Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-06-06
CLARKsBURG, WEDNESDAY,, JUNE 8, 1855.

: the flying foe. At this instant the har
j poon whizzed through the air deep int
! the monsters back, and was imbedded il
/, the tough blubber. In second the sal
was again taken in, and the boat steerel
sPringing back to the tiller, made room
] for the harpooner to throw his lance, and
! give the leviathan Of the deep his death
blow. Patrick stood in the bows, with
his face raised for a cast, and the crew
tugged away at the harpOon rope, to bring
their little barque close up to the captive
fish. Patrick bent back, and while the
Ifukes of the gigantic brute lashed the
waves close to them, and it rose once again
to escape the danger which it saw impsn-
ding, the death bearing steel sank deeply
into the soft flank of The foe. In a 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.
/" Thick blood p the crew shouted at
this moment; but the voice of the har-
pooner was heard, "Back for your lives!''
And while the boatswain threw his whole
weight on the tiller, and leaned overheard
to bring her head around, and ere the crew
could slip their oars, the furious brute
came up with open jaws, and seizing and
crushing the thin planks, tore them asun-
der as if made of paper. Patrick saw the
danger, knew what impended over them,
and with an unshaken hand he again
hurled lance at the enemy and pierced
its eye-but he could not save the boat.
The maddened brute probably did
not feel the new wound in the death
struggles. For. blowing out the thick,
black blood, and only thirsting for re,
venge, it tore the boat in pieces, and the
fcaming, bloodstained waves soon closed
over mass of fragments and swimmers,
who only tried to clutch at plank in the
instructive feeling of self preservation
Patrick had quite unsconciously seized
the line to which the harpoon was fastened
and winding it around his arm, the whale
dragged him along through the coored
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 once or twice III circle,
lashed the trembling waves with his gi-
gantic hukes, and then foatcd slowly
and dead upon the blood stained sea
Patrick, who had risen with it, and who
had been SO unwillingly taken into with
the whale, swan quickly upto the float
ing monster, seized the harpoon, raised
himself up at the very moment when
piercing shrek sounded close behind
| him. In horror he tuned round the
cry for help was too agonizing but he
| fel; as If stabbed to the heart when he
saw ct no great distance from him, the
the dark dossal fms of two sharks
which shot greedily hack and forwards,
| while the gurgling water Just behind
him, and the lashing Of the waves, be-
trayed the spot where one Of his com
raLes was fighting the fight of death in
the goerci!ess clutches of a third brute.
Here and there few Of the unhappy
men belonging to the boat we're still float.
ing on oars and pIanks, but only three
lett of the merry fellows who, but few
minutes before, had aoluly locked danger
in the face, and now the hyenas of the
deep were reveling beneath them. or
What avail vas the powerful blow Of the
arm aimed at them, or the yell of des-
pair ? 1t was music in the ears of the
cold, fearful monsters, with their cat-like
eyes and giant strength; and the bloody
foam which at the next moment aoated on
the surface Of the water, was the cerecIoth
OF the unhappy men, and revealed their
graves.
"This is fearful /" groaned Patrick,
who had hardly strength enough to keep
on the back of the whale that still offered
him rOtection-''fearEuI thus to die, and
no help" And his eye sought despe
rately over the watery waste for the sa>
wing ship, which was tacking to pick up
the other boats, far, far away on the no
rizon. And when they missed him, and
sought for him, and could not End the
boat with the glass, and sailed about for
days Ill search Of him, Of what avail would
that be to him? Only hours-minutes,
perhaps-Were allotted to him. and his
n1urderers were bounding in their inssti-
ate greed after their prey. Siluddering,
he concealed his face in his hands. almost
forgetting his own peril, TO see the death
struggles Of his comrades around him
which was only counterpart of what
awaited him. But the kissing and beat
ing of the waves compelled him at last,
; with that instinct Of self-preservation
) which clings to a straw, to think Of his
own salvation, or at less; to defer his
fate as long as possible, in order to leave
. room for any possibility of help. The
harpoon il the back Of the whale, which
! drove still deeper into blubber, Offered
f hina support to keep him on the slip
perry, smooth mass. For, although ht
/ thought once or twice about cutting on
= the head and using it as a weapon 0
defence against the greedy sharks, still
ne Immediately gave up the idea again
, Once washed into the sea. even the sharl
, steel would be TO protection against TIN
!; agile shark, which would infsiIbly seiz,
n its prey eventually, and then draw hin
! down in spite of all the wounds it nigh