Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1855-08-23
MONTPELIER, VERMONT, THURSDAY

, close to them, and it rose on,e again to escape
: the danger which it saw impending, the death
!, bearing steel sank deeply into the soft flank of
B the foe In second the harpooner withdrew
it to repeat the blow, and the whale in its fury
suddenly turned at bay, causing the sea to hiss
and foam by its rage.
4 !" Thick blood" the crew shouted at this
moment but the voice of the harpooner was
heard :" back for your lives" And while the
boatswain threw his whole weight on the tiller,
and leaned overheard to bring her head round,
and ere the crew could ship their oars, the furi-
Gus brute came up with open jaws and seizing
and crushing the thin planks, tore them asur
der as if made ofpaper. Simmons saw the dan
ger, knew what impended over thea, and with
an unshaken hand he again hurled lance at
the enemy and dspierced his eye-but he could
not save the boat The maddened brute proba-
bly, did not feel the new wound in the death
struggles. For. blowing out the, lick black
t.ooi, and only thirsting for revenge,it tore the
boat in pieces, and the foamng, blood-stained
waves soon closed over mass Of fragments and
swimmers, who only tried to clutch at o plank
in the instructive feeling of selfpreservatOn.-
Simmons had quite unconsciously seized the
line to which the harpoon was fastened, wind
ing ii round his arm !; the whale dragged him
along through the discolored waters, and he
would inevitably have been drowned had the
fish lived few minutes longer. But the first
cast had gone home, and rising again to the
surface, the whale swan round once or twice in
circle, lasbed the trembling waves with its
gigantic flukes, and then foated slowly and
dead upon the blood-stained sea. Simmons, who
had risen with it, and had been so unwillingly
taken in tow with the whale, swan quickly up
to the floating monster, and sezing the harpoon
sticking in it, raised himself up at the very mo-
ment when piercing shrek sounded close be-
hind him. In horror he turned round the cry
for help was too agonizing but he felt as if
stabbed to tho heart when he saw, at no great
, distance from him, the dark dorsal fins of two
sharks, while the gurgling in the water just be-
hind him, and the lashing of the waves, betray-
id the spot where one of his comrades was fight
ing the fight of death in the merciless clutches
. of third brute
+ Here and there few of the unhappy men
belonging to the boat were still floating on oars
and planks, but only three of the merry fellows
4 who, buta few minutes before, had boldly look
ed danger in the face, and now the hyenas of
the deep were revelling beneath them. OF what
= avail was the powerless blow Of the arm aim
{ ed at them, or the yell of despair 1t was mu-
sic in the ears of the cold, fearful monsters, with
their cat-like eyes and giant strength and the
!. bloody foam which at tho next moment hoated
on the surface of the water, was the cerecloth
r. of the unhappy men, and revealed their graves
d This is fearful " groaned Simmons who
o had scarcely strength enough to keen on the
v back Of the whale that still offered hiAs protec
e ton d" fearful thus to die and no help" And
d his eye sought desperately across the watery
n waste for the saving ship, which was tacking tc
n pick up the other boats, far, far away on thu
l. horison. And when they missed him, and coult
Q. not find the boat with the glass, and sailed
It about for days in search of him, of what avail
,e would that be to him! Only hours-minutes
1t pcrhaps-were allotted to him, and his murder
le ers bounding in their insatiate greed afte
ID their prey. Shuddering he concealed his face il
" his hands, almost forgetting his own peril, t
ii the death-struggles of his companions aroun
or him which was only counterpart of wha
ev awaited him, but the kissing and beating of th
he waves compelled him at last to cling to that r
tb stinct of self-preservation which clings to
r. straw, to think of his own preservation, or a
least to defer his own fate as long as possible
Of order to leave room for possibility of hell
M The harpoon in the back of tho whale, whic
,c drove still deeper into the bubber, offered hil
support to keep him on the smooth, slipper
- mass. For, although he thought once or twit
about cutting out the head and using it as
or weapon of defense against the greedy shark
,lv still he Immediately gave up the idea again.
Once washed into the sea, even the sharp ste
N. would be no protection against the agile sharl
Of which would infalliably seize its prey eventua
nj. ly, and then draw him down in spite of all tn
AL wounds it might receive. But one thing he cou
the do. The handle Of the harpoon, a short stol
wn oak stick of about two inches in diameter, WI
,ad still firmly fixed in the steel This he pulled ou
,lf cut it agay from the line with the lanyard kni
ied (every sailor wears on his person,) and the
;ect fastened the cord to the ring in the harpoor
the And while he twisted the cord tightly arour
inns his left hand to have better hold, he seized Il
erv shast with renewed confidence, and awaited wi
ICE tightly clenched teeth and flashing eyes, the
or tack of the foe, which, however, was deferr
ain. for some time ~
pon The sharks were satiated for while, al
PLAYED in the streams of blood which Stain
bod the water around rather than sought for fre
;inc prey. They tried at times to catch hold of
fel. slippery, broad carcass of the whale, or swa
!. +" lazily or sleepily around the broken fragmer
n be of the boat, sezing plank and holding it fo
,,,a while between their teeth, and then pushing
rev. before them with their round-shaped upper ia
or The weather, unfortunately, was quiet and cal
" to and the ripping waves in which the water r
ever and fell, washed over Simmons, but NOT one
Tbs them had come near to scent him and he h
har- ed, perhaps, that he would be able to hold
% to own unassailed until Il ship could come up
the save him. or, at least, send its boats But VII
vhiz- was the ship Father of mercy there was
,ter's prospect of release for a long, long time
bber. even at the distance he then was, it could
the escape the sailors practiced eye that it was k'
made ing away from him. The other boats there
.a l.. .Lt ~ o, e,l md with their hootv al,