In an instant he may sink bodily from sight; or, throwing his flukes high in air, "sound," to be seen no more; or, casting himself bodily on the boat, blot it out of existence; or, taking it in his jaws, carry it down with him.

But supposing the whale to be oblivious of its approach, the boat comes as near as seems safe, and the harpooner, poised in the bow, his knee against the bracket that steadies him, lets fly his weapon; and, hit or miss, follows it up at once with a second bent onto the same line.

Some harpooners were of such strength and skill that they could hurl their irons as far as four or five fathoms.

In one famous case boats from an American and British ship were in pursuit of the same whale, the British boat on the inside.

It is the law of the fishery that the whale belongs to the boat that first makes fast--and many a pretty quarrel has grown out of this rule.