_In which the Chase is Kept up and the Captain Promises
Himself a Kill_
THE number of whales was less than the captain of the _Viking_ had
thought. When the vessel came up with the school, however, there were
twenty or more fin-backs to pick and choose from. They lay on every
hand, wallowing at the surface of the sea and spouting thick, low
streams of water with evident delight: whales far and near, big and
small, in pairs and threes, rising and gently sinking, blowing and
_hon-g-king_, and, at last, arching their broad, finned backs for the
long dive.
The breathing spell was of two or three minutes' duration, the dive
of five or ten, and might last much longer. Billy was told that as
the whales went thus, rising and diving, they travelled in a circle,
feeding on young caplin and herring, squid and crustaceans. He had
never thought to admire the grace of a whale; but his admiration was
compelled: the ponderous, ill-proportioned monsters were so perfectly
adapted to the element they were in that the languor and grace with
which they moved was a delight--particularly when they arched their
glistening black backs and softly, languidly vanished.
But meantime the _Viking_ was lying silent and still; and--
"_Hon-g-k!_" from off the port bow.
"Ha!" exclaimed the captain.
A big whale had risen. The long "_Hon-g-k!_" as he had inhaled a small
cyclone of breath was sufficient to tell that. He was big and he was
near.
"Full speed!" quietly from the captain in Norwegian.
The steersman had already spun the wheel without orders. The _Viking_
swung in a half circle and made for the whale at top speed. There
was just a quiver of excitement abroad--a deepening glitter in the
eyes of the crew, and silence. The rush was upon the whale from
behind--instant, swift, straight: the engines chug-chugged and the
water swished noisily at the bows. There was no lying in ambush, no
stalking: it was sight your game and make for him.
The captain leaned lazily on the gun, which he had not yet swung into
position for firing; his legs were crossed, though the whale was not a
hundred yards away, and he was placidly smoking his pipe. The fin-back
lay dead ahead now, apparently unconscious of the _Viking's_ approach,
and she was soon so near that his escape seemed to Billy to be beyond
the barest chance. The captain waved his hand, calmly looked over the
sea, and fell again into his careless position, with one eye on the
whale.
At once the engines stopped and the _Viking_ slipped softly on with
diminishing speed. When she was within thirty yards of the whale,
each separate muscle of Billy's body was tight with excitement--but
the whale arched his back and slipped down deep into the water with a
contemptuous swing of his broad, strong tail.
"Psh-h!" exclaimed the captain, giving one slippered foot a kick with
the other. "Psh!"
They were running over a stretch of frothy, swirling water, where the
whale had lain a moment before.
"_Hon-g-k_!" from off the starboard quarter.
The captain signaled the steersman, who shouted "Full speed!" down the
wheel-house tube. In a flash they were chug-chugging in haste after
another whale--which eluded them at once, with no more fuss than the
first had made: no blowing and frantic splashing; just a lifting of the
back and a languid swing of the tail. Thus the third, the fourth, the
fifth: again and again, through the hours of that quiet morning, they
gave chase; but all to no purpose--on the contrary, indeed, with the
bad effect of alarming the whole school. The whales made sport of them;
the flash of their fins, as they slipped away beyond pursuit, was most
aggravating.
Soon the captain's "Psh!" became guttural, and communicated itself
to the man in the crow's-nest and the engineer who was off duty; the
elusive fin-backs were too much for the patience of them all. But for
hours the "old man" leaned on the gun and smoked his pipe, intent on
the chase through every moment of that time. He kicked his right foot
with his left; his broad back shook with rage; strange ejaculations
drifted back with the clouds of tobacco smoke: that was all. Repeated
disappointment but heightened the alertness and eagerness of the crew.
Every lost whale was dismissed with a "Psh-h!" and quite forgotten in
the pursuit of the next one.
Nine hours out from Snook's Arm and six with the school without
pointing a gun!
"Agh!" the captain exclaimed, jumping from the gun platform, at last,
"the whale captain have the worst business of all men. Agh! but I wish
for rough seas. But I wish I had my harpoon in the back of some whale."
All days are not blue. Before the summer was over, Billy Topsail
learned there were times when the _Viking_ put out from the shelter of
Snook's Arm to a sea that _is_ rough. A gale from the northeast, gray
and gusty, whips up the white horses, and frost gives new weight to the
water. Wind and fog and high seas and sleet make the chase perilous
as well as bitter. She stumbles through the waves and wallows in the
trough with a clear-cut duty before her--to catch and kill a whale: the
little niceties of dodging breaking waves cannot be indulged in when
all manoevering must be directed towards coming up with the quarry
from the proper firing-quarter.
But Billy's first day was clear and quiet; and the whales were having a
glorious innings with the enemy.
* * * * *
By noon the prospects for a kill had faded to a bare possibility; the
school had been well scattered. Down the coast and up the coast, out to
sea and far away across the bay, puffs of spray made known the various
directions the whales had taken. About two o'clock--ten hours out from
Snook's Arm, with no let up in duty--the crew were attracted by the
deep, long _hon-g-k_ of a big fellow out to sea and by the spouting of
his two companions: a group of three, male and female, doubtless, with
a well-grown young one. They gave chase. Captain and crew had come to
that pass when fury gets the better of patience.
It was determined to hunt that little school to the death or until deep
night put an end to the chase.
"I get 'im," said the captain between his teeth. "He is big. I get
him--or none."
It was not easy to get him. They were led twenty miles to sea in short
rushes, each of which ended in disappointment and elicited a storm of
guttural ejaculations; they were lured inshore, where submerged rocks
were a menace; they were taken up the coast and back again towards the
islands of the lower shore and once more to sea. Mile after mile--hour
after hour! They came near--they could have hit the beast with a
stone. Occasionally the captain swung the gun into position and put a
hand on the trigger; but the arching back always gave notice, in good
time, that he had been balked again. They tried to guess the point
where the quarry would rise; they steamed near that point, and lay
there waiting.
"_Hon-g-k_!" from half a mile astern.
"Agh!" cried the captain, chagrin twisting his face. "The whale captain
have pos--ee--tiv--lee the worst----! Full speed!"
Off again in persistent chase. Meantime the sun had declined; evening
was drawing on, with gray clouds mounting in the west, and a breeze
rising inshore. The sea was spread with shadow, and all the ripples
grew to little waves, which, hissing as they broke, obscured the swish
of water at our bows. The opportunity was better, and the whales, it
may be, had acquired the inevitable contempt that familiarity breeds.
The _Viking_ crept nearer. Each time, a little nearer; and, by and by,
when she had come within range--within range for the first time that
day--and was running at half speed, with the grayish-black backs most
temptingly exposed, the captain dropped the muzzle of the gun, took
swift sight, and--swung the gun around with impatient force! The whale
was gone on the long dive before a vital spot had been exposed.
There was no impatience of action aboard the _Viking_: the harpoon
might even then have been fast in the whale's back, but the captain had
coolly withheld his stroke until the opportunity should be precisely
what he sought. And this display of patience after a fruitless chase of
fifteen hours! Billy Topsail gasped his disappointment. But the captain
laughed.
"I get him yet," he said. "Soon, now," after a look at sea and
darkening sky.