ere were no other
vessels in sight--much to our satisfaction--the wind was light, with a
cloudless sky, and the whale was dead to leeward of us. We sped along
at a good rate towards our prospective victim, who was, in his leisurely
enjoyment of life, calmly lolling on the surface, occasionally lifting
his enormous tail out of water and letting it fall flat upon the surface
with a boom audible for miles.

We were as usual, first boat; but, much to the mate's annoyance, when we
were a short half-mile from the whale, our main-sheet parted. It became
immediately necessary to roll the sail up, lest its flapping should
alarm the watchful monster, and this delayed us sufficiently to allow
the other boats to shoot ahead of us. Thus the second mate got fast some
seconds before we arrived on the scene, seeing which we furled sail,
unshipped the mast, and went in on him with the oars only. At first the
proceedings were quite of the usual character, our chief wielding his
lance in most brilliant fashion, while not being fast to the animal
allowed us much greater freedom in our evolutions; but that fatal habit
of the mate's--of allowing his boat to take care of herself so long as
he was getting in some good home-thrusts--once more asserted itself.
Although the whale was exceedingly vigorous, churning the sea into
yeasty foam over an enormous area, there we wallowed close to him, right
in the middle of the turmoil, actually courting disaster.

He had just settled down for a moment, when, glancing over the gunwale,
I saw his tail, like a vast shadow, sweeping away from us towards the
second mate, who was laying off the other side of him. Before I had time
to think, the mighty mass of gristle leapt into the sunshine, curved
back from us like a huge bow. Then with a roar it came at us, released
from its tension of Heaven knows how many tons. Full on the broadside
it struck us, sending every soul but me flying out of the wreckage as if
fired from catapults. I did not go because my foot was jammed somehow in
the well of the boat, but the wrench nearly pulled my thigh-bone out of
its socket. I had hardly released my foot, when, towering above me,
came the colossal head of the great creature, as he ploughed through the
bundle of debris that had just been a boat. There was an appalling roar
of water in my ears, and darkness that might be felt all around. Yet,
in the midst of it all, one thought predominated as clearly as if I had
been turni