AFTER THE WHALE
There was considerable excitement on the dock. The news soon spread
that one of the monsters of the deep had been sighted off the beach,
and a number of boats were gotten ready to go out for a glimpse of the
whale.
“Here’s our chance,” said Ned. “Why can’t we go out and have a look at
him? I never saw a whale in the ocean.”
“Neither did I, nor anywhere else,” Jerry replied. “I guess we can go.”
“Hi there!” hailed a voice, and the boys saw the old sailor beckoning
to them. “Avast! I want to speak to you. Avast! Belay!”
“Shall we see what he wants?” asked Jerry.
The old man was dancing about on the dock, hitching his trousers up
so often that Bob remarked he would wear them out in a short time at
that rate. His one eye was rolling about trying to see in half a dozen
directions at once.
“Can’t do any harm to learn what he wants,” Ned replied. “Put her over,
Jerry.”
Accordingly the _Dartaway_ was steered toward the dock, on which there
were quite a number of persons. Several were getting boats ready to go
off and get a view of the big creature.
“Steady now, my hearties!” exclaimed the old sailor. “That’s the way to
do it! Couldn’t have done it any better myself!” as Jerry brought the
boat up alongside of the dock without hitting the string piece.
“Did you call us?” asked Bob.
“Sure, son, I want you to take me out so we can kill that whale. Shiver
my timbers, but it’s like old times again!”
“Did you ever kill whales?” asked Ned.
“Did I? Say you don’t know me!”
Then, rolling up his sleeves and disclosing two very hairy and much
tattooed arms he sang in a high, quavering voice:
“I’ve traveled in the North sea.
I’ve traveled in the South.
I’ve killed a whale
With the biggest tail
And the smallest kind of a mouth!”
“That’s me! That’s Salt Water Sam!” he went on. “Now boys, if you wait
a minute I’ll go after my harpoon and line, and we’ll have a whale
chase as is a chase.”
Before the boys could reply, the old sailor ran from the dock toward a
little shanty that stood on the beach. When he was gone Jerry asked:
“Shall we risk it, fellows?”
“Maybe he’s only joking?” Bob said. “He doesn’t look as if he knew how
to harpoon a whale.”
“Let’s take him along, anyhow,” Ned put in. “He’ll know a lot about the
ocean, and we can ask him about the lighthouses and the rocks, even if
we don’t see him kill a whale.”
In a few minutes the old man came back again. On his head he carried a
tub, while over his shoulder was a long pole. He ran down to the dock
with a speed surprising in so old a person.
“There she is!” he cried, as he reached the boat. “There’s the iron
that sent many a good whale, and some bad ones, too, maybe, to the
boiling kettles. There she is!”
It was a harpoon that he had; an old implement, and one that had seen
service, to judge by the look of it. It was rusty, and the wooden
handle was full of notches.
“Them’s the number of whales she’s been into,” said Salt Water Sam,
proudly, pointing to the cuts. “I did every one myself. And this tub
and line--well they’ve seen service, just the same as their owner.
They’re old but you can depend on ’em.”
While he was speaking he had boarded the boat, and was arranging the
tub, with its coil of line in the bottom, at the bow. Then he sat down
near Ned, and, taking out a file, began sharpening the barb of the
harpoon.
“Let her go, skipper,” said Sam, to Jerry, and, at a nod from the
latter, Bob cranked the engine, and the _Dartaway_ was steered out
toward the open sea.
“Any danger of a storm?” asked Ned, of the old sailor. He did not want
to get caught as they had been before.
“Clear as a bell, and it’ll stay so ’till dog watch,” the sailor
replied, not looking up from the delicate operation of putting a finer
point on his weapon.
“I’m afraid we’ll see very little of the whale,” remarked Bob. “All the
other boats are ahead of us, and they’ll scare him off so we’ll miss
him.”
“Don’t let that worry you, sonny,” said Sam. “Trust an old whaleman to
find the creatures if they’re within seeing distance. Put her right
between the two points, lad, there’s less current there, and you’ll
skim along like one of Mother Carey’s chickens,” he added to Jerry.
Jerry speeded up the engine, and the _Dartaway_ fairly flew through the
water. Ahead was quite a flotilla of sail and motor boats, crowded with
persons anxious to get a view of the sea monster.
“It’s a sweet little craft you have here, lads,” Sam remarked, having
satisfied himself that the harpoon was sharp enough. “Almost as fast
as the _Dolly Gray_, in which I made my first voyage to the whaling
grounds. Ah, but she was a lovely schooner.”
Sam now began fastening the line to the weapon. He took great care in
this, and Ned and Bob watched him curiously. Then he saw to it that the
line was properly coiled in the tub.
“Can’t be too careful,” the sailor remarked. “If it snarls why it’s all
up with the whale and you, too.”
“Is there going to be any danger?” asked Bob, in some alarm.
“Not with Salt Water Sam aboard,” was the sailor’s reply. “You leave it
to me.”
By this time the _Dartaway_ was up with the last of the boats, and, a
little later had overhauled some of them. Ten minutes more and she had
passed the points of the harbor and the boys found themselves out on
the open Atlantic.
The water was calm, and there was scarcely a breeze to ruffle the
surface. There was a long gentle swell, but the lads soon became used
to this.
“Now, boys,” said Sam, “if you’ll do as I tell you we’ll be all right.
I’m going to stand in the bow, and, skipper, you send her forward or
back, as I tell you. If we strike the whale you want to send her astern
like lightning, or there’ll be a mess.”
“Aye aye, sir!” answered Jerry, somewhat inclined to laugh at the old
man’s earnestness.
“That’s the way to talk,” said Sam. “Put her out a little more,
skipper. I want to clear some of these craft.”
Jerry manœuvred so as to round a number of other power boats, which
seemed to be headed for one spot. They were evidently steering for
where the whale had last been seen.
“He was headed up the coast,” Sam murmured. “We’ll point up that way,
and maybe we can land him before the others scare him away.”
It was here that the old sailor’s knowledge of whales and their ways
stood him in good stead. He knew the creature would not merely float
around on the water, but would dive, and swim beneath the surface. He
had made inquiries and learned that the monster was headed up the coast.
The _Dartaway_ was now comparatively alone, there being no other boats
within a quarter of a mile. The rest were hovering near where the big
creature had been seen to go down.
“If he comes up under one of those boats it will be all day with ’em,”
observed Ned.
Salt Water Sam was standing in the bow, beside Jerry, who was at the
wheel. The old man peered ahead with his one keen eye. He was as still
as though the carved figurehead of a vessel; every muscle was tense,
every nerve on the alert. The joy of battle shone in his face.
Suddenly, just ahead of the _Dartaway_, there was a commotion in the
water. It seemed to boil and bubble. Then something big and black was
flung up from the hidden depths.
At the same instant two thin columns of water shot up from the surface
of the ocean. Up and up they went, sparkling in the sun.
“There she blows! There she blows!” yelled Sam. “Send her ahead, boys!”