The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-06-25

go ny rs IS ,s{Yf 3S<s'es 49, ~ p
mile before the boat Stacked. Then wo
seen her slow down an COME To q flend.
stop. Line busted, says j. sMan n
boat an fetch in the Dutchman I
hadn't no more'n spoke the words when
bag wave seemed to rise nm near tho
boat an old whale bowed 30 feet high.
Then he got old Liz in range. I'm his
tail goes, an he under water again
could SEQ Frank wade forrnrd in tho
boat an try to pay out line. Int # wos
damned, an before he could mike il
loose the boat give n jerk 'round almost
a'throwln him out, an como at us again.
what I'm sayin is truth, doc. Tbut
boat struck another bee line for ms
suppose, more properly speakip. the
whale did. Goshl How sho did come
kitin! Frank quit foolin with the limo
an just hung on. / reckoned the boat
was movin EASTERN ever, only she didn't
throw SO much water, cause she set
down almost to her rowlocks. We stood
speechless while she was drivin for us.
When she got within 100 yards tho
mate took big breath an let fly.
Jump, you - Dutch lubber, or
you're dead man.
But he didn't jump an I SEQ him
gittin ready for another dive under old
Liz.
II grabbed up bucket, climbed OH
the rail an when the boat came near
enough l let drive at Frank, hopin to
knock him overheard if hit him. He
seen it comm, lodged an Just rs tho
boat went tail up again yelled:
can't swim!
Down went the boat like soundin
lead, an this time we all slid over to
starboard to SEQ her como!up. Seven or
eight seconds passed. may be, an then
about o fathoms off our beam up come
the boat, bottom up. 'Oh, Lord,
groaned the cook, he's a goncrp But
lie warn't. No, sir. Tho boat hadn't
travelled 20 yard afore she riehted, an
we seen Franks head hob up over the
guDnel Well, old whale didn't run so
far this time, for he broke water few
hundred fathoms off. III about a minute
he sent up Il stream of blood. 1 seen
that the harpoon was good throw an
he wasn't goin to fight long.
sent the second boat out after him,
but they didn't git far fore down goes
the whale for the third time, an in
second the little boat slowed again, an
we knew he was comm at u.s. There
warn't no way to stop the whale, so we
just waited again, while the little boat
made tracks for us like she was goin to
ram. Just when reckoned by the line
out that the whale was passin under us
there was n tremendous bang, an every
mothers son was throwed fiat. Old Liz
rolled to starboard an then back to port
an lay rocllin while we got up. Reckon
you guess what happened, doc That
whale miscalkilated. He laid his course
fine as silk, but his elevation was off
couple of points. He didn't fetch deep
enough an hit old Liz n welt tha'd like
to rip the keel off her. That settled the
business too. We looked over the rail
an seen some bloody water, then q flip
per, al soon big, black body floated up
alongside. There was our whale, sir,
dead as hunk of salt pork, with the
top of his head half torn off. He was a
blue whale, doc, an he measured close
to 62 feet What become of the Dutch
man? Why, the boat slowed down when
the whale rammed us an tho other boat
took him off. Hurt? No. He went to
work cuttin up that whale along with
the rest of 'em. l did hear afterward
that he was grumblin cause twas his
bucket 1 throwed at him an it warn't
picked up. Right lively whale, warn't
it, doc!"
Fright lively repeated the doctor
absently. Minneapolis Times.