Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/105

 A CATASTROPHE, 79 considered a successful commencement of the attack, he would not be daunted, nor deterred from hîs endeavour to secure so fine a prize. The whale dîd not, as sometîmes happens, make a pre- cipîtate dash upon the beat, a proceeding which nécessi- tâtes the instant cutting of the harpoon-line, and an immédiate retreat, but it took the far more usual course of diving downwards almost perpendicularly. It was followed by its calf ; very soon, however, after rising once again to the surface vvith a sudden bound, it beg^n swimming along under water with great rapidity. Before its first plunge Captain Hull and Howick had sufficient opportunity to observe that it was an unusually large balaenoptera, measuring at least eighty feet from head to tail, its colour beîng of a yellowish-brown, dappled with numerous spots of a darker shade. The pursuit, or what may be more aptly termed " the towing," of the whale had now fairly commenced. The sailors had shipped their oars, and the whale-boat darted like an arrow along the surface of the waves. In spite of the oscillation, which was very violent, Howick succeeded in maintaining equilibrium, and did not need the repeated in- junctions with which the agitated captain urged his boat- swain to be upon his guard. But fast as the boat flew along, she could not keep pace with the whale, and so rapidly did the line run out that except proper carc had been taken to keep the bucket in which it was coiled filled with water, the friction against the edge of the boat would inevitably hâve caused it to take fire. The whale gave no indication of moderatîng its speed, so that- the first line was soon exhausted, and the second had to be attached to its end, only to be run out with like rapidity. In a few minutes more it was necessary to join on the third line ; it was évident that the whale had not been hit in a vital part, and so far from rising to the surface, the oblique direction of the rope indicated that the créature was seeking yet greater depths. the brute is goîng to run out ail our line.**
 * Confound it I " exclaimed the captain ; " it seems as if