CHAPTER FOUR.
THE CHASE AND THE BATTLE--THE CHANCES AND DANGERS OF WHALING WAR--BUZZBYDIVES FOR HIS LIFE AND SAVES IT--SO DOES THE WHALE AND LOSES IT--ANANXIOUS NIGHT WHICH TERMINATES HAPPILY, THOUGH WITH A HEAVY LOSS.
The chase was not a long one, for, while the boats were rowing swiftlytowards the whale, the whale was, all unconsciously, swimming towardsthe boats.
"Give way now, lads, give way," said the captain in a suppressed voice;"bend your backs, boys, and don't let the mate beat us."
The three boats flew over the sea, as the men strained their muscles tothe utmost, and for some time they kept almost in line, being prettyequally matched; but gradually the captain shot ahead, and it becameevident that his harpooner, Amos Parr, was to have the honour ofharpooning the first whale. Amos pulled the bow oar, and behind him wasthe tub with the line coiled away and the harpoon bent on to it. Beingan experienced whaleman, he evinced no sign of excitement, save in thebrilliancy of his dark eye, and a very slight flush on his bronzed face.They had now neared the whale, and ceased rowing for a moment, lestthey should miss it when down.
"There she goes!" cried Fred in a tone of intense excitement, as hecaught sight of the whale not more than fifty yards ahead of the boat.
"Now, boys," said the captain in a hoarse whisper, "spring hard, layback hard, I say--_stand up_!"
At the last word Amos Parr sprang to his feet, and seized the harpoon;the boat ran right on to the whale's back, and in an instant Parr senttwo irons, to the hitches, into the fish.
"Stern all!" The men backed their oars with all their might, in orderto avoid the flukes of the wounded monster of the deep, as it plungeddown headlong into the sea, taking the line out perpendicularly likelightning. This was a moment of great danger. The friction of theline, as it passed the loggerhead, was so great that Parr had to keepconstantly pouring water on it, to prevent its catching fire. A hitchin the line at that time, as it flew out of the tub, or any accidentalentanglement, would have dragged the boat and crew right down. Manysuch fatal accidents occur to whalers, and many a poor fellow has had afoot or an arm torn off, or been dragged overboard and drowned, inconsequence of getting entangled. One of the men stood ready with asmall hatchet to cut the line in a moment, if necessary, for whalessometimes run out all that is in a boat at the first plunge, and shouldnone of the other boats be at hand, to lend a second line to attach tothe one nearly expended, there is nothing for it but to cut. On thepresent occasion, however, none of these accidents befel the men of thecaptain's boat. The line ran all clear, and long before it wasexhausted the whale ceased to descend, and the _slack_ was hauledrapidly in.
Meanwhile the other boats pulled up to the scene of action, and preparedto strike, the instant the fish should rise to the surface. It appearedsuddenly, not twenty yards from the mate's boat, where Buzzby, who washarpooner, stood in the bow ready to give it the iron.
"Spring, lads, spring!" shouted the mate, as the whale spouted into theair a thick stream of water. The boat dashed up, and Buzzby planted hisharpoon vigorously. Instantly the broad flukes of the tail were tossedinto the air, and, for a single second, spread like a canopy overBuzzby's head. There was no escape. The quick eye of the whaleman sawat a glance that the effort to back out was hopeless. He bent his head,and the next moment was deep down in the waves. Just as he disappeared,the flukes descended on the spot which he had left, and cut the bow ofthe boat completely away, sending the stern high into the air with aviolence that tossed men, and oars, and shattered planks, and cordage,flying over the monster's back into the seething caldron of foam aroundhim. It was apparently a scene of the most complete and instantaneousdestruction, yet, strange to say, not a man was lost. A few secondsafter, the white foam of the sea was dotted with black heads, as the menrose one by one to the surface, and struck out for floating oars andpieces of the wrecked boat.
"They're lost!" cried Fred Ellice in a voice of horror.
"Not a bit of it, youngster; they're safe enough, I'll warrant," repliedthe captain, as his own boat flew past the spot, towed by the whale."Pay out, Amos Parr; give him line, or he'll tear the bows out of us."
