It seems that one of the beach patrol caught sight of some whales out at sea. Hurrying to the telephone, he called up the Life-Saving Station at Amagansett, and handed on the news. The whole fishing population of Amagansett immediately turned out, and in a few minutes five boats were launched, and were quickly in pursuit of the whales. A good many of the Amagansett men were old whalers, so they knew exactly what to do, and soon coming up with a fine young whale, they succeeded in harpooning him. Three of the five boats reached the scene in time to harpoon the whale, at the same time, and then the trouble began. A harpoon is a sort of a spear, to which a long rope is attached. This spear is hurled at the whale by a sailor who stands in the bow of the boat; it has a barbed end, like that of a fish-hook, and if it once gets into the flesh of a whale it will hold fast, and the struggles of the great fish cannot pull it out. The line attached to the harpoon is held fast by the men in the boat, and as the whale, in his pain and fright, plunges, dives, and swims about to get away from the spear that is hurting him, the boat and the men in it are dragged after him wherever he goes. The men of Amagansett were at first very proud that three boats had succeeded in getting near enough for their occupants to strike the whale. But their pride did not last long. Ere two minutes had passed, each boat-load was wishing that they had left the whale to the other, and everybody was as busy as could be blaming his neighbor. The trouble was that the harpoons had all been well thrown, and all had stuck fast--too fast, for when the whale gave a mighty plunge, and set off for the North Pole, at the rate of sixty miles an hour, all the three boats, which were attached to him by their harpoon ropes, went bumping along after him, in a terrible confusion of ropes, reproaches, and bad language. The whale sped along. The bows of the boats which were flying in his wake were lifted high in the air, and the spray flew on every side, till it was like a morning mist. No one would let go his rope. Each man was sure his harpoon was the first thrown; so with hearts full of fury and fear, the brave whalers of Amagansett sped onward till they had made about six miles on their trip to the North Pole. Then the whale changed his mind, decided that the South Pole was nearer than the North, and, veering round, came charging down upon the boats. There was consternation among the whalers! One flip of the monster's great tail would have sent them all to a watery grave. They could not separate because of their twisted ropes, so, with a few more compliments to each other, they got ready for the fight. Before the whale had had time to do any serious harm, an old man, who had fought many such big fish in his day, seized another harpoon, plunged it into the whale's side, and finished the business.