Transcriber Note Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_. A YEAR WITH A WHALER [Illustration: "Cutting Out" A Whale] A YEAR WITH A WHALER BY WALTER NOBLE BURNS _Illustrated with Photographs_ [Illustration] NEW YORK OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY MCMXIII Copyright, 1913, BY OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY All rights reserved CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Lure of the Outfitter 11 II. The Men of the "Alexander" 21 III. Why We Don't Desert 33 IV. Turtles and Porpoises 46 V. The A, B, C of Whales 59 VI. The Night King 71 VII. Dreams of Liberty 83 VIII. Gabriel's Little Drama 95 IX. Through the Roaring Forties 107 X. In the Ice 118 XI. Cross Country Whaling 128 XII. Cutting In and Trying Out 137 XIII. Shaking Hands with Siberia 149 XIV. Moonshine and Hygiene 162 XV. News From Home 171 XVI. Slim Goes on Strike 182 XVII. Into the Arctic 191 XVIII. Blubber and Song 198 XIX. A Narrow Pinch 210 XX. A Race and a Race Horse 219 XXI. Bears for a Change 230 XXII. The Stranded Whale 239 XXIII. And So--Home 247 ILLUSTRATIONS "Cutting Out" a Whale _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE In Bowhead Waters 16 When Whaling is an Easy Job 40 Waiting for the Whale to Breach 72 Unalaska 112 Waiting for the Floes to Open 120 "Trying Out" 144 Callers From Asia 152 Peter's Sweetheart 160 Eskimos Summer Hut at St. Lawrence Bay 168 At the Gateway to the Arctic 176 Hoisting the Blubber Aboard 184 Our Guests Coming Aboard in St. Lawrence Bay 192 The Lip of a Bowhead Whale 208 A Close Call Off Herald Island 216