Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-08-20
The Story Tsllsr.
THE LAST FIGHT OF
THE LONE WHALE,
BY FRANK T. BULLEN.

whaling bark Desdemona lay laZilI
rolling to the Atlantic swell. 1t was
nearly calm and had been so for sew
eral days. although the month was
September.
She was q forlorn looking old shiI
and her position was lonely one, ou
of the tracks Of the busy hustline
steamships which used the western
ocean as a man uses the road between
his business and his home. She was
lust a survival Of a once great ano
romantic sea calling, and weather
stained as she was, her skipper anc
chief mate, leaning over the weather
quarter in silent meditation, wei
matched her.
Their faces looked as If they were
| Enthusiastically carved out Of a piece OF
gnarled oak, and their quaint garments
hung upon sturdy frames that looked
as tough and durable as the timbers
Of the old ship herself. They had thus
llcunged upon the weather rail and ST.
lent.y smoked for upward Of an hour
hardly changing their position and
neither uttering a word, when the
skipper with a deep expiration moved
and knocked the ashes out Of his pipe
upon the pin rail, saying as he die
so:
wall, I amt greedy, but dog my
cats, If like t. see all this fine wealth
er at this time O. year runnin' tc
waste in a manner Of speakin'. Seems
to me We oughter hev seen a whale
about fore this. What dye think
hey?"
| There was a dead silence for the
space Of a minute, then tie mate re-
piled, and his voice was like the creak'
ing of gate:
1--WE hain't ben no great ways frun
whale any time this last few days,
know, and 1 guess we're closer to EN-
tonight than we've ben yet, 'thout see-
| in 'em. But we amt done so bad;
thar amt no cause to grumble so far
There's no two ways about the num-
ber of whales bein' increased Of late
years, is there, Cap?"
The question remained unanswered
for just at that moment, to the utter
amazement of the two men, a gigantic
back arose from the depths right
alongside Of the ship, a sound like 6
thousand sighs in one was heard anc
a bushy cloud Of vapor arose from the
protruding snout Of an immense sperm
whale. AS the two men gazed stupe'
fed the whole Of the great creature
came clearly into view, as II he knew
that the sight of him would arouse
Ienvy, admiration and desire and he
was counting the consequences.
Also it seemed as IL he knew that the
time was unpropitious for attacking
him, being just sunset. But forgetting
the time, the mate suddenly recovered
from his stupor of surprise and roareo
at the pitch of his powerful lungs:
"All hands clear away boats. W'a'
yer ben doin' there at We didn't SEE
that whale? Ben sleepin', I s'pose, ye
Iduffheaded dagoes."
There was an animated rush to the
various boats by a score or so of un-
Ikempt, vagabond men and in less thar
three minutes all was ready for lower
ling. But the skipper, who had mounted
the rigging with his glasses, shouted
Hold on, ALL" and there was silence
for the space Of five minutes until
again the shippers voice was hearc
from aloft, Get into the rigging ev-
erybody and look sharp out for tha'
whale. Can't see him nowhar."
His order was instantly obeyed, ev-
erybody except the man at the vince
climbing to some point whence ne
could see all around the horizon ant
lgazing anxiously about for sight Of
the valuable monster. And thus they
stood while the sun went down ant
the cool veil of darkness crept ovel
the scene, until the skipper called ou
lagain, Make all fast and go below the
watch" all hope Of chase being ovel
for the night
Long, earnest and complicated were
the discussions held all over the shiI
throughout the night, but especially Sc
between the skipper and the mate.
Both admitted that in the whole o.
forty years experience they had never
known a sperm whale to behave like
that before. But as they said that wa:
not strange, for no whaling experience
is so long that it cannot continually
meet with some previously unthough
OF behavior on the part Of whale
showing how little we really do know
of the habits of these wonderful deni'
zens of the deep. At last the skipper
turned to go below, saying as he die
so:
Guess we'll hev that feller 'rount
the first streak of daylight, Mr.. Taber
SO hev all hands on the key veevy be-
fore sun up. I'd like to hev one goot
fight more before l quit the job. la!
my voyage he's all Of $50 bar'l
Good night"
The long hours Of darkness rolled
away and the first tender streak o.
greenish gray light in the east saw
every soul in the ship on the alert. AL
the boats were cast loose with the ut
most quietude and every possible prep
} Iaration made for the fray.
Then as The wonderful changes II
the sky which accompany the recur
ring miracle of the dawn took place
and the dark surface of the sea begar
t. glow with glorious breadths Of coloI
there was a simultaneous murmu
from twenty voices Of "blo-o-oow," fol
there, only a couple of cable length:
! Iaway. lay the majestic form Of thei
overnight visitor gently exhaling thu
effete air from his vast lungs and tax
ing in huge draughts of the sweet keer
breath of the morning.
more imaginative crowd Nigh
have hestated to answer the obviou:
: challenge, might have wondered wha
supernatural knowledge was possessed
! by this ocean monarch that he thu:
dared to lie and fiout his deadly enc
: mics, as If he knew all their power ant
held it cheap. But these men only
In, hin, MANY 6nllarS and cents