"Halloo!" shouted Obed B., as he coiled from the haul he had made, staring with disgust, "What the deuce have I got on my hook now?"
"Conger eel!" said the mate, with a roar of laughter. "That's not the kind you used to spear in Nantucket docks, or stay all night for at Maddaket ditch. Let's see you get clear of him, now you've caught him," for the eel had wriggled and twisted hijjiself into a hopeless snarl with the line, after swallowing the hook firmly; and defied all his attempts to release him, for, as Hoeg expressed it, he "wouldn't be handled."
Manoel, the Portuguese, being better acquainted with eels of that sort, soon got him clear. He said they were good eating; but Hoeg slung him overboard again with, "Who in thunder do you suppose wants to eat that flat-headed snake?"
And now every one began to haul more or less of these eels, which created much merriment and boisterous laughter, while it consumed much time in clearing lines and getting rid of them.
The first haul of my impromptu net brought up one crustaceous monster of the kind I wanted, among a snarl of eels who had writhed and squirmed into and through the meshes of the net, with their teeth fastened among the ropeyarns, and clinging with a pertinacity and muscular power of jaw, which plainly said, "nought but death shall part us." Over it went again, eels and all; and I caught several more craw-fish, great, ugly-looking fellows, who added greatly to the confusion under our feet by flinging their claws and feelers about among the fish at the bottom of the boat.
A loud hail from Mr. Dunham, whose boat was anchored at some distance from us, suddenly interrupted the sport upon which we had been so intent ; and looking up with one accord, we saw that his crew were hauling in their lines for a start, while he himself was gesticulating with his arm extended in the direction of the ship. The ensign was flying at the gaff; a signal of recall.
"He sees whales!" said Mr. Grafton. "In lines, boys! Make them up at once. Haul in your net. Blacksmith, or cut it adrift, and set the sail, as soon as you can get the anchor aweigh!" The orders were obeyed with all speed, and the two boats were soon nearing the ship as fast as the sails and oars would carry us. The small bag was already up at the main; and the extended "pointer" (a light pole with a black ball on the end of it, to be used at the masthead, when the boats are down) told us that the whale was off the ship's lee bow.
"There he hauls aback!" said Father Grafton, "and I declare, there goes the starboard boat down. The whale must be in range of the ship from us, and pretty near the ship too, for the old man can't wait for us, and is going to try him alone. Look! Here's another ship hove in sight round that point, and coming under all sail. Spring hard men, and get alongside! If we only had our line tub in, I wouldn't go to the ship at all, I'd take the fish with me, or else throw them over board."
The second mate was but little ahead of us in getting alongside the ship, and we both strove to outdo each other in getting the lumber out of the boat and the lines in. Fish flew in on deck with the fury of a bombardment; fishing-lines and boat anchors were bundled in among them; we sung out for our line at the same moment Mr. Dunham was shouting for his, and the cooper in the maintopgallant cross-trees excited us to still greater exertions, by the cry "The old man's most on! If he spouts twice more, he'll have him!"
"Bear a hand with that tub!" said Father Grafton. "Be careful to keep it upright, and don't break the coil! So; lower handsomely now! Let go! Shove off, and get your oars out as fast as you can!"
As we swung out by the stern of the ship, the cooper roared again:
"There's white wate-e-er! The old man's fast!''
"Bend on your craft, Blacksmith, as fast as you can," said the mate, "and be sure you have everything clear. Pull ahead, the rest of you."
The two boats were pretty equally matched for a pull; for, though ours was a little the fastest when under sail, Mr. Dunham's crew were rather heavier than ours, and the excess of muscular power counterbalanced the slight difference in the models of the two boats. We diverged a little so as to give each other full swing, and then "hooked down" to our work; for the whale was spinning off to leeward at a smart pace, and a stern chase is proverbially a long one.
"He stays up well," said the mate, who kept his clear eye fixed upon the fast whale; "he hasn't sounded yet, but he runs so that the old man can't haul up to him. There he 'mills!' he's headed along on a wind now," said he, rapidly altering the boat's course with the steering oar, so as to forereach on him. "Stretch hard, men! he's milling more yet! coming to windward! right at us now! All right, we'll take him 'head and head!' "
The two boats now converged again, both aiming for the same point of attack, and steering for the nib-end of the whale. The general reader may be surprised at this mode of approaching him, unless informed that the sperm whale cannot see directly ahead of him, but if a boat pulls for his broadside, he is much more liable to take the alarm.
"Stand up, Blacksmith, and get your craft ready," said the mate, quickly. "See that everything is clear. Be sure and keep cool, and don't dart too soon. Ease pulling, all! He's coming quick enough; there's no need to pull, but stand by your oars, all ready at the word."
He was indeed coming, with a vengeance! As I stood up, he was just in the act of rounding his immense back above the water, after blowing, and the white water was flying from his sides in clouds, as he forced himself to windward. The muscular power of an animal like this is fearful to think of; and I must confess to anxious feelings, nay, to a feeling of dread, even, at the novel position in which I had been so suddenly placed. I remembered Father Grafton's injunction to keep cool, and then thought of the old man's expressive and characteristic words, ''Get a good scote, and grit the ends of your front teeth off.'' I had not time to think of much more, for as his spout-hole made its next appearance above the surface, I saw that he had lessened the distance between us fully one half. He blew off his spout, clear and strong, and as his back rose again, I saw that the captain's boat was but slightly fast by one iron. He had his second iron in the crotch, having hauled it in, but had not yet been able to haul near to the whale, so as to use it.
"Look out next time," said Mr. Grafton in a low, anxious tone. "Don't be in a hurry to dart till you are past his head."
I glanced round; the other boat was waiting the crisis like ourselves, on the other side, just giving room for the whale to pass handsomely between us. Fisher stood balancing his first iron, all eagerness for the fray.
A roar saluted my ears, and a cloud of spray was blown into the air like very fine rain, so near as to envelop me in its cool shower. I grasped my iron; all feelings of fear or dread had vanished. Not so the feeling of anxiety, but it was only anxiety lest the prey might yet escape me.
"Steady, my boy!" said the mate again, "Hold your hand!"
His massive head drew swiftly towards me; the boat rocked in the swell forced off from his glossy side: and his broad back lay temptingly before me. It was a sure thing.
"Now Blacksmith!" said the mate, throwing the boat's head off as he spoke.