"all right. The mate's men are all safe, sir; I counted them as we shot
past, and I seed Buzzby come up last of all, blowin' like a grampus; and
small wonder, considerin' the dive he took."

"Take another turn of the coil, Amos, and hold on," said the captain.

The harpooner obeyed, and away they went after the whale like a rocket,
with a tremendous strain on the line and a bank of white foam gurgling
up to the edge of the gunwale, that every moment threatened to fill the
boat and sink her. Such a catastrophe is of not unfrequent occurrence,
when whalemen thus towed by a whale are tempted to hold on too long; and
many instances have happened of boats and their crews being in this way
dragged under water and lost. Fortunately the whale dashed horizontally
through the water, so that the boat was able to hold on and follow, and
in a short time the creature paused and rose for air. Again the men bent
to their oars, and the rope was hauled in until they came quite close to
the fish. This time a harpoon was thrown and a deep lance-thrust given
which penetrated to the vital parts of its huge carcass, as was
evidenced by the blood which it spouted and the convulsive lashing of
its tremendous tail.

While the captain's crew were thus engaged, Saunders, the second mate,
observing from the ship the accident to the first mate's boat, sent off
a party of men to the rescue, thus setting free the third boat, which
was steered by a strapping fellow named Peter Grim, to follow up the
chase. Peter Grim was the ship's carpenter, and he took after his name.
He was, as the sailors expressed it, a "grim customer," being burnt by
the sun to a deep rich brown colour, besides being covered nearly up to
the eyes with a thick coal-black beard and moustache, which completely
concealed every part of his visage except his prominent nose and dark,