and fan-shaped flukes into the air; at times
bounding with their whole bodies several feet above the surface, and
dropping back into the water with a tremendous concussion, that causes
the sea to swell into huge foam-crested columns, as if a storm was
passing over it.

It was the thought of this that came into the mind of the ex-whalesman;
and rendered him apprehensive,--as he saw the school of _cachalots_
coming on towards the spot occupied by the frail embarkation. He knew
that the swell caused by the "breaching" of a whale is sufficient to
swamp even a large-sized boat; and if one of the "body" now bowling down
towards them should chance to spring out of the water while passing
near, it would be just as much as they could do to keep the gig from
going upon her beam-ends.

There was not much time to speculate upon chances, or probabilities.
When first seen, the whales could not have been more than a mile
distant: and going on as they were, at the rate of ten knots an hour,
only ten minutes elapsed before the foremost was close up to the spot
occupied by the boat and the abandoned raft.

They were not proceeding in a regular formation; though here and there
four or five might have been seen moving in a line, abreast with one
another. The whole "herd" occupied a breadth extending about a mile
across the sea; and in the very centre of this, as ill-luck would have
it, lay the cockle-shell of a boat and the abandoned raft.

It was one of the biggest "schools" that Ben Brace had ever seen,
consisting of nearly a hundred individuals,--full-grown females,
followed by their "calves,"--and only one old bull, the patron and
protector of the herd. There was no mistaking it for a "pod" of
whales,--which would have been made up of young males just escaped from
maternal protection, and attended by several older individuals of their
own sex,--acting as trainers and instructors.

Just as the _ci-devant_ whalesman had finished making this observation,
the _cachalots_ came past, causing the sea to undulate for miles around
the spot,--as if a tempest had swept over, and was succeeded by its
swell. One after another passed with a graceful gliding, that might
have won the admiration of an observer viewing it from a position of
safety. But to those who beheld it from the gig, there was an idea of
danger in their majestic movement,--heightened by the surf-like sound of
their respirations.

They had nearly all passed, and the crew