little ones?" I asked, seeing him thus chatty. "Wall, it's jest
ez it happens, boy--just ez it happens. I've seen a fifty-bar'l
bull make the purtiest fight I ever hearn tell ov--a fight thet
lasted twenty hours, stove three boats, 'n killed two men. Then,
again, I've seen a hundred 'n fifty bar'l whale lay 'n take his
grooel 'thout hardly wunkin 'n eyelid--never moved ten fathom
from fust iron till fin eout. So yew may say, boy, that they're
like peepul--got thair iudividooal pekyewlyarities, an' thars no
countin' on 'em for sartin nary time." I was in great hopes of
getting some useful information while his mood lasted; but it was
over, and silence reigned. Nor did I dare to ask any more
questions; he looked so stern and fierce. The scene was very
striking. Overhead, a bright blue sky just fringed with fleecy
little clouds; beneath, a deep blue sea with innumerable tiny
wavelets dancing and glittering in the blaze of the sun; but all
swayed in one direction by a great, solemn swell that slowly
rolled from east to west, like the measured breathing of some
world-supporting monster. Four little craft in a group, with
twenty-four men in them, silently waiting for battle with one of
the mightiest of God's creatures--one that was indeed a terrible
foe to encounter were he but wise enough to make the best use of
his opportunities. Against him we came with our puny weapons, of
which I could not help reminding myself that "he laugheth at the
shaking of a spear." But when the man's brain was thrown into
the scale against the instinct of the brute, the contest looked
less unequal than at first sight, for THERE is the secret of
success. My musings were very suddenly interrupted. Whether we
had overrun our distance, or the whale, who was not "making a
passage," but feeding, had changed his course, I do not know;
but, anyhow, he broke water close ahead, coming straight for our