Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/34

 to whose feet the planks of the deck were too warm. Meanwhile, the Abraham Lincoln had not yet entered upon the suspected waters of the Pacific.

As for the ship’s company, they asked for nothing better than a meeting with the unicorn, to harpoon him, hoist him on board, and to cut him up. They watched the sea with scrupulous attention. Moreover, Commodore Farragut had spoken of a certain sum of $2,000, reserved for whosoever he be, ship-boy or able seaman, master or officers, who should first signal the animal. So I leave you to imagine whether they used their eyes on board the Abraham Lincoln.

For my own part, I was not behind-hand with the others, and delegated to no one my part of the daily observations. The frigate might, with much reason, have been called Argus. Only amongst them all Conseil protested by his indifference on the question which absorbed us, and was somewhat a “damper” of the general enthusiasm on board.

I have already mentioned that Commodore Farragut had carefully provided proper apparatus to catch this enormous cetacean. A whaling ship could not have been better armed. We possessed all known weapons, from the simple hand-harpoon to the barbed arrows fired from a blunderbuss, and the explosive bullets of the duck gun. On the forecastle was trained the latest pattern of breech-loading cannon, of great thickness and accuracy, the model of which was in the Exhibition of 1867. This valuable weapon of American construction could carry with ease a conical shot, weighing four kilogrammes, to a distance of sixteen kilometres.

Thus no means of destruction were wanting on board