204

 

had his lance ready. ‘Haul me on to
that whale!” he shouted; and all hands

turned to hauling line, while I coiled it
away in the stern-sheets. We had got

nearly up to the whale when she took to
sounding, taking the line right up and
down from the head of the boat. I had
two turns of the line round the logger-
head, and was holding on as much as
the boat would bear, when, all at once,
another large whale, that we knew no-
thing about, shot up out of the water
nearly her whole length, in a slanting
position, hanging directly over the boat.
I threw off the turns from the logger-
head, and shouted to the men to “ stern.”
But it was of no use; she fell the whole
length of her body on the boat.

I heard a crash ! and, as I went down,
I felt a pressure of water directly over
my head, caused, as I thought, by the
whale’s flukes as she struck. How long
I was under water I know not; but I
remember that all looked dark above
me, and that I tried very hard to shove
my head through in order to breathe.
At last I succeeded; but what a sight
was that on which I gazed when I found
myself on the surface of the water !
About a rod off was the whale that we
were fast to, thrashing the water into a
foam with his flukes, the ocean red with
blood, and the crimson streams pouring
from the wounds in the whale’s sides
made by the harpoons. In another di-
rection I could see pieces of the boat
floating around. At the distance of two
or three miles, I could occasionally get
a glimpse of the ship as I rode on the
top of a swell, and not a human being
in sight.

Not losing heart or hope, I struck out
for a piece of the stern of our once

beautiful boat a few rods distant.

 

THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

The.
crew came up one after another, catch-
ing at anything they could see to help
keep them afloat. One poor fellow came
paddling along with two or three oars
under him, crying out that his back was
broken. Another of the crew and my-
self got him on a piece of the boat
that we had hold of. His thigh was
broken, and he could not move his legs
at all.

The second mate soon after picked us
up in his boat, and so much had we
been engaged in looking out for our-
selves, that we did not perceive one of
our number was missing. But alas! it
was too soon found out. He was a
young man, about seventeen years old,
and did not belong to the boat, but went
in the place of the midship oarsman,
who was sick at the time. The whale
fell directly over him, and probably
killed him in a moment.

With what feelings we pulled around
and around the spot where the boat
was stoven, unwilling to believe, even
after we knew there was no hope, that
our shipmate was gone, never more to
return! How silently we glided along-
side of the ship, and hoisted in our other
poor shipmate, now lamed for life !

Ah, that some of those people who
look upon sailors as little better than
brutes, and who know little or nothing
of the kind feelings and strong affections
that are hid under their rough outside,
could have seen what I saw on board
that ship. Even their hearts would
melt; and they would find it is not al-
ways the polished and educated, the
smooth-faced and handsome man, that
has the warmest heart or most generous
feelings.