"A whale! an embayed whale!"
And so in fact it was; a large whale, which, as whales will sometimes
do--blind ones, perhaps--had lost its way, got entangled among the
sandbanks lying between the island and the shore, and was now making
frantic efforts to escape.
Need we say that a scene of the wildest excitement ensued among the men!
The two boats--one of which was, as we have said, a large one--were got
ready, barbed spears and lances and ropes were thrown into them, as many
men as they could hold with safety jumped in, and pulled away, might and
main, after the terrified whale.
You may be sure, reader, that little Olaf was there, fast by the side of
his friend and hero Karlsefin, who took charge of the large boat, with
Thorward in the bow to direct him how to steer. Biarne was there too as
a matter of course, in charge of the little boat, with Krake as his
bowman and Tyrker pulling the stroke-oar. For Tyrker was strong, though
little, ugly, and old, and had a peculiar talent for getting involved in
any fighting, fun, or mischief that chanced to be in hand. Men said
that he was afraid of dying in his bed, and had made up his mind to rush
continually into the jaws of danger until they should close upon and
crush him; but we are of opinion that this was a calumny. Those of the
men who were necessarily left in the ship could scarce be prevented from
swimming after the boats as they shot away, and nothing but the
certainty of being drowned restrained them from making the mad attempt.
As it was, they clambered upon the figure-head and up the rigging,
where, with gaping mouths and staring eyes, they watched the movements
of their more fortunate companions.
Meanwhile the whale had made what appeared to be a grand and final
neck-or-nothing rush in the direction of the shore. Of course he was
high, although not dry, in a few seconds. That is to say, he got into
water so shallow that he stuck fast, with his great head and shoulders
raised considerably out of the sea, in which position he began to roll,
heave, spout, and lash his mighty tail with a degree of violence that
almost approached sublimity.
He was in these circumstances when the Norsemen came up; for though too
shallow for the whale, the water was quite deep enough for the boats.
Being light, the small boat reached the scene of action first. Krake
stood up in the bow to be ready. He held in his hand a curious wooden
spear with a loose barb tipped with the tusk of a walrus. It had been
procured from one of the Greenland Skraelingers. A rope was attached to
it.
As they drew near, the whale stopped for an instant, probably to recover
breath. Krake raised his spear--the fish raised his tail. Whizz! went
the spear. Down came the tail with a thunderclap, and next moment mud,
sand, water, stones, foam, and blood, were flying in cataracts
everywhere as the monster renewed its struggles.
"Back! back oars!" shouted Biarne, as they were almost swamped by the
flood.
The men obeyed with such good-will that Krake was thrown head-foremost
over the bow.
"Hold fast!" yelled Krake on coming to the surface.
"If ye had held fast ye wouldn't have been there," said Biarne; "where
are ye?"
He rose again out of the foam, yelled, and tossed up his arms.
"Can the man not swim?" cried Biarne, in alarm; "pull, boys, pull!"
The men were already pulling with such force that they almost went over
the man. As they rubbed past him Hake dropped his oar and caught him by
the hair, Biarne leaned over the side and got him by the breeches, and
with a vigorous heave they had him inboard.
"Why, Krake, I thought you could swim!" said Biarne.
"Ay, so I can, but who could swim with a coil of rope round his neck and
legs?"
The poor man had indeed been entangled in the rope of the spear, so that
he could not use his limbs freely.
No more was said, however, for they were still in dangerous proximity to
the tail of the struggling fish, and had to pull out of its way.
Meanwhile the large boat, profiting by the experience of the small one,
had kept more towards the whale's head, and, before Krake had been
rescued, Thorward sent a Skraelinger spear deep into its shoulder. But
this only acted as a spur to the huge creature, and made it heave about
with such violence that it managed to slew right round with its head
offshore.
At this the men could not restrain a shout of alarm, for they knew that
if the whale were to succeed in struggling again into water where it
could swim, it would carry away spears and ropes; or, in the event of
these holding on, would infallibly capsize and sink the boats.
"Come, drive in your spears!" shouted Karlsefin in a voice of thunder,
for his usually quiet spirit was now deeply stirred.
Thorward and one of the men threw their spears, but the latter missed
and the former struck his weapon into a part that was too thick to do
much injury, though it was delivered with great force and went deep.
"This will never do!" cried Karlsefin, leaping up; "here, Swend, take
the helm. Ho! hand me that spear, quick! Now, lads, pull, pull, with
heart and limb!"
As he spoke he sprang like a roused giant into the bow of the boat and
caught up a spear. The men obeyed his orders. The boat rushed against
the whale's side, and, with its impetus added to his own Herculean
strength, Karlsefin thrust the spear deep down into the monster's body
just behind the shoulder fin.
The crimson stream that immediately gushed forth besprinkled all in the
boat and dyed the sea around.
"That is his life-blood," said Karlsefin, with a grim smile; "you may
back off now, lads."
This was done at once. The small boat was also ordered to back off, and
those in it obeyed not a moment too soon, for immediately after
receiving the deadly wound the whale went into a violent dying struggle.
It soon subsided. There were one or two mighty heavings of the
shoulder; then a shudder ran through the huge carcase, and it rolled
slowly over in a relaxed manner which told significantly that the great
mysterious life had fled.