The Project Gutenberg eBook, Fighting the Whales, by R. M. Ballantyne

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Title: Fighting the Whales

Author: R. M. Ballantyne

Release Date: April 22, 2007 [eBook #21202]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIGHTING THE WHALES***

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FIGHTING THE WHALES

by

R. M. BALLANTYNE

[Illustration: Cover Art]

Blackie & Son Ltd.
London ---- Glasgow ---- Bombay
1915

CONTENTS

CHAP.

I. IN TROUBLE, TO BEGIN WITH
II. AT SEA
III. OUR FIRST BATTLE
IV. "CUTTING IN" THE BLUBBER AND "TRYING OUT" THE OIL
V. A STORM, A MAN OVERBOARD, AND A RESCUE
VI. THE WHALE--FIGHTING BULLS, ETC.
VII. TOM'S WISDOM--ANOTHER GREAT BATTLE
VIII. DEATH ON THE SEA
IX. NEWS FROM HOME--A GAM
X. RETURN HOME

ILLUSTRATIONS

Fighting the Whales . . . . . . _Cover Art_

"Tom Lokins raised the harpoon"

"Hurled it blazing into the sea"

"In a moment I was overboard"

FIGHTING THE WHALES

CHAPTER I

IN TROUBLE, TO BEGIN WITH

There are few things in this world that have filled me with so much
astonishment as the fact that man can kill a whale! That a fish, more
than sixty feet long, and thirty feet round the body; with the bulk of
three hundred fat oxen rolled into one; with the strength of many
hundreds of horses; able to swim at a rate that would carry it right
round the world in twenty-three days; that can smash a boat to atoms
with one slap of its tail, and stave in the planks of a ship with one
blow of its thick skull;--that such a monster can be caught and killed
by man, is most wonderful to hear of, but I can tell from experience
that it is much more wonderful to see.

There is a wise saying which I have often thought much upon. It is
this: "Knowledge is power". Man i