The pursuit, or rather the towing, had commenced. The whale-boat, whose
oars had been raised, darted like an arrow while swinging on the tops
of the waves.

Howik kept it steady, notwithstanding those rapid and frightful
oscillations. Captain Hull, his eye on his prey, did not cease making
his eternal refrain:

"Be watchful, Howik, be watchful!"

And they could be sure that the boatswain's vigilance would not be at
fault for an instant.

Meanwhile, as the whale-boat did not fly nearly as fast as the whale,
the line of the harpoon spun out with such rapidity that it was to be
feared that it would take fire in rubbing against the edge of the
whale-boat. So Captain Hull took care to keep it damp, by filling with
water the pail at the bottom of which the line was coiled.

All this time the jubarte did not seem inclined to stop her flight, nor
willing to moderate it. The second line was then lashed to the end of
the first, and it was not long before it was played out with the same
velocity.

At the end of five minutes it was necessary to join on the third line,
which ran off under the water.

The jubarte did not stop. The harpoon had evidently not penetrated into
any vital part of the body. They could even observe, by the increased