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"Give way, boys! spring your oars," cried the captain; "another touch or two with the lance, and that fish is ours." The boat shot ahead, and we were about to dart a second harpoon into the whale's side, when it took to "sounding," which means, that it went straight down, head foremost, into the depths of the sea. At that moment Tom Lokins uttered a cry of mingled anger and disappointment.
We rowed towards it with all our might, and as we drew near, the captain ordered Tom Lokins to "stand up", so he at once laid in his oar, and took up the harpoon. The harpoon is an iron lance with a barbed point. A whale-line is attached to it, and this line is coiled away in a tub.
"Ay, mother, He has preserved my life in the midst of many dangers," said I, "for which I am most thankful." There was a short silence after this, during which my mother and I gazed earnestly at each other, and Tom Lokins smoked his pipe and stared at the fire. "Robert, how big is a whale?" inquired my mother suddenly.
Tom took this pipe from his mouth, and while he was pushing down the tobacco with the end of his little finger, he said: "D'ye know, lads, I've been thinkin' " "No, have ye?" cried one of the men, interrupting him with a look of pretended surprise. "Well now, I do think, messmates, that we should ax the mate to make a note o' that in the log, for it's not often that Tom Lokins takes to thinkin'."
When all was ready, the captain and the two mates, with Tom Lokins, got upon the whale's body, with long-handled sharp spades or digging-knives. With these they fell to work cutting off the blubber. I was stationed at one of the hoisting ropes, and while we were waiting for the signal to "hoist away," I peeped over the side, and for the first time had a good look at the great fish.
We rowed towards it with all our might, and as we drew near, the captain ordered Tom Lokins to "stand up," so he at once laid in his oar, and took up the harpoon. The harpoon is an iron lance with a barbed point. A whale-line is attached to it, and this line is coiled away in a tub.
Sometimes they would come right up on the whale's body with a wave, bite out great pieces of the flesh, turn over on their bellies, and roll off. While I was looking over the side during the early part of that day, I saw a very large shark come rolling up in this way close to Tom Lokins' legs. Tom made a cut at him with his blubber-spade, but the shark rolled off in time to escape the blow.
"Moreover," said I, "a whale is so big and strong, that it can knock a boat right up into the air, and break in the sides of a ship. One day a whale fell right on top of one of our boats, and smashed it all to bits. Now that's a real truth!" Again my mother looked at Tom Lokins, and again that worthy man puffed an immense cloud of smoke, and nodded his head more decidedly than before.
In a short time the line began to slack, so we hauled it in hand over hand, and Tom Lokins coiled it away in the tub in the stern of the boat, while the captain took his place in the bow to be ready with the lance. The whale soon came up, and we pulled with all our might towards him. Instead of making off again, however, he turned round and made straight at the boat.
I occupied my usual place in the captain's boat, next the bow oar, just beside Tom Lokins, who was ready with his harpoons in the bow. Young Borders pulled the oar directly in front of me. The captain himself steered, and, as our crew was a picked one, we soon left the other two boats behind us.
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