He missed the men, probably failing to see them; and, having done all the damage he could, he made off slowly, pausing in a truculent way as if he was in doubt whether he should attack Mr. Brown and Mr. Tilton. I have had no doubt, since I have come to know whales better than I did then, that he would have attacked them if he had seen them clearly. They were over a quarter of a mile away. But you never can tell what a whale will do. Mr. Brown immediately cast loose from the dead whale, but he did not, as I expected, go at once to the rescue of the men from Mr. Wallet’s boat. These men were swimming about in the water. I could just see their heads. They had begun to go back to the wreckage of the boat and pick up pieces of oars and fragments of planks from the broken boat to cling to. Mr. Brown, so far as I could {152} see, paid them no attention, but made after the whale, which had abandoned its leisurely gait, and was swimming in a business-like way, as though he had just remembered an appointment. The chase was a short one, for the boat did not gain at all with the men pulling their hearts out, and Mr. Brown gave it up, and went back to pick up the men. Mr. Tilton had also cast loose, having put a waif on the dead whale—a waif is a little flag on a pole, which is stuck in a hole made with a spade for that purpose—and he had gone in chase of other whales which had come up. But the pod seemed to be thoroughly alarmed, and the three whales in sight were making off at a pace too fast for the boats. That made six whales in the pod, for I thought there were no more. Both Mr. Brown and Mr. Tilton appeared to be of my opinion, for they were giving the dead whale all their attention. Both boats were alongside of it for some time. I could not see just what they were doing, but they were evidently getting ready to tow it—probably making the lines fast—and presently the two boats straightened out and began pulling toward the ship. It was hard work towing that whale, and they got ahead so slowly that I could not mark their progress, the whale nearly under water, and the seas washing gently over his back. The ship was bearing down on them, and they stopped rowing, and waited for her.