To shove off and hoist sail was
the work of a few moments, and with a fine working breeze away we
went. As before, our boat, being the chief's, had the post of
honour; but there was now only one whale, and I rather wondered
why we had all left the ship. According to expectations, down he
went when we were within a couple of miles of him, but quietly
and with great dignity, elevating his tail perpendicularly in the
air, and sinking slowly from our view. Again I found Mr. Count
talkative.
"Thet whale 'll stay down fifty minutes, I guess," said he, "fer
he's every gill ov a hundred en twenty bar'l; and don't yew
fergit it." "Do the big whales give much more trouble than the
little ones?" I asked, seeing him thus chatty. "Wall, it's jest
ez it happens, boy--just ez it happens. I've seen a fifty-bar'l
bull make the purtiest fight I ever hearn tell ov--a fight thet
lasted twenty hours, stove three boats, 'n killed two men. Then,
again, I've seen a hundred 'n fifty bar'l whale lay 'n take his
grooel 'thout hardly wunkin 'n eyelid--never moved ten fathom
from fust iron till fin eout. So yew may say, boy, that they're
like peepul--got thair iudividooal pekyewlyarities, an' thars no
countin' on 'em for sartin nary time.
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