captain and all the sailors laughed a good deal, you may be sure. The
shore was not far off. The sailors rowed until the boat touched the
shore, and the bear got out, and walked slowly away. He did not so
much as thank the men for the ride he had been taking. But the men
were glad to get rid of him, thanks or no thanks.

[Illustration]




CATCHING WHALES.


I went in a whale-ship once. I was gone from home that time more than
three years. When we came back, we had our large ship all full of oil
and whalebone. We got the oil and the whalebone out of the whales
which we had caught. Whales, you know, are very large fish. They
sometimes get two or three hundred barrels of oil from one single
whale.

I never shall forget what a long chase I had with a whale once. Shall
I tell you about it, little friend? There was a man in the ship who
was looking out for whales. In a whale-ship there is always one man
who gets up as high as he can, and keeps a bright look-out all round
for whales. Whales do not stay under water all the time. The trout,
and the shad, and the eel, and most other kinds of fish can stay under
water all the time. They cannot live out of the water only a few
minutes, and I suppose they feel almost as bad out of the water as we
do in it. But the whale wants to come up to the top of the water. He