202 FOR THE FLAG

ful than they. On the bank were a number of Ker
Karraje’s followers, little more than sharks themselves, for
pirates or sea-tigers are all one! They were going to try

. to capture the monster, and the animal would bea good
haul for the Backcup people!

At that moment the whale approached the jetty where
Count d’Artigas’ Malay was posted with several other
stalwart pirates. The Malay was armed with a harpoon
to which a long rope was attached, and brandishing it
with a strong arm, he hurled it with great strength and
skill. The whale, hard hit under its left fin, plunged with
a sudden rush, followed by the sharks in its wake. The
harpoon line ran out fifty or sixty yards. Then there was
nothing to do but to haul in the animal, now about to
rise to the surface to breathe its last.

This was done by the Malay and his comrades very
leisurely, so as not to loosen the harpoon from the side of
the whale, which presently reappeared close to the rocks
above the orifice of the tunnel.

Mortally wounded, the enormous mammifer struggled
in its death agony, blowing out clouds of vapour and
columns of air and water mixed with a jet of blood, and
with a terrible stroke it flung one of the sharks expiring
on the rocks,

This effort dislodged the harpoon from its side, and the
whale disappeared once more. But when it came up for
the last time it was to thrash with its tail with such
force that it made a depression in the water sufficient
to reveal part of the entrance to the tunnel.