white water flying, and from the speed at which they were moving.
"Pretty well done, Worth!" said Captain Upton, his keen admiration of his brother whaleman getting the better of his vexation. "Luff to the wind there, and stand by to lower away! There may be other whales, though, if there's only one, I'll sell out my share at a low figure."
Further concealment was unnecessary; down went Captain Worth's boat, and down went all of ours, pell-mell, but before we got very near the fast boats it was plain that the whale was in his flurry, and we "hove up," seeing that there was no other one for us to attack.