Tom stripped the jacket of canvas from the shining gun of brass, Juarez and Jo got the ammunition from the hold, and soon had the charge ready to fire. Jim stood prepared to aim. The boys waited impatiently for the right moment to come, when the yacht would be as close to the quarry as it would be wise to venture. Steadily the little ship bore down toward the whale, keeping half quartered to it.
It seemed that he must take alarm and the boys held their breath in fear lest the monster should take fright and make a sudden disappearance into the depths. The harpoon still sticking high up on his side gave a line to aim by. Then Jim depressed the muzzle of the cannon until it was point blank at the long black target now shelving up from the blue surface of the ocean. Just as the whale wakened to his danger, Jim pulled the lanyard and fired. There was a roar, a white gush of smoke, and the shell tore into the vitals of the great whale.
Then there was action to which the disturbance when the whale was harpooned was a mere flurry. He thrashed the ocean into foam and the blood from his wound dyed the waters crimson. At last he rose bodily in the air and fell back upon the surface of the ocean with a mighty whack that could have been heard for miles. The waters retreated from his fall in great waves that made the little steamer rock.
There was great jubilation on the deck of the Sea Eagle when Jim made that shot, which was not so remarkable either, when one considers the size of the target and the nearness of the object aimed at. But the captain was decidedly enthusiastic over Jim’s success, and clapped him heartily on the back with manifest approval.
“You ought to be in the navy, lad,” he cried. “You are a born American gunner. Old Paul Jones ought to have had you.”
“That wasn’t a hard shot, Captain,” remarked Jim. “It was your navigating that really deserves the credit.”
“Too bad we have to leave him,” said the captain. “That fellow would be good for a lot of oil.”
“I should like a closer look at him,” urged Jim. “I believe I’ll lower the other boat and board him.”
“I reckon he can’t do you any harm now, Skipper,” said the captain, “and I suppose a whale does look cur’us to you. I see by that harpoon that you made a pretty good shot with the iron; just a little nearer to the shoulder and you would have fetched him.”
The boat was all ready to lower and in a jiffy they had it in the water. Tom was allowed to go along this time, but Jeems Howell was among the missing, he absolutely and steadfastly refused to go on the excursion.