"Ay, ay, sir!" sang out Amos, as he sat coolly pouring water on theloggerhead, round which a coil of the rope was whizzing like lightning;"all right! The mate's men are all safe, sir; I counted them as we shotpast, and I seed Buzzby come up last of all, blowin' like a grampus; andsmall wonder, considerin' the dive he took."
"Take another turn of the coil, Amos, and hold on," said the captain.
The harpooneer obeyed, and away they went after the whale like a rocket,with a tremendous strain on the line, and a bank of white foam gurglingup to the edge of the gunwale, that every moment threatened to fill theboat and sink her. Such a catastrophe is not of unfrequent occurrence,when whalemen, thus towed by a whale, are tempted to hold on too long;and many instances have happened of boats and their crews being in thisway dragged under water and lost. Fortunately the whale dashedhorizontally through the water, so that the boat was able to hold on andfollow, and in a short time the creature paused and rose for air. Againthe men bent to their oars, and the rope was hauled in until they camequite close to the fish. This time a harpoon was thrown, and a deeplance-thrust given which penetrated to the vital parts of its hugecarcass, as was evidenced by the blood which it spouted, and theconvulsive lashing of its tremendous tail.
While the captain's crew were thus engaged, Saunders, the second mate,observing from the ship the accident to the first mate's boat, sent offa party of men to the rescue, thus setting free the third boat, whichwas steered by a strapping fellow named Peter Grim, to follow up thechase. Peter Grim was the ship's carpenter, and he took after his name.He was, as the sailors expressed it, a "grim customer", being burnt bythe sun to a deep rich brown colour, besides being covered nearly up tothe eyes with a thick coal-black beard and moustache, which completelyconcealed every part of his visage, except his prominent nose and dark,fiery-looking eyes. He was an immense man, the largest in the ship,probably, if we except the Scotch second mate Saunders, to whom he wasabout equal in all respects--except argument. Like most big men, he waspeaceable and good-humoured.
"Look alive now, lads," said Grim, as the men pulled towards the whale;"we'll get a chance yet, we shall, if you give way like tigers. Splityour sides, boys--do--that's it. Ah! there she goes, right down. Pullaway now, and be ready when she rises."
As he spoke the whale suddenly _sounded_, that is, went perpendicularlydown, as it had done when first struck, and continued to descend untilmost of the line in the captain's boat was run out.
"Hoist an oar," cried Amos Parr, as he saw the coil diminishing. Grimobserved the signal of distress, and encouraged his men to use theirutmost exertions. "Another oar!--another!" shouted Parr, as the whalecontinued its headlong descent. "Stand by to cut the line," saidCaptain Guy with compressed lips. "No! hold on, hold on!"
At this moment, having drawn down more than a thousand fathoms of rope,the whale slackened its speed, and Parr, taking another coil round theloggerhead, held on until the boat was almost dragged under water. Thenthe line became loose, and the slack was hauled in rapidly. MeanwhileGrim's boat had reached the spot and the men now lay on their oars atsome distance ahead, ready to pull the instant the whale should showitself. Up it came, not twenty yards ahead. One short, energetic pull,and the second boat sent a harpoon deep into it, while Grim sprang tothe bow, and thrust a lance with deadly force deep into the carcass.The monster sent up a stream of mingled blood, oil, and water, andwhirled its huge tail so violently that the sound could be heard a mileoff. Before it dived again, the captain's boat came up, and succeededin making fast another harpoon, while several additional lance-thrustswere given with effect, and it seemed as if the battle were about toterminate, when suddenly the whale struck the sea with a clap likethunder, and darted away once more like a rocket to windward, tearingthe two boats after it, as if they had been egg-shells.
Meanwhile a change had come over the scene. The sun had set, red andlowering, behind a bank of dark clouds, and there was every appearanceof stormy weather; but as yet it was nearly calm, and the ship wasunable to beat up against the light breeze in the wake of the two boats,which were soon far away on the horizon. Then a furious gust arose andpassed away; a dark cloud covered the sky as night fell, and soon boatsand whale were utterly lost to view.
