Presently the line stretched forward, and rising to the surface
with tremulous vibrations, it indicated the direction in which the
animal might be expected to reappear. Barnstable had cast the bows of
the boat towards that point, before the terrified and wounded victim
rose once more to the surface, whose time was, however, no longer wasted
in his sports, but who cast the waters aside as he forced his way, with
prodigious velocity, along the surface. The boat was dragged violently
in his wake, and cut through the billows with a terrific rapidity, that
at moments appeared to bury the slight fabric in the ocean. When long
Tom beheld his victim throwing his spouts on high again, he pointed with
exultation to the jetting fluid, which was streaked with the deep red of
blood, and cried:
"Ay! I've touched the fellow's life! it must be more than two foot of
blubber that stops my iron from reaching the life of any whale that ever
sculled the ocean!"
"I believe you have saved yourself the trouble of using the bayonet you
have rigged for a lance," said his commander, who entered into the sport
with all the ardor of one whose youth had been chiefly passed in such
pursuits: "feel your line, Master Coffin; can we haul alongside of our
enemy? I like not the course he is steering, as he tows us from the
schooner."
"'Tis the creatur's way, sir," said the cockswain; "you know they need
the air in their nostrils, when they run, the same as a man; but lay
hold, boys, and let's haul up to him.
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