eady to make the boat
turn rapidly, in case the whale should turn suddenly on it.

"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "Do not lose a blow! Aim well, boys!
Are we ready, Howik?"

"I am prepared, sir," replied the boatswain, "but one thing troubles
me. It is that the beast, after having fled so rapidly, is very quiet
now."

"In fact, Howik, that seems to me suspicious. Let us be careful!"

"Yes, but let us go forward."

Captain Hull grew more and more animated.

The boat drew still nearer. The jubarte only turned in her place. Her
young one was no longer near her; perhaps she was trying to find it
again.

Suddenly she made a movement with her tail, which took her thirty feet
away.

Was she then going to take flight again, and must they take up this
interminable pursuit again on the surface of the waters?

"Attention!" cried Captain Hull. "The beast is going to take a spring
and throw herself on us. Steer, Howik, steer!"

The jubarte, in fact, had turned in such a manner as to present herself
in front of the whale-boat. Then, beating the sea violently with her
enormous fins, she rushed forward.

The boatswain, who expected this direct blow, turned in such a fashion
that the jubarte passed by the boat, but without reaching it.

Captain Hull and the two sailors gave her three vigorous thrusts on the
passage, seeking to strike some vital organ.

The jubarte stopped, and, throwing to a great height two columns of
water mingled with blood, she turned anew on the boat, bounding, so to
say, in a manner frightful to witness.

These seamen must have been expert fishermen, not to lose their
presence of mind on this occasion.

Howik again skilfully avoided the jubarte's attack, by darting the boat
aside.

Three new blows, well aimed, again gave the animal three new wounds.
But, in passing, she struck the water so roughly with her formidable
tail, that an enormous wave arose, as if the sea were suddenly opened.

The whale-boat almost capsized, and, the water rushing in over the
side, it was half filled.

"The bucket, the bucket!" cried Captain Hull.

The two sailors, letting go their oars, began to bale out the boat
rapidly, while the captain cut the line, now become useless.

No! the animal, rendered furious by grief, no longer dreamt of flight.
It was her turn to attack, and her agony threatened to be terrible.

A third time she turned round, "head to head," a seaman would say, and
threw herself anew on the