The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-21

ing would not pay, with oil only worth from eighteen to twenty-four pounds ton.
 Let us imagine warm, sunny day in August at Twofold Bay.The man who is on the lookout at the old lighthouse, built by Ben Boyd on the southern headland fifty years ago, paces to and fro on the grassy sward, stopping now and then to scan the wild expanse of ocean with his glass, for the spout of a whale Is hard to discern at more than two miles; if the creature is in a play full mood and "breaches' -- that is, springs bodily out of the water and sends up a white volume of foam and spray, like the discharge of a subma- rine mine-you can see it five miles away.
 The two boats are always in readi- ness at the trying-out works a mile or so up the harbor; so, too, are the kill CTS; and the lookout man, walking to the verge of the cliff, looks down. There they are, cruising slowly up and down, close in shore, spouting lazily and showing their wet, gleaming backs as they rise roll and dive again. There's Fatty and Spot" and Flu key" and Little Jim" and Paddy" and Tom Tug"-nearly every one of them has a name, and each is we'll known to his human friends.
 Presently the watchman sees, away to the southward, white, misty puff, | then another and another. In an in- | stant he brings his glass to bear. "Humpbacks!' Quickly two flags fiut- ter from the flagpole, and fire is lit; and as the flags and smoke are seen the | waiting boats crews at the trying-out station are galvanized into life by the cry of Rush, ho! Humpbacks in sight, steering northwesti" Rush and tumble into the boats and away
 Around the south head sweeps the | first boat, the second following more | leisurely, for she is only pickup" or relief in case the first is "fluked" and the crew are tossed high in air, with | their boat crushed into matchwood, or meets with some other disaster. And as the leading boat rises to the long ocean swell of the ofing the killers close | in around her on either side, just keep i ing clear of the sweep of the oars, and preaching and leaping and spouting with the anticipative zest of the com ing bloody fray.
 Easy lads, easy!" says the old boat header; they're coming right down on us Billy was right. They're hump backs, sure enough"
 1 The panting oarsmen pull slower stroke, and then, as they watch the great savage creature which swim alongside they laugh, for suddenly, with last sharp, steampipe spout the kill CTS dive and disappear; they have heard the whales and as is their custom, | have gone ahead of the boat. Ten min- utes later they are in the midst of the humpbacks and half square acre of ocean is turned into a white, swirling cauldron of foam and spray; the bull dogs of the sea have seized the largest | whale of the school, and are holding him for the boat The rest of the humpbacks sound fifty fathoms deer and head seaward leaving the unfortu- nate one to his dreadful fate.
 And, in truth, 1t is a dreadful fate; for the fierce creatures range alongside of him from his head down to the small of his back, and tear great slabs ot blubber from off his writhing sides ir | huge mouthfuls, taking care to avoid g blow from his flukes In vain the hap less whale tries to sound; there is g bulldog on either side of his jaws, theil cruel teeth fixed firmly into his huge lips; perhaps two or three are under heath him tearing and irving at the great, tough corrugations of his ribbed belly, while others, drawing back fol fifty feet or so, charge him amidships and strike him on the ribs with theil ! bony heads Around and around if wide circles the tortured humpbact swims, sometimes turning over on hi: back or swimming on his side but fas losing his strength.
 Hes done for, lads. Pull up, ant give him the iron"
 The boat dashes up, the man pulling the bow oar the harpooner) ships his oar and picks up his harpoon. A min ute later 1t is buried deep into tht quivering animal, cutting through tht skin as a razor would cut through tht skin of drum.
 Stern all!" and the harpooner tum bles aft and grips the steer oar, and tht steersman takes his place in the heat of the boat with his lance. But hum py' is almost spent, and, though by { mighty effort he "ups flukes" anc sounds, he soon rises, and the boa hauls alongside again Then the flash ing lance-two, three swift blows int his "life,' a gushing torrent of warn blood and he rolls over on his side.
 And now comes the curious and ye absolutely truly described part that th' killers play in this ocean tragedy. Th' killers, the moment the whale is dead close around him and, fastening the
 teeth into his body, bear him to the bot tom. Here they tear out his tongu and eat about one-thlrd of his blubber In about thirty-six to forty hours tn carcass will rise again to the surface and as the spot where he was takel down has been marked by buoy tn boats are ready waiting to tow hin , ashore to the trying-out works. Tn killers accompany the boats to tn head of the bay and keep off the sharks which otherwise would strip off the re maining blubber before the bod
 had reached the shore.
 The killers never hurt a man. Tim after time have boats been stoye in O smashed into splinters by a whale am the crew left struggling in the water, t be rescued by the pickup" boat, am l the killers swim up to them, look at aye, and smell them-but never toucl tharo And inc ki11arq th