When
the leviathan settled, we gave a wide berth to his probable place
of ascent; when he rushed at us, we dodged him; when he paused,
if only momentarily, in we flew, and got home a fearful thrust of
the deadly lance.
All fear was forgotten now--I panted, thirsted for his life.
Once, indeed, in a sort of frenzy, when for an instant we lay
side by side with him, I drew my sheath-knife, and plunged it
repeatedly into the blubber, as if I were assisting is his
destruction. Suddenly the mate gave a howl: "Starn all--starn
all! oh, starn!" and the oars bent like canes as we obeyed.
There was an upheaval of the sea just ahead; then slowly,
majestically, the vast body of our foe rose into the air. Up, up
it went, while my heart stood still, until the whole of that
immense creature hung on high, apparently motionless, and then
fell--a hundred tons of solid flesh--back into the sea. On
either side of that mountainous mass the waters rose in shining
towers of snowy foam, which fell in their turn, whirling and
eddying around us as we tossed and fell like a chip in a
whirlpool. Blinded by the flying spray, baling for very life to
free the boat from the water with which she was nearly full, it
was some minutes before I was able to decide whether we were
still uninjured or not.
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