I have said that I was not a great success at the masthead, and I repeat it. My vision may have been poor or I may not have had very good luck, but good fortune came in an unexpected way. A few days after leaving the island I stood in the hoop, looking out on a sea that was hardly moved by a ripple and on a sky that was clear of clouds. I think I have said that a whale will suddenly appear when for some time not a spout has been seen from the ship. The belief is that the whale must have sounded at a place a long way off and then made great speed under water. While I was scanning the horizon, suddenly my attention was attracted by a spout not more than two hundred yards away, and I shouted “B-l-o-w-s, b-l-o-w-s, b-l-o-w-s. There he breaches! There he white waters.” I saw just enough of the whale to convince me that he was a large one. Silva’s boat was the first to take water, and that boat was the one which got him. When the whale was fast to the ship, Silva said, “I never see such a whale in my whalin’. He’s the biggest fellow I ever see; he’ll make a good deal over a hundred. When we struck him he didn’t seem to show no spunk. I never see a whale with such weak flukes. He didn’t make much more suds than a washwoman makes, and, when he sounded, it wa’n’t no more than a boy divin’. The line went out so slow that you’d think there was a child pullin’ at the other end, and we didn’t lose no more than eighty fathoms. And he ain’t no dry skin. His jaws is all perfect. He ain’t been fightin’ with no whale. There’s somethin’ the matter with the big fellow, but I don’t know as we’ll find out.” [Illustration: I shouted “B-l-o-w-s, b-l-o-w-s, b-l-o-w-s. There he breaches!”] Turning to me, Silva said, “See here, young fellow, I guess you’ve got ahead of all the boys. Seems to me you’ll be sportin’ a gold watch when you get back to New Bedford.” One may fancy how pleased and elated I was. The whale was the largest we had taken, and it was possible that we might take one larger, but not very probable. The blubber peeled off in splendid strips and appeared rich in oil. The general opinion was that the whale would yield at least a hundred barrels, and one man’s estimate was a hundred and twenty. “I’ve sailed the seas most of my life and the largest sperm we ever took made a hundred and ten,” said one of the old sailors. When the blubber was stripped off and the head severed, the body rolled over; and then a man, who had a spade in his hand, uttered an exclamation. “What’s the matter?” some one asked. “What’s the matter? Look at that big bunch.” He pointed to a spot where the intestines were greatly swollen. “There’s something in there, sure. I don’t know what it is. I never see anything like that before.” “Well, I know what it is,” said Captain Gamans, who was passing. “Give me that spade and I’ll show you what it is, even though it’s the first time I ever saw anything of the kind.”