"Waes me," cried the big Scotch mate, as he ran up and down thequarter-deck wringing his hands, "what _is_ to be done noo?"
Saunders spoke a mongrel kind of language--a mixture of Scotch andEnglish,--in which, although the Scotch words were sparsely scattered,the Scotch accent was very strong.
"How's her head?"
"Nor'-nor'-west, sir."
"Keep her there, then. Maybe, if the wind holds stiddy, we may overhaulthem before it's quite dark."
Although Saunders was really in a state of the utmost consternation atthis unexpected termination to the whale-hunt, and expressed theagitation of his feelings pretty freely, he was too thorough a seaman toneglect anything that was necessary to be done under the circumstances.He took the exact bearings of the point at which the boats haddisappeared, and during the night, which turned out gusty andthreatening, kept making short tacks, while lanterns were hung at themast-heads, and a huge torch, or rather a small bonfire, of tarredmaterials was slung at the end of a spar, and thrust out over the sternof the ship. But for many hours there was no sign of the boats, and thecrew of the _Dolphin_ began to entertain the most gloomy forebodingsregarding them.
At length, towards morning, a small speck of light was noticed on theweather-beam. It flickered for a moment, and then disappeared.
"Did ye see yon?" said Saunders to Mivins in an agitated whisper, layinghis huge hand on the shoulder of that worthy. "Down your helm," (to thesteersman).
"Ay, ay, sir!"
"Stiddy!"
"Steady it is, sir!"
Mivins' face, which for some hours had worn an expression of deepanxiety, relaxed into a bland smile, and he smote his thigh powerfullyas he exclaimed: "That's them, sir, _and_ no mistake! What's youropinion, Mr Saunders!"
The second mate peered earnestly in the direction in which the light hadbeen seen, and Mivins, turning in the same direction, screwed up hisvisage into a knot of earnest attention, so complicated and intense thatit seemed as if no human power could evermore unravel it.
"There it goes again!" cried Saunders, as the light flashed distinctlyover the sea.
"Down helm; back fore-top-sails!" he shouted, springing forward; "loweraway the boat there!"
In a few seconds the ship was hove to, and a boat, with a lantern fixedto an oar, was plunging over the swell in the direction of the light.Sooner than was expected they came up with it, and a hurrah in thedistance told that all was right.
"Here we are, thank God," cried Captain Guy, "safe and sound! We don'trequire assistance, Mr Saunders; pull for the ship."
A short pull sufficed to bring the three boats alongside, and in a fewseconds more the crew were congratulating their comrades, with thatmingled feeling of deep heartiness, and a disposition to jest, which ischaracteristic of men who are used to danger, and think lightly of itafter it is over.
"We've lost our fish, however," remarked Captain Guy, as he passed thecrew on his way to the cabin; "but we must hope for better luck nexttime."
"Well, well," said one of the men, wringing the water out of his wetclothes as he walked forward, "we got a good laugh at Peter Grim, if wegot nothin' else by our trip."
"How was that, Jack?"
"Why, ye see, jist before the whale gave in, it sent up a spout o' bloodand oil as thick as the main-mast, and, as luck would have it, down itcame slap on the head of Grim, drenchin' him from head to foot, andmakin' him as red as a lobster."
"'Ow did you lose the fish, sir?" enquired Mivins, as our hero sprang upthe side, followed by Singleton.
"Lost him as men lose money in railway speculations nowadays. We _sank_him, and that was the last of it. After he had towed us I don't knowhow far-out of sight of the ship at any rate,--he suddenly stopped, andwe pulled up and gave him some tremendous digs with the lances, until hespouted jets of blood, and we made sure of him, when, all at once, downhe went head foremost like a cannon-ball, and took all the line out ofboth boats, so we had to cut, and he never came up again. At least, ifhe did, it became so dark that we never saw him. Then we pulled towhere we thought the ship was, and, after rowing nearly all night,caught sight of your lights; and here we are, dead-tired, wet to theskin, and minus about two miles of whale-line and three harpoons."