Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-04-16

ture he resigned his welfare to the
care of his patron saint, and bracod
himself to do his duty whatever
might befall. The cold man" took
the glasses from the compauion-w way
rack and climbed the weather main
rigging to height where he could see
the bull plainly.
"The Whale of the Cross, right
enough!" he murmured when he had
adjusted his focus. "I'll give him a
whirl, for luck" Then he snapped
his glasses together, and roared:
"Stand by to lower away"
The masthead lookouts seemed to
drop to the deck. The crew, on hot
foot since Bigelow's first call from
aloft, ranged themselves at their sta
| tions.
'Lower away, allw
The falls creaked; in twinkle all
four boats touched the water, and the
men were on their thwarts. Timrod,
with the smartest crew, was the first
away from the side. "'Vast pullingl"
commanded he. "Peak oarsl Step
the mast! Shake that sail loose! throat
and peak halyards holst!
Almost as he spoke the we'll trained
men had the mast secured, the sheet
passed aft, and the sail took the
wind.
"Drop your centreboard. Let her
go' he said to the midship oarsman.
D,,a'n it went and held the boat up to
I'll, lind, as the "old man" laid her
heal straight for Sacred Ben. "Pull
ALL" The men lay back on their oars
again, aud the foam curled from the
cutwater.
Captain Timrod-the only man in
the boat with his face to the whale
looked out ahead with mischief in his
gray eye. His blood was afire with
the chase. The Whale of the Cross.
doughty old sea warrior as he was,
had an antagonist who would tax his
art and test his fighting quality. A
mile-two miles-were passed, and
the black bulk lay quarter mile
distant, looming like bare rock in
midocean. His great hump was six feet
above the sea. At times he spouted,
sending a jet of steam thirty feet III
the air, and anon in the wantonness
OF might he thrust his huge body half
above water with a writhe of his mus
cles, and falling back, splintered the
brine into foam hundred yards
around.
Nearer came the boat. Portuguese
John, Watching Timrod's eye, saw it
glow; but he never turned his head,
though he knew that Sacred Ben was
close behind. Then the captain
spoke again as he threw the boats
nose in the wind-this time in n
strained whisper that shivered along
the mems nerves like an electric cur
rent:
"Take in the sail-cieverlyl Down
with the mast. SO! Stand up, John.
Pull hard"
He accompanied the last order with
n swing on his steering oar, and by
the time Portuguese John had knee in
clumsy cleat and hand on his "iron"
he was facing the Whale of the Cross
not ten feet abaft his fin. John, the
Dago, was grit clear through, and if
Timrod remembered his shaking hand
when the whale was first sighted, he
knew now that the fourth mate would
send his harpoon home with as brave
heart as beat under his own Yankee
ribs.
"Give it to him" The old man
spoke in fierce whisper. The hearts
OF the men leaped, and they gripped
oars i'll arrested stroke with fingers of
steel that almost dented the ash.
Johns ''iron" went above his head
like lightning, and, with swish its
barbed point sung through the air
aud stabbed deep into the side of
Sacred Beu.
Like report of gun after touch on
trigger he responded. A hundred
tons spraus into activity as lightly as
a wildcat meets its foe. "Starn ALT"
roared Timrod, ''for your lives starn
ALT" With their very souls in the
strain the crew pushed on their oars
y maelstrom of binding foam encom-
passed the boat. Whirlpools of angry
wnter spurted vicious gushes over its
side, and n deafening rush as though
of Niagara was in Portuguese Johns
ears, while the boat -celed aud
uanceu DeHeatn MS leet. buU tne
latent tiger at the bottom OF his heart
was aroused, and he did not give back
am inch. Wiping the spume from his
face with his left hand, with the right
he sought aud grasped the "second
iron"
Timrod, at the stern, had for mo-
ment clearer view than his boat
steerer, and now he cried: "See, he's
milling"
So it was. The bull had settled in
the water at the prick of the steel,
and with two strokes of his fins, and
lash OF his hukes (which had caused
the vortex he was milling (turning)
his bulk as though on a pivot, with
the effect of bringing his tail under