gin, 'n then we'll prob'ly git thar' 'r thareabonts before they
sound agin." With this explanation I had to be content, although if
it be no clearer to my readers than it then was to me, I shall have to
explain myself more fully later on. Silently we lay, rocking lazily upon
the gentle swell, no other word being spoken by any one. At last Louis,
the harpooner, gently breathed "blo-o-o-w;" and there, sure enough,
not half a mile away on the lee beam, was a little bushy cloud of steam
apparently rising from the sea. At almost the same time as we kept away
all the other boats did likewise, and just then, catching sight of the
ship, the reason for this apparently concerted action was explained. At
the main-mast head of the ship was a square blue flag, and the ensign
at the peak was being dipped. These were signals well understood and
promptly acted upon by those in charge of the boats, who were thus
guided from a point of view at least one hundred feet above the sea.

"Stand up, Louey," the mate murmured softly. I only just stopped myself
in time from turning my head to see why the order was given. Suddenly
there was a bump, at the same moment the mate yelled, "Give't to him,
Louey, give't to him!" and to me, "Haul that main sheet, naow haul, why
don't ye?" I hauled it flat aft, and the boat shot up into the wind,
rubbing sides as she did so with what to my troubled sight seemed an
enormous mass of black india-rubber floating. As we CRAWLED up into the
wind, the whale went into convulsions befitting his size and energy.
He raised a gigantic tail on high, threshing the water with deafening
blows, rolling at the same time from side to side until the surrounding
sea was white with froth. I felt in an agony lest we should be crushed
under one of those fearful strokes, for Mr. Count appeared to be
oblivious of possible danger, although we seemed to be now drifting back
on to the writhing leviathan. In the agitated condition of the sea, it
was a task of no ordinary difficulty to unship the tall mast, which was
of course the first thing to be done. After a desperate struggle, and a
narrow escape from falling overboard of one of the men, we got the lone
"stick," with the sail bundled around it, down and "fleeted" aft, where
it was secured by the simple means of sticking the "heel" under the
after thwart, two-thirds of the mast extending out over the stern.
Meanwhile, we had certainly been in a position of the greatest danger,
our im