Suddenly I caught sight of the ship right ahead. We
were still flying along, so that in a short time we were
comparatively close to her. My heart beat high and I burned to
distinguish myself under the friendly and appreciative eye of the
skipper.
None of the other boats were in sight, from our level at least,
so that I had a reasonable hope of being able to finish my game,
with all the glory thereunto attaching, unshared by any other of
my fellow-officers. As we ran quite closely past the ship,
calling on the crew to haul up for all they were worth, we
managed actually to squeeze past the cow, and I got in a really
deadly blow. The point of the lance entered just between the fin
and the eye, but higher up, missing the broad plate of the
shoulder-blade, and sinking its whole four feet over the hitches
right down into the animal's vitals. Then, for the first time,
he threw up his flukes, thrashing them from side to side almost
round to his head, and raising such a turmoil that we were half
full of water in a moment. But Samuela was so quick at the
steer-oar, so lithe and forceful, and withal appeared so to
anticipate every move of mine, that there seemed hardly any
danger.
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