The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-04-17
I attempted to stop his mad career,


, out of the line our boat careened
right over on its beam ends. and for
fear of being overturned l had to let
him have more rope. Towed by this
monster cetacean our little craft trav-
eled through the water at breaknecl,
speed, throwing the spray In all di-
rections, and the men had difficulty
in baling the water out quickly
enough to prevent the boat from be-
coming waterlogged.
"I'll hold on to him II he takes us
to Brazil!" / exclaimed to my men,
who were in fever of excitement at
the sport offered by our catch. But
presently, as l knew would be the
case, the whale came to the surface
again to spout; and then, getting
close up to him, jabbed my lances
into him for all | was worth. For-
tunately every throw told, and we
promptly backed out of his way, as
he was now in his death-struggles.
He plunged his tail in all directions,
and as knew the cachalots are very
pugnacious / kept sharp eye upon
him in case he decided to rush at the
boat. At last, however, he expired,
and we set out to tow him to the
ship.
The first mate had also made q
splendid haul-a big COW whale-and
l saw him towing his quarry up to
the ship, where he moored her on
the port side, and the tackle was run
out from the masthead OF the whaler
in order to raise the dead mammal
into the right position to be stripped
of its blubber and other products.
At this moment the skipper caught
sight of an enormous bull whale on
the starboard quarter, and, overcome
by the excitement of the chase, he
yelled, "Hi! there, mate! Get after
that bull. Well see to the cow"
Nothing loath, De Viera and his
men bent to their oars again and
made their way towards the bull. He
was wicked-looking brute as he
lay upon the water, his large bullet
head standing out like q rock. His
back was studded with large Jumps,
which showed that he had been pre-
viously harpooned more than once,
but had always succeeded in making
his escape. Now, bull whale who
has got away from the harpoons a
few times is the most dangerous and
vicious brute to tackle. He always
shows fight and does not take long
to make up his mind to attack you;
nor does he wait to be harpooned
first. This fellow was about hun
dred feet in length, and / should
think weighed about the same num-
ber of tons. De Viera and his men
pulled Justify towards the whale, but
he did not wait for them; he turned
his bullet head in their direction and
came straight for them. 1t was an
anxious and thrilling moment, but
the danger did not daunt the mate.
Standing in the PROV, with his har-
poon poised in the air, he calmly
watched the approaching monster.
At the psychological moment he
plunged it with such terrific force
into the cetacean's back that it dis
appeared from sight in the flesh. The
whale sounded" Immediately, and
rather Unexpectedly, taking the line
out with a buzz and whirr. In fact,
it ran out so rapidly that the friction
on the gunwale twice set it in flames,
and the men in the boat were hard
put to keep the heat down with buck
cts OF water AS suddenly as he had
dived, however, the brute stopped his
mad career, and the slack was quick
ly hauled in. He then rose to the
surface directly ahead of them, and
spouted terrific columns of water into
the air in his rage.
The boat was cautiously approach
ing the mammal-whose ponderous
tail was lashing the water into clouds
} of spray and foam-in order to get
another thrust home, when, without
moments warning, the whale set
! off at full speed. The men could not
pay out the rope quickly enough, and
: the boat was towed at express speed
J through the water, while in her gun
: vale, where the running rope chafed
, the wood. big rent was charred by
| the friction. De Viera, however,
stuck tenaciously to his quarry, and
! was too much preoccupied in his task
; to observe its tactics.
But from our position we took in
7 the situation at glance. The whale
) had directed its nose towards the
: Kathleen, and was now bearing down
. ON her broadside at full tilt. He was
travelling at over twenty miles an
hour, spouting and thrashing the
3 water furiously the whole time.
l AT this juncture / realized the
4 cause of this unexpected develop.
g ment. The whale was bent on re-
;, venge. Evidently the COW whale
n which De Viera had previously killed
4 was the bulls spouse, and he could
now see her dea,l body rolling list
lessly on the water. which was dyet
. for yards around with her life
( blood. So great are the ties of af
n fection between male and female
r whales that bull will defend hi
{ mate through thick and thin, and a
= such times is highly dangerous foe