The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-08-15

10 bI0 6teIu Oh bUt DDANs Lie Wu0l6
started off like lightning.
Hold on line" said the mate, and
away we shot after her, like an arrow
from q bow. The mate by this time
had his lance ready.
Haul neon that whale, he shouted,
and all hands turned TO hauling line
while I coiled it away to the stern
sheets.
We had got nearly MP TO the whale
when she went to sounding" taking
the line right up and down from the
head of the boat. / had two turns Of
the line around the logger-head, and
was holding on as the boat would bear,
when, all at once another Larger whale,
that we knew nothing about, shot up
out Of the water nearly her whole
length, in a slanting position, hanging
directly over the boat. / threw off the
turns from the loggerhead and shouted
to the men to stern But 1t wa ofnso
use; she fell the whole of her body ON
tho boat. heard q crash, and as went
down / felt q pressure of water over my
head, caused a / then thought, by ttfle
whales fiukes as she struck. How long
/ was under water / know not, but /
remember that all looked dark above
me and 1 tried very hard to shove my
head through, in order to breathe. at
last / succeeded, but what q sight was
that on which / gazed when Hound
myself on the surface of the water!
About a rode from me was the whale
that we were fast to, thrashing the vat
er into a foam with his fiukes, the ocean
red with blood, and the crimson streams
flowing from the wounds made by har-
poems. In another direction i could see
pieces Of the boat floating around. At
the distance Of two or three miles /
could occasionally get a glimpse Of the
ship as / rode on the top of a swell,
and not q human being in sight. Most
forcibly did the words Of the poet apply
to my situation at tLis moment
esOh, Solitude, where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face.
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place."
So thought j, as / struck out for q
piece of our once beautiful boat, q few
rods distant. The crew came up, one
after another, catching at anything
they could see to keep them afioas.
One poor fellow came padding along
with two or three oars under him, cry
ing ont that his back was broken. An
other Of the crew and myself got him
on TIE piece of q boat that he had hold
of. His thigh was broken, and he
could not move his legs at all. The
second mate soon after picked us up
with his boat, and so much had we been
engaged in looking out for ourselves
that we did not perceive that one of our
number was missing. But, alas it was
too soon found ont. He was a young
man about seventeen years old, and did
not belong to the boat, but went in the
place of the midship oarsman, who was
sick at the time. The whale fell di-
rectly on him and probably killed him
in d moment. With what feelings we
pulled round and round the spot where
the boat was steven, unwilling to be-
heve even after we knew there was no
hope, that our shipmate was gone never
more to return. And how silently we
glided alongside the ship and hoisted
in u poor shipmate now famed for
life.
Oh, that some of these people who
look upon sailors as little better than
brstes, and who know little or nothing
of the kind feelings and growing affec-
tions concealed under their rough exteri-
ors, could have seen what I saw on
board that ship, even their hearts would
melt, and they would find that it is not
always the polished and educated, the
smooth-faced and handsome man that
has the warmast heart or the most gem
eroua feelings.--J. w. III.