The Opelousas courier., 1903-07-04
AIN OCEAN FIGHT.
Battle With a Big Whale in the
South Seas.

cliffs, yet in shadow, three vapsry spir-
ais of varying heights show clearly.
But what can three mean?s TVo of
them we can account for-the broad,
bushy n and the tiny jet only four
or five feet high. The third, &5weVer
closely associated with the other two,
and Of great height, puzzles us-dOes
not delay us, though, for with paddles
unshipped WE urge the progress of u
craft toward those vast unconscious
mammals SO pleasantly sojourning in
the shade. = We are abreast of them,
helms are put up, and all four boats
bear down upon them with the swoop
Of gigantic hawks. When but a ships
length away, sails are rolled up as If
automatically. Noiseless as fish we
glide into the shadow and-strike. What
an awful uDroar breaks up that sweet
solitude; the shoutings of excited men,
the furious struggles of wounded levia-
thans, whose mighty tail strokes rever-
berate In hollow thunder along the
echoing cliffs. The heretofore placid
sea Kisses and boils, and the boats toss
as in a maelstrom. What can be amiss2
Not thus is the humpback mother won't
to meet an attack unless her yOungling
is injured. All, that Is it, surely. Her
calf must be dead, and, If SO, then
heads must needs be cool and hands
skilful or there will be many numbers
lost from our good ships messes.
Two boats disappeared to windward
in a smother Of spray, and we who re-
main dimly imagine in some disinter-
ested fashion what manner of hump
back they may be fast to-. But not for
long, for suddenly toward us comes
rushing a family outlined black mass
piled high with snowy foam, and we
must needs exert every muscle to avoid
that terrible onslaught. We do just
succeed-the mighty one passes, and
disappears. Oh, for some shelter, IL
only a shallow reef! But there Is none.
.Crashi and like an earthquake shock
come the maddened mothers lukes
against the side Of the other boat, hurl-
ing her and her disintegrated contents
far shoreward. Never again will that
boat modest a whale. And also, oh,
sorrow and shame! never again will
Hallett Winslow, best, brightest, BRAY
est of harpooners, see the blessed sun
rise. His neck is broken. Now, while
she is venting her fury upon the float
ing fragments let us escape. But there
are our shipmates, and as swiftly as
our shaking limbs allow we pick them
up, expecting every moment to go even
as they went-and then?
The next few minutes passed like
some hideous nightmare, frantic, joint
wrenching endeavors to keep out of the
way Of the monster bent upon our de-
struction, and sudden eruptions, up
heavals Of the sea, SO close to us that
destruction seemed impossible of avoid
ance. And all this time, wherever we
went in the turmoil, we never lost sight
Of the. calf whale. As IL to call our
crime continually to remembrance it
kept us company, tossing h~elplessly
upon the tormented waters. At last
and although I feel sure that half an
hour had not passed, yet the time
seemed interminable-We found our
selves, almost exhausted, close to the
rocks, where an overhanging ledge.
thickly clothed withdrooping branches,
jutted out above deep water, but only
about three feet above the surface.
With one last fash Of energy we all
sprang for shelter, scrambled like mon
keys into the tangle of the trees, just
as the u~nbreathed parent rushed at our
deserted boat and crushed it into
matchwood, returning again and again
to the fragments until they were al
most ground into splinters. All the
while we hung precariously, fearfully,
just above the terrible tumult. pos
sessed with the idea that even here we
were hardly safe from SO redoubtable
a foe.
And then into the blazing sunshine,
which had now crept up to u refuge,
there sprang the other whale, towing
behind him the two surviving boats,
still uninjured. Upon our almost be-
nuEbed brains fell q deeper fear. Were
we about to witness the destruction OF
all that little company, so swiftly near
ing this place Of utmost danger? No
long suspense. for out from the shadow
Of our cliff sprang the vengeful mother
to meet her spouse and finish her great
work of retribution. But as she came
we saw the bull whale slacken speed,
saw the two boats spread out fanWfse
behind him, saw the COW rush between
them fully exposed. a pun of white
smoke, and presently d tiny report as
De areroIver shot. Then for a few me-
mems our view was obseured By tumb-
ling waves raised by the two monsters
IN their 1urTEga tha one n death. the