business," commented Bill, as
he examined curiously the broad, flat, triangular head. "The edge is
like a razor, and nothing could pull this barb loose after it once
entered."

The shank was about two feet long and served as a socket to the shaft
which gave a total length to the harpoon of more than six feet.

"My, but it's heavy," said Fred, as he lifted it. "It must take some
muscle to handle a thing like that."

"It takes a good deal of experience to master it," said Lester.

"Do you know how to throw it?" asked Teddy.

"Father has shown me how, and I've practised a good deal on and off just
for fun," was the reply. "I might be able to hit a shark with it, if he
wasn't very far off, and I might not. I'd have a chance though, and if I
missed I could try again. This rope attached to it prevents its being
lost, and I could draw it in again and make another attempt at it.

"Of course this is rather old fashioned these days," Lester went on.
"Now, in most of the whaling boats, they put the harpoon in a gun, just
as you might thrust a ramrod down the muzzle of a rifle. The harpoon has
an explosive shell attached to its head like the torpedo of a submarine.
The harpoon is shot from the gun, and after it leaves the muzzle, a
rocket charge attached to it carries it still further. When it hits the
whale, the bomb explodes and it's all over. Of course, it's safer and
surer than the old way, but it's too much like business. It does away
with the exciting, desperate struggle between man and whale."

"What stories this old weapon could tell, if it could only talk," mused
Fred.

"Yes, and they'd be more exciting than anything you read in fiction,"
added Bill.

"We may have a chance to use it before the day is over," said Teddy
hopefully, as he looked over the waves on every side.

"It's a bare possibility," assented Lester. "I thought it wouldn't do
any harm to bring it along anyhow just on the chance.

"You fellows want to keep a keen lookout for anything that looks like a
fin," he continued. "It would be too bad to let any guilty shark
escape."

As Lester had charge of the tiller and Fred was looking after the sail,
the work of watching devolved on Teddy and Bill. They took opposite
sides of the craft, Teddy handling Mr. Lee's binoculars while Bill
depended upon the remarkably keen eyes with which nature had gifted him.

An hour went by, during which the little boat made rapid progress. But
nothing rewarded the v