a judgment.

The boat drew off rapidly. The men, squarely and firmly seated, bent
their heavy shoulders with machine-like movements, and when they threw
back their faces the rays of the moon glittered and flashed in their
dilated eyes and on their bared teeth. The sailor at the tiller swayed in
unison, and grunted encouragement, breaking every now and then into
bitter speech, spoken as if in reverent accord with the night and their
mission, in a low, pleading tone, much as a patient mother might address
a wayward child.

'Lift her, lads--lift her, blast you! Oh, my blighted soul, Ellis! I'd
get more square-pullin' out of a starved cat with ten kittens--I would,
by thunder! Now, men, all together! Huh! Huh! hub!'

The boatswain strained as if tugging a stubborn oar. In the interval of
silence that followed all bent attentive ears, but no call came from the
sea. The sleek oars dipped into the waves without a sound, and swung
noiselessly in the worn rowlocks. The man at the prow remained rigid as a
statue, and Coleman resumed his whispered invocation.

'Bend to it, you devils! One! two! three! Morton, don't go to sleep, you
swine! Ryan! Tadvers, you herrin'-gutted, boss-eyed son of a barber's
ape, are you rowin' or spoonin' up hot soup? Pull, men! Huh! That's a
clinker! Huh! Shift her! Huh! May the fiend singe you for a drowsy pack
o' sea-cows! Pull!'

The men threw every ounce of power into each stroke, the voice of the
boatswain blending with their efforts like an intoned benediction, and
the treacly sea foamed under the prow into drifted snow which ran merrily
in their wake. For a tense moment the boat hung poised upon a high
roller, as if about to be projected into the air, and the man in the
prow, electrified, threw out an arm with a dramatic gesture. The
instincts of the ex-whaler triumphed in that moment of excitement.

'There she blows!'

Instantly Coleman fell into a condition of profound agitation; he poured
out a lava-flow of vituperation upon the heads of his men; he cursed them
for weaklings and waster and hissed phrases shameful to them and
discreditable to their parents. The crew increased their stroke. Already
the perspiration was streaming from their indurated hides; their wet
faces and breasts glistened in the night. Every now and again the
look-out, discovering a black spot where the moon's rays splashed a
smooth-backed wave with silver, uttered an inarticulate cry that struck
the men like a spur