The Golden Harpoon — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ot itn SE oe af > ls “3 tS 4 . - 8 THE GOLDEN HARPOON. “Trim boat! trim boat, every man!” hissed , followed closely upon the footsteps of their the mate, through his closely-compressed teeth, | leader, and in a few seconds they were a'l “and stand by, Marline, to do what you can| shrouded from the view of the harpooner by to keep the bows from swinging.” the dense fog. Scarcely had the speaker concluded, when “Tt’s a wild-goose chase,” muttered Marline, Briggs, whose watchful eye had noted every | as he proceeded to bale oub the boat, “and , motion of the lite craft, perceived that the | nobody except a man of Briggs's restless and boat’s head was about to swing to the right | impatient nature would have thought of under- and strike against the side of the passage; and | taking it until he had first sounded the hora, seizing a knife, he quickly severed the running | and that had failed to bring our shipmates to line, thus freeing the vessel from the whale, | us.” but not in time to prevent the bow, under the As minute after minute passed away, and impetus it had already received, from being | neither the party nor the boats made their dashed with considerable force against the icy | appearance, the young man became more con- wall. firmed than ever in his opitiion that Driggs’s The result of the concussion was the cracking | expedition was a useless undertaking. He even of the light cedar planks near the bottom of | began to fear that the mate and his men had the boat; and the water now entered the craft'| lost themselves among the foating galleries and with such rapidity, that the exertions of three | caverns of ice, and were, therefore, neither able men were required to prevent the vessel from | to advance in the right direction nor to retarn. filling. Once or twice since the departure of his ship- The rest of the crew were ordered to “take | mates he had heard the sound of a horn, bub their paddles,” and as they worked vigorously, | the notes of the instrument were so faint that the boat was soon clear of the dangerous| he believed the boats were receding from, channel. instead of approaching, the spot he occupied. By this time, however, the fog had become} While his mind was still busy wita eon- so dense that the after oarsman could scarcely | jectures and fears, he suddenly started to his distinguish the figure of the harpooner, who | feet, listening with eager attention, for he had just exchanged places with the mate, so | fancied he heard a rushing noise ahead of him that he now occupied his proper position in the | like that of some heavy object forging slowly bow. through the ice. The noise became loud r Rough contact with the floating bergs,| every moment, and presentiy the ears of the through which the light craft had been ferced. | young man were saluted with tho creaking of after it passed out of the tunnel, had so widened | ropes, the dull flapping of canvas, and the mur- the cracks in the thin planks, that the water| mur of voices. An instant afterwards the entered with a rapidity that taxed to the utmost ? broad, black bows and the square foresail of a the cnergics of those engaged in baling. The| ship loomed up indistinctly through the fog a mate sprang upon one of the blocks of ice Ly | few fathoms ahead of the boat, which lay which they were surrounded, and ordered every | directly in the track of the vesrel. man with the exception of Marline to imitate “Ship ahoy!’ thundered Marine, “Uo his example. helm and keep off, or you will run me down!” “JT want a man I can depend upon to take Fle was eyidentiy heard by those on heard, charge of the boat,” he said, addressing the | for a dark face was suddeniy thrast over the young harpooner, “ while I go with the crew to | bulwarks forward, but its owner, instead of scarclr for our shipmates and inform ’em of ovr } directing the man at the wheel to “keep off,” condition.” ordered him to “Iuff.” “Tf you will take my advice, you'll not go The head of the advancing ship, as she came far in search of the other boats,” said Marline, | booming on, was therefore within a few feet of “for L think it hardly possible that you will | the boat before it could obey the heim, the find them in this fog.” consequence of which was that the bows of the “And I think exactly the other way,” re- | little craft received a thump from the vessel torted the mate, impatiently. “ All a man has| as she swung to windward that caused a few to do to find ’em is to follow his own nose to | ef the thin planks to give way like the shell , the north’ard, as I take it; for we’ve been | of an egg beneath the blow of a man’s fist. going south, and the other boats must be some- where astern of us—not far off, either.” At this moment the sound of a horn was heard, apparently proceeding from the direc- tion in which the mate had stated that his fellow-officers might be found; and he now turned his eyes triumphantly towards the harpooner. “Ay, ay—d’ye see, young man—it’s just as T-said. Them boats are astarn of us, though further off than I thought they were. But 2 moving quickly over the ice, we'll soon reach ’om. Come on, men—there’s no time to lose,” he added, turning to the crew. Leaping from berg to berg, the five men The boat filled rapidly, and as it sank the young harpooner leaped upon one of the blocks of ice by which he was surrounded in time to seize a rope which was thrown to him by Tom Lark as the ship came up into the wind with her main-topsail aback. “The ‘Montpelier’!” shouted Marline—“ the ‘Montpelier,’ by all that’s.good!” “ Ay, ay,” grefily responded Lark, “and the less said about it the better!” The speaker was @ tall man of herculean frame, and with one of those swarthy, hang- dog faces that never fail to inspire the beholder with feelings of distrust. He wore grey pante, a fez cap of blue cloth, and a black woollen cComichboo KS ‘COM