Part 2 (2/2)
”Stand by to pull,” said Hank quietly
The two forward oars, watching, dipped lightly and moved the boat a yard or two, then waited, their oars in the water and ariven millions, if he had possessed theet away fro fury for the little boat But Hank stood motionless
Another second and Colin could alh the frail craft, when Scotty suddenly yelled,
”Pull!”
As Scotty yelled, Colin vaguely--for everything see steel lance The suction half whirled the boat round, but the whale sounded a little, co hollowly Even to the boy's untrained ear there was a difference, and when he noticed that blood was mixed with the vapor thrown out from the blowhole, his hope revived The second rush of the whale was easily avoided, and Hank thrust in the lance again Then, for the first ti, slow smile
”That's the way it used to be done in the old days!” he said, with just a shade of triumph in his voice ”Pull away a little, boys, to be clear of the flurry Have you a buoy ready, Scotty?”
The sailor nodded
”There won't be s with the lance both times”
The old whaler looked at Colin, as a little white about the lips
”Scared you, I reckon?” he said ”You don't need to feel bad over that
Any one's got a right to be scared when a whale's chargin' the boat
I've been whalin' for nigh on forty-five years an' that's only the second devil-whale I've ever killed with a hand-lance He pretty near caught us with his flukes that first time, too!”
”Guess that's the end of hi anie flukes throwing up a fountain of spray
”That's the end,” agreed Hank
Alray whale turned, one fin loo above the water as he did so, and sank heavily to the bottom, the buoy which had been attached to the harpoon-line by Scotty shohere he sank, so that the shi+p could pick up the carcass later
”How big do you suppose that whale was?” queried the boy as they started to pull back to the shi+p
”'Bout forty-five foot, I reckon,” was the reply, ”an' we ought to get about twenty barrels of oil out of hiht to help so Just think if I had ht,” the old whaler said, ”but I tell you it was a narrow squeak They'll have been worryin' on board, though, if any one has been able to see that ere hitched up to a gray whale”
”Isn't there any danger with other whales?”
”Wa'al, you've got to kno to get at 'eot to do is to keep out o' the way There's no whale except the California whale that'll charge a boat I did know one chap that was killed by a huht under the boat and upset it--they often do that--an' when one of the chaps was in the water the whale happened to give a slap with his tail an' the poor felloas right under it”
Colin was anxious to start the old whaler on so the shi+p he decided to wait for an opportunity when there would be more time and the raconteur would have full leeway for his stories
”Forty-five-footer, sir,” called Hank, as they came up to the shi+p
”Gray devil, sir”
The captain lifted his eyebrows in surprise, for he had not thought of a California whale so far north, but he answered in an offhand way:
”More sport than profit in that Did you have a run for your money, Colin?”