t hand slowly and deliberately
raised the _nogock_ and its slate-tipped harpoon. His arm, extended at
full length and quite rigid, passed now in a straight line above his
head and slightly back of his shoulder. Rob, intent on all these
matters, saw the native's thumb and fingers whiten in the intensity of
their grip on the butt of the _nogock_; yet the middle finger lay light
and gentle, just holding in place the slender shaft of the harpoon,
whose slate head, blue and cold, extended down and in front of the
throwing hand.

Still the chief poised and waited until the exact spot he wished to
strike was exposed as the whale rolled slowly toward the right. Then
suddenly, with a sighing hiss of his breath, the dark huntsman leaned
swiftly forward. The motion of his hand was so swift the eye could
scarcely follow it.

After that all that Rob could tell was that he was in the bidarka
speeding swiftly away from a churning mass of white water, in the middle
of which a vast black form was rolling. He heard a sort of hoarse roar
or expiration of the breath of the stricken monster. Once he thought he
caught sight of the slender shaft of the harpoon, which in truth was
buried, head and all, eighteen inches or more deep in the side of the
whale, the point passing entirely through the blubber and into the red
meat of the body. Although Rob did not know it, the shaft did not long
remain attached. The struggles of the whale broke off the slate-head at
a point near to the shaft, where it was cunningly made thinner in order
that it might break. A foot or fifteen inches of the slate-head remained
buried deep in the body of the whale. The _nogock_ had done its work!

A loud chant now broke from all the boatmen, who joined the head
bidarka, all backing away from the struggling whale. To the surprise of
Rob, no further effort was made to launch a harpoon, and he saw that the
presence of these other boats was rather intended as a part of the
ceremony than as an actual assistance in the hunt, the savage mind here,
as elsewhere, taking delight in surrounding itself with certain
mummeries.

As Rob gazed back of him to watch the struggle of the whale, he saw the
sea gradually becoming quiet. The giant black form was gone, the whale
having sounded, or dived far below the surface.

"Plenty sick now," said the chief, sententiously, motioning toward the
spot where the whale had disappeared. Then all at once he gave a loud
whoop and started padd