Mr. Tilton’s crew had seen our predicament, and had been pulling hard for us, and Mr. Macy had lowered from the ship. Mr. Tilton took us off. Black Man’el was the only {309} one hurt. He had an ugly wound in his arm, which the whale’s teeth had caught and ripped from shoulder to elbow, but no bones were broken. I thought the boat was hopelessly stove, and of no further use to anybody, except for firewood; but Captain Nelson had Mr. Macy pick up the pieces, and Peter afterward made another boat of them. The whale made seventy-three barrels. His deformed jaw was saved and cleaned, and when the Clearchus got home, it was added to the collection of such curiosities. It is now in the Whaling Museum. The outcome of the other fight was different. The officers were at breakfast when we heard the cry from the masthead, and we all ran on deck at once. There were many spouts, quite a large school, four or five miles to leeward. We ran down for them, getting the boats and their gear ready as we went; and at a distance of about a mile we lowered four boats, all but Captain Coffin’s. His ankle was still giving him some trouble, although he used it. I have no doubt that that was just the reason it troubled him, for he had used it too soon and too much, and he was a great heavy man. The whales in the school were, most of them, rather small cows; but there were two bulls of good size, about eighty or ninety barrels, Mr. Brown guessed. The boats devoted their attention to them. There was sea enough to make it easy to approach the whales, and they were to leeward, which made it easier still. Mr. Baker and Mr. Macy took one, while Mr. Tilton and Mr. Brown took the other. Mr. Baker struck his whale first, and Mr. Macy did not get fast to him at all, for he immediately ran to windward, not very fast, towing Mr. Baker, with Mr. Macy in pursuit. I did not see much of it, naturally; but Mr. Macy failed to catch him, and when he had taken Mr. Baker five miles to windward of the ship, the whale increased his speed, and the line parted. Starbuck had not been able to {310} get both irons into him, and the second harpoon, skittering along on the top of the water, had cut and frayed the line. I could imagine Mr. Baker’s flow of language at that accident, which is one of the regular risks of the business. There was nothing for the two boats to do but to get back and try to find the rest of the school, but the school had gone. So had we.