We persevered, however, and at last managed to get near enough for the skipper to hurl a lance into the brightness of which the whale formed the centre.It must have touched him, for he gave a bound forward and disappeared.We suddenly came to a standstill, but in a moment were whirled round as if on a pivot, and away we went in the opposite direction.He had turned a complete somersault in the water beneath us, giving us a "grue" as we reflected what would have happened had he then chosen to come bounding to the surface.This manoeuvre seemed to please him mightily, for he ran at top speed several minutes, and then repeated it.This time he was nearly successful in doing us some real harm, for it was now so dark that we could hardly see the other boat's form as she towed along parallel to us about three or four lengths away.The two boats swung round in a wide circle, rushing back at each other out of the surrounding darkness as if bent on mutual destruction.Only by the smartest manipulation was a collision avoided, which, as each boat's bows bristled with lances and harpoons, would have been a serious matter for some of us.However, the whale did not have it all his own way, for the skipper, having charged his bomb-gun, patiently laid for him, and fired.It was rather a long shot, but it reached him, as we afterwards ascertained, making an ugly wound in the small near his tail.
Its effect upon him was startling and immediate.He rushed off at so furious a rate dead to windward that for a great while we had all our work cut out to keep her free by baling.The sea had risen a little, and as we leapt from one wave to another the spray flew over us in an almost continuous cloud.Clearly our situation was a parlous one.We could not get near him; we were becoming dangerously enfeebled, and he appeared to be gaining strength instead of losing it.Besides all this, none of us could have the least idea of how the ship now bore from us, our only comfort being that, by observation of the Cross, we were not making a direct course, but travelling on the circumference of an immense circle.Whatever damage we had done to him so far was evidently quite superficial, for, accustomed as we were to tremendous displays of vigour on the part of these creatures, this specimen fairly surprised us.
The time could only be guessed at; but, judging from our feelings, it might have been two or three nights long.Still, to all things an end, so in the midst of our dogged endurance of all this misery we felt the pace give, and took heart of grace immediately.Calling up all our reserves, we hauled up on to him, regardless of pain or weariness.The skipper and mate lost no opportunities of lancing, once they were alongside, but worked like heroes, until a final plunging of the fast-dying leviathan warned us to retreat.Up he went out of the glittering foam into the upper darkness, while we held our breath at the unique sight of a whale breaching at night.But when he fell again the effect was marvellous.Green columns of water arose on either side of the descending mass as if from the bowels of the deep, while their ghostly glare lit up the encircling gloom with a strange, weird radiance, which reflected in our anxious faces, made us look like an expedition from the FLYING DUTCHMAN.A short spell of gradually quieting struggle succeeded as the great beast succumbed, until all was still again, except the strange, low surge made by the waves as they broke over the bank of flesh passively obstructing their free sweep.
