877 Return to the Sea (1/2)
The sea water was rising, so there was not much time left for Zhang Zian and his helpers.
They hoped and hoped that the boat would come, just like the poor peasants hoping for the red army's arrival. They were worried that the boat might not come if they were unable to find the leader of the Administration of Fishery.
Xiao Zhi exclaimed, and both Zhang Zian and Huang turned to look. Indeed, they saw a small towboat coming towards them. On the boat, they could vaguely see the words ”Administration of Fishery” written in Chinese.
Huang, at his age, actually jumped up with joy. He waved his hands and shouted, ”Hi! We're here! We're here!”
There was no need for him to shout since the minke whale was much more conspicuous than he was. The Administration's towboat had already noticed them from far away.
Zhang Zian tried to hurry what he was doing, and quickly completed the stitching of the minke whale's wound.
His technique was very crude. The skin around the wound was lumpy, so there would definitely have an ugly scar in the future. Zian could only hope that the would not affect the minke whale's ability to find a partner…
Thankfully, the bleeding had stopped; there was only a thread of blood that was still seeping out. This semi-mature minke whale had a very strong life force, and its platelets soon coagulated the wound.
The pain that had persisted for a long time was now gone. The minke whale happily patted its pectoral and caudal fins. It inhaled some sea water before expelling it out through its baleen. It couldn't wait to return back to the ocean.
But returning was not something it could accomplish alone, because its head was in the direction of the land––out of the water––and its body was way too heavy. Without sufficient buoyancy, it was nearly impossible for it to turn around, even with the help of the high tide.
The towboat was getting closer, and the figure of the people onboard the boat were growing clearer. They could see a few enforcement officers from the Administration of Fishery in their uniforms and orange life jackets.
The towboat could not be too close to the shore, otherwise, it might also get stranded on shore.
The enforcement officers turned off the engine and anchored the boat. They parked the towboat approximately about twenty to thirty meters away from the minke whale. Several enforcement officers then took an inflatable boat towards the shore, they jumped into the water and dragged the small inflatable boat ashore.
”Sorry! I'm sorry we've kept you waiting for so long!” The person in charge stepped up and took the initiative to apologize. He seemed sincere. ”We wanted to come over earlier, but the boat was located somewhere else, so we had to arrange for it to come back.”
”Hello. We were the ones who called.” Zhang Zian pointed to the himself and the two others on his side.
”No problem. As long as you guys are here now,” Huang said with a smile. He even took out his phone and snapped a few pictures.
”How long has this minke whale been beached for?” the enforcement officer asked.
Zhang Zian pointed at Huang and Xiao Zhi. ”The two of them discovered it first.”
Huang told him everything that had happened. He mentioned that he was flying a kite with his son along the beach when he had chanced upon the beached minke whale. Zhang Zian was then called over by his son when his son went to look for some help. The three of them then helped to splash water on the whale to control its temperature.
”You guys handled this very well, but we're really very late,” the officer praised. ”Do you have relevant experiences?”
Huang shrugged his shoulders.
Zhang Zian answered for him, ”I know some popular science information, so I have a very basic understanding.”
”No wonder…” The officer examined the minke whale. He noticed the wound on its back and the messy stitching. ”This is…”
”It was already injured when we discovered it. It was caused by a harpoon,” Huang hurriedly explained. He also shared how Zhang Zian had removed the harpoon and stitched the wound.
”Great!” The officer stuck out his thumb in awe. ”It's my first time seeing someone operate on a whale without any form of anesthesia! Didn't it struggle?”
”It struggled, but it was still okay. It wasn't very aggressive,” Zhang Zian answered.
The officer sighed. ”Actually a similar situation has happened before… Forget it, let's get it back into the sea first. We'll talk again later.”
Now was not the time to talk. The sea water was rising higher––even adults like them were unable to stabilize themselves.
”Lifebuoy and rope,” the officer shouted at the other officers from the administration. ”Are there any extra life jackets? Throw them here too.”
Splash! Splash!
Several red and white patterned lifebuoys and life jackets were thrown from the small boat. There was also a thick hemp rope.
”This is what I have in mind: let's tie the lifebuoy and life jackets onto the whale's body to increase its buoyancy, then we'll use the towboat to drag it back into the sea. What do you guys think?” the officer asked.
Zhang Zian nodded and agreed. ”I think it's feasible.”
”Great, then let's begin.”
They all worked together with the other officers from the administration. They tied the lifebuoy and life jackets on both sides of the minke whale and skillfully used the hemp rope to tie a Y-shaped sailor knot on its body.
When Zhang Zian had used his Wuling Shenguang to turn the minke whale over, he had also used a rope to tie a knot. When his knot was compared to their sailor knot, however, his was far too simple. The sailor knot was both tight and firm. All they needed to do was to lightly tug on it if they wanted to untie it, but it was a skill that only seasoned seafarers would have.
They had increased the buoyancy by the lifebuoys and life jackets, as well as the rising sea water which submerged most of the minke whale's body in the water. It seemed to have gotten a lot lighter. When everyone was tying the rope around it, it was moving its body around, and that would not have happened earlier. It was also a sign that it's wound wasn't hurting as much anymore.
”Okay, there's nothing more we can do here. Let us go on shore,” the officer said.
Finally, Zhang Zian and the rest could leave the water. Almost half of their bodies were submerged in the sea, and when the waves came, they were pushed around.
They waddled their way ashore.
When Zhang Zian walked past the whale's head, he seemed to have felt something nudge against his thigh. He looked down to see the minke whale looking at him with its warm and peaceful eyes, as if it was trying to convey something very warm to him.
Zhang Zian gave it a final pat on its head, then waved his hands and walked ashore.
The officers from the administration pushed the small inflatable boat back into the sea, and took the other end of the hemp rope to the towboat, the people on the towboat then tied the hemp rope to a specialized towing tool.
They communicated through the use of their walkie-talkie. They had a discussion to start the towboat when the tide was at its highest.
Zhang Zian and Huang's pants had absorbed a lot of water, and it was very uncomfortable having them stick to their skin––especially since it was cold, too. They wrung their pants to get some water out, and only then did they feel more comfortable. It was only a temporary solution; they would have to change their pants immediately when they got home, otherwise when their pants dried up, there were going to be white salt spots.
The tide was at its highest, and most of the minke whale's body was submerged in the water. When the biggest wave came crashing down, they could even see its dorsal fin.
Splash!
A thin vapor of water sprayed out, reflecting a splendid iridescence under the sunlight, like the signal old steam trains give before their departure. The happiness of the minke whale could clearly be felt.
Under the command of their leader, the towboat started up slowly, and it's horsepower went up from low to high. The thick hemp rope that was originally submerged in the water broke out and stretched into a straight line, dragging the minke whale into the sea.
The body of the minke whale finally moved, dragged by the powerful power of modern mechanical engines. It slowly moved into the sea.
The whale seemed to be unaccustomed to being towed by the ship. Instinctively, it swayed its tail fins and tried to swim towards the shore. It tried to break free, but its power could not compete with the towboat, and it was slowly dragged deeper into the sea.