On either side of that mountainous mass the waters rose in shining towers of snowy foam, which fell in their turn, whirling and eddying around us as we tossed and fell like a chip in a whirlpool.

Blinded by the flying spray, baling for very life to free the boat from the water, with which she was nearly full, it was some minutes before I was able to decide whether we were still uninjured or not.

Then I saw, at a little distance, the whale lying quietly.

As I looked he spouted and the vapor was red with his blood.
'Starn all!' again cried our chief, and we retreated to a considerable distance.

The old warrior's practised eye had detected the coming climax of our efforts, the dying agony, or 'flurry,' of the great mammal.