to
rest stationary over the water, they could see that the sea was churned
up around it in a state of violent commotion, and they could hear a
peculiar sucking noise rumbling in the air at the same time.

"I tell you what it is," said David; "although I've never seen one
before, it must be a waterspout, and we'll have to give it a wide berth.
Look out, Jonathan, for the sheet; I'm going to put the helm up and
bring the boat about on the other tack."

Almost as soon as the cutter turned off at an angle from the direction
of the waterspout, although not absolutely going away from it, as the
boys were interested in the sight, David uttered another exclamation.

"Gracious goodness, Jonathan!" he ejaculated. "Look, if there isn't a
whale there! And he is going slap at it, as if he is going to bowl it
over."

It was true enough; but, whether the leviathan of the deep had been
caught in the maelstrom of the waterspout, or had gone towards it from
choice, they could not tell. There he was, however, at all events,
circling round in the eddy of the sea at the foot of the cloud, and
sending up columns of spray every now and then with the flukes of his
tail, as they came down with a bash on the water, like the sound of a
Nasmyth steam-hammer.

Almost as soon as the boy spoke, the whale appeared to raise itself up
on end, as they could see nearly the whole length of its body; there was
a tremendous concussion; and then, with a report like thunder, the
waterspout burst, falling around the boat in the form of heavy rain.

"I say," said Jonathan, when the unexpected shower had ceased, "it's an
ill wind that blows nobody good. Look, if there are not a number of
dead fish which the waterspout must have sucked up. How thankful we
ought to be! there is enough to last us ever so long and keep us from
starvation."

"You are light," said David. "Let us kneel down and thank God for His
mercy and care in watching over us!"

And, after they had prayed fervently to Him who had guarded them through
all the perils of the deep, and now showered on them a supply of food
almost from heaven, they set to work and collected all the fish they
could see floating about on the surface of the sea, David saying that
they were bonetas and skipjacks, and capital eating, as he stored them
in the locker.

"We'll cut them open and dry them in the sun by and by," he added.
"It's too much overcast to do it now; and it's so rough with the spray
dash