Beasts Royal: Twelve Tales of Adventure. Patrick O’Brian

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       III

       Skogula – The Sperm Whale

      In the warm seas where squids, octopi, and the like flourish and grow fat, a large school of sperm whales were feeding. Deep down near the sea-bed Skogula, a young bull whale, was pursuing a squid, which, having exhausted all its sepia, was now shooting backwards by means of its long arms, which it used like oars. The whale caught it, and rising to the surface he swallowed it with every sign of enjoyment. He dived again, and swimming along just a few fathoms above the bottom, he looked out for food, but as he was swimming along rather a cold current he could not find any. So after a while he changed his course and swam towards a rocky place where the sea-bed sloped suddenly upwards. Locating an octopus he made for it. His quarry, however, saw him and ejected a black cloud, disappearing into the ripped-up side of a sunken ocean-going tramp lying on the sea-bed under many fathoms of water. The decks harboured hundreds of crabs and shellfish which had come for the dead bodies of the crew years before, and because of the great quantities of crabs, the octopi lived both in and around the ship in great numbers.

      As the whale passed a few feet above the deck, looking for the octopus, the skeleton of a man lashed to the wheel shifted in the current, and the skull rolled down the sloping deck, dislodging some crabs who lived inside. As the crabs came out the whale saw the whip-like tentacle of the octopus shoot out after them from the broken window of the charthouse.

      The whale swam down and seized the tentacle, hoping to drag the octopus out by it, but the arm snapped off short, so he rose to the surface and spouted several times. He could see the rest of the school of whales lying awash a short distance away.

      Just then his mother rose near him, finishing a squid. She was one of the seven wives of the leader of the school. Her husband was a great bull in his prime, fully sixty feet long, who ruled the school with a rod of iron, or rather with his ten-foot ivory-clad under-jaw, with which he had fought his way to the head of the school (in his youth) and had held that position ever since.

      Like the other whales, Skogula’s mother was looking rather anxious, and he wondered why, for he did not know, as the others did, that his father had decided that the school should migrate farther south.

      Skogula’s mother was particularly worried, for she knew that he would have to swim with the school for long distances and the pace set by his father, as there were no young calves in the school at the time, would be quite fast. She did not know whether Skogula would be able to stand it.

      But he continued ignorant until the next morning, when his father swam right round the school, then he sounded and coming up again at a great pace, he leapt clear of the water and, with a great splash, took up his place at the head of the school and started off southwards.

      For a long time they swam steadily, rising to spout every few minutes, until the leader heard, very far off the cry: ‘There she blows!’ He could not see the ship, being unable to see far in air, but he knew the cry, having been harpooned once. He was very much alarmed, as Skogula could see, and began to take in vast quantities of air, spouting noisily.

      The whaler was lowering boats; Skogula could just hear the sound of men rowing them, and a moment later his father dived, showing his great tail for a second before he disappeared; the rest of the school followed him and they all sank to a great depth.

      After some time had passed, Skogula felt in need of air, and wondered when his father would go up to the surface. But the leader did not rise, so Skogula left the school, meaning to catch them up later, and rose to the surface.

      He emerged near one of the boats, and spouted at once. He did not see the boat as it was behind him. As he was spouting the mate in charge of the boat edged it close enough, and the harpooner seized his first harpoon and stood up in the bows. He was poised for the cast when a clumsy hand at tub oar fouled the whale rope. This spoilt the harpooner’s cast, and his iron, which lodged just above Skogula’s left fin, had no force in it. Then the whale dived.

      The harpooner darted an angry glance at the clumsy hand, and seized the second harpoon, which was lashed to the first by only a short length of rope; he threw it overboard, as the whale was already under the surface.

      The second harpoon, however, went skimming along over the water, following Skogula’s blind rush, and it foul-hooked a second boat, engaging firmly in its side. The boat swung round, but the barb held fast, so that the first harpoon tore out of Skogula’s side.

      Meanwhile the school had risen some distance away, and Skogula, when he had calmed down a little, went towards them and found that he had not been missed by the others. Meanwhile the boats were returning to the ship, as a dense fog had risen.

      But from that day on, Skogula never trusted boats again. The school only rested for a few hours before the leader ploughed on again, and by nightfall they were a great way from the old feeding grounds. For a long time the whales continued in this way, sometimes passing ships from which their leader always hurried them away at a great pace, and they were never attacked. In time Skogula lost a lot of his extra fat, and drew on his blubber reserves.

      At last, after a longer swim than usual, the leader stopped, for Skogula’s father knew this place very well, having led the school there more times than he could count, for he had been born there.

      Skogula lay awash for some time before he began to look around, as he was very tired. Then he raised himself a little higher out СКАЧАТЬ