onster in their fleet of bidarkas.

The old Aleut chief saw the boys as they came up. He motioned hurriedly
to Rob as he ran to his own bidarka, grinning as though he hardly
expected Rob to accept the invitation to come and join the hunt. Not so,
however; for Rob was so much excited that he did not stop to think of
danger. As the chief thrust the long, narrow craft into the water,
steadying it with his paddle, Rob sprang in behind the rear hatch. In an
instant they were off!

Rob looked around to see Jesse and John both crowded together in the
rear hatch of yet another bidarka, where they did what they could to
help a swarthy boatman to propel their craft. Rob noticed now that each
hunter had his paddles, his harpoon, and his arrows marked in a certain
way with red-and-black paint, so that they could not be mistaken for the
property of any one else. All the hunters made ready their gear for the
chase as they paddled on, perfectly assured and apparently not in the
least anxious about the result of the hunt.

The other boats held back until the chief had taken his place at the
head of the procession. It now became plain that his was the task of
using the mysterious _nogock_, over whose loss he had seemed so
concerned. Even as his bidarka shot forward with its own momentum, he
drew out from the forward hatch this sacred instrument and fitted to it
the short harpoon. He made over the weapon some mysterious passes with
one hand, and as he fitted the harpoon or heavy dart to the
throwing-stick he blew three times on the point of it, passing his
fingers along the edge. Finally he held the weapon up toward the sky and
uttered some loud words in his strange tongue. Having completed these
ceremonies, he placed the _nogock_ and harpoon crosswise on the deck in
front of him and bent again to his paddle. Rob himself, no bad canoeman,
had meantime been paddling as though he quite understood what was
expected of him.

The head bidarka now passed steadily and swiftly on toward the great
bulk of the whale, which lay plainly visible not more than a quarter of
a mile away. As the other boats came on in squadron close behind, Rob
could hear a sort of low, rhythmic humming, as though all the natives
were joining in an incantation. It was his privilege to see one of the
native hunts for the whale in all its original features--something which
few white men have ever seen. The strange excitement of the scene, so
many savage hunters all ben