Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-01-09

little twenty-eight.feet shell, coolly |
going down in stormy sea to do bat.
tie with the mightiest created animal
1t is the extreme of human GOODNESS
and courage, because it is the extreme
of danger. The soldier faces one peril
the bullet. The whaleman, in such
q case as this, has three mighty enc
mics to fght-the sea, the gale, and
the whale.
We saw the harpooner of each boat
stand up as they came within heaving
distance, and send in his two irons. All
the boats were fast before the monster
seemed to feel the first blow. Then
came the fight, the cruel and unuatur-
al fight between vast power and keen
skill. The black water was churned
white as the fiukeS struck out in rage
and agony. The sun disappeared, and
the gale screamed wilder in the rig
ging. We could no longer see the boats
from the ship. The few men on board
clewed up the light sails and took a
reef in the top sails, and by this time
the night was dark as pitch and the
gale had whipped and howled itself in
to a hurricane.
1t was fearful to think of the four
small boats out in such sea as was
then running. We on the ship had to
cling to the rail or the rigging; the ter
rifle strength of the waves swept the
heavy vessel about like cord. l saw
| the captains face for a moment as he
passed the pinnacle lamp, and it was
actually deformed with grief and ter.
ror-not for himself, brave old sailor,
but for his boys in the boats.
who's at the wheel!" he shouted;
':send steady man to the wheel!''
LAY. ay, sir!' answered in the dark
a deep quiet voice; I've got the
Wheel
That was Chips, and 1 walked aft to
be near him. just then long hail
came through the. darkness, and we
saw the flash of a boat s lantern on the
quarter. In minute more line was
flung aboard, and we soon had one
crew safe on deck. It was the mates
boat.
:Where are the others!' was the
first question.
Fast to the whale, was the answer;
''and there are no lanterns on the
boats
One of the men from the boat re-
lieved Chips at the wheel, and he went
forward to rig lanterns at the fore and
main tops. When this was done we
stood together on the forecastle, look
ing and listening for the boats. Sud-
denly he turned to me and said:
''We're going to lose some one to-
night. While 1 was at the wheel, it
seemed as if something whispered in
my ear that we're going to lose one
man tonight
l said he was growing as superstiti-
Gus as old Kanaka Joe. and he ans
wered:
Il can't help it. 1t seemedI heard
that whisper, and so plain was it that
I nearly dropped the wheel in terror. -
Another shout from the sea cut off
further talk, and we soon had two
more boats at the davits. The absent
one was Mr.. Joseph's, and we knew
that through thick and thin he would
hold on to the whale. 1t was hours
before we found him; and when we
did, he refused to cut his line from the
carcass. The captain cried to him
that he would not hold the whale in
such sea. But the whaleman shout
ed back:
''He's a hundred-an' fifty barreler;
and if you don't take the line aboard,
We'll stick to him in the boat!''
Soon after as the gale was moderat-
ing, the line was taken in, passing
through strong iron brace screwed
on to the starboard rail just forward
of the gangway amidships, from which
it was taken back and made fast to the
windlass bits at the foot of the main.
mast.
1t was a new line of stout Manila
hemp, and it's strength was put to a
fearful test. A hundred fathoms deep
astern of the ship it held the monster
carcass; and as the vessel rolled heavi-
ly to the sea. the strain of the line was
terrific.
Standing forward of it, 1 laid my
hand on the line as the strain came,
and / felt it, stretch and contract like
a rope of India rubber.
Mr.. .Josevh's boat had come along
side, and the captain, standing on the
starboard rail, was shouting to him
through a trumpet. The line from the
whale, passing from astern to the brace
forward, and back to the bits amid
ships, made an acute angle, inside
which the captain was standing. I saw
and noticed, also, in the dark, tall
man who seemed to be leaning against
the line. Il hope he is forward of it, -
l said to myself as ! went on with
what was about.
I had not taken six steps from the
spot when something strange occurred.
The ship steadied, as if the wind had
ceased. There was no sound greater
than the storm; but, instead, there
seemed to fall suddenly a stiffness. I
ran amidships and grasped for the line
in the dark. 1t was gone! A rush to
the rail, and all was clear. The strain
had torn out the brace. The mighty
pull of the whale astern hadGerked the
line straight, like the cord of gigan-
tic bow, and the captain, who had been
standing on the rail, was struck by the
flying rope, and thrown senseless far
into the sea.
| A II tbic bo6 boop COON nv tbo roo,,