For some time I stood gazing straight ahead of me with eyes that
saw not, filled with wonder and admiration. I must have been
looking directly at the same spot for quite a quarter of an hour,
when suddenly, as if I had but just opened my eyes, I saw the
well-known bushy spout of a sperm whale. I raised the usual
yell, which rang through the stillness discordantly, startling
all hands out of their lethargy like bees out of a hive. After
the usual preliminaries, we were all afloat with sails set,
gliding slowly over the sleeping sea towards the unconscious
objects of our attention. The captain did not lower this time,
as there only appeared to be three fish, none of them seeming
large. Though at any distance it is extremely difficult to
assess the size of whales, the spout being very misleading.
Sometimes a full-sized whale will show a small spout, while a
twenty-barrel cow will exhale a volume of vapour extensive enough
for two or three at once.
Now although, according to etiquette, I kept my position in the
rear of my superior officers, I had fully determined in my own
mind, being puffed up with previous success, to play second
fiddle to no one, if I could help it, this time.
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