In another minute he was standing in the bow, lance in hand.
"Pull away for him, my hearty bullies," he said; and the men plied their oars, and away the boat went, skimming over the water like a sea-bird.
There was resolution and courage depicted in every feature of that bronzed face.
The whale had now turned and was proceeding with open jaws to attack the first officer's boat.

Another minute and he would have destroyed it, and perhaps all on board.

Just at that moment Tite's boat came up, and with a quick, bold, and dexterous movement, rounded close under the whale's off side, and with a strong arm sent a lance home.

That lance made a deep and fatal wound.

The enraged monster forgot in a moment the object he was in pursuit of, threw up a volume of deep red spray, then making a desperate plunge, disappeared.