Пятнадцатилетний капитан / Dick Sand. A Captain at Fifteen. Уровень 2

Benedict?” retorted the captain.

“Are you not aware, sir, that I am an entomologist?”

Captain Hull was unable to repress a smile, and turning to Mrs. Weldon, he continued, -

“When a whale gets into the middle of them it just opens its jaws, and, in a minute, hundreds of thousands of these minute creatures are inside the fringe or whalebone around its palate.”

Then they heard a shout from one of the sailors,”A whale!”

“There’s the whale!” repeated the captain. He hurried to the bow, followed by all the passengers.

There was no doubt about the matter. An unusual commotion in the water showed the presence of a whale. Captain Hull and his crew gazed at the animal.

The captain’s eye soon enabled him to observe a column of water and vapour from the nostrils. “It isn’t a real whale,” he said; “the whale’s spout is small and rises high in the air. Dick, tell me, what do you think about it?”

With a critical eye Dick Sand looked long and steadily at the spout.

“I think it is a finback, sir,” said the apprentice, “But it is a very large finback.”

“Seventy feet, at least!” rejoined the captain.

“What a big fellow!” said Jack.

“Yes,” said the boatswain; “this one, if only we can get him, will fill our empty barrels.”

“Rather rough work, you know,” said Dick, “to attack a finback!”

“You are right, Dick,” answered the captain.

“But the profit is worth the risk, captain, isn’t it?”

“You are right again, Dick,” replied Captain Hull, and as he spoke, he clambered on to the bowsprit in order to get a better view of the whale.

The crew were as eager as their captain. They scanned the movements of their prey in the distance.

“Mamma!” cried little Jack, “I want to see a whale close, quite close, you know.”

“And so you will, my boy,” replied the captain, who was standing by.

“My men! What do you think? Remember, we are all alone; we have no whalemen to help us; we must rely upon ourselves. I can throw a harpoon; what do you say?”

The crew responded with a ringing cheer,

“Ay, ay, sir! Ay, ay!”

Chapter VII

Preparations for an Attack

Great was the excitement, and the question of an attempt to capture the sea-monster became the theme of conversation. The captain lost no time.