The Pandora showed as yet no manoeuvres, having filled again on the same tack, and his starboard boat was still in its place on the cranes; but three boats were down from our next neighbor, and the supposed Leonidas was in the act of wearing round to close with the rest of us. "Where's the whale?" asked the captain, as he appeared by my side. "_Steady, there!_" "I've seen no whale yet, sir," I answered, "and I can't see any boats down from the Pandora." "Perhaps the stranger has lowered his boats, blackfishing," he suggested. "Worth has got no extra men aloft, and keeps his course as usual. If that is all, we may as well luff to again." He gave no order to that effect, however, and we continued running off, rapidly nearing the other ships. A few minutes of puzzled suspense followed, when the Pandora's main tack, sheet and lee braces were all let go at once, and she, also, lay hove-to, just as her two boats shot out of range of their ship under her lee, _fast to a whale_, as was evident from the white water flying, and from the speed at which they were moving. "Pretty well done, Worth!" said Captain Upton, his keen admiration of his brother whaleman getting the better of his vexation. "Luff to the wind there, and stand by to lower away! There may be other whales, though, if there's only one, I'll sell out _my_ share at a low figure." Further concealment was unnecessary; down went Captain Worth's boat, and down went all of ours, pell-mell, but before we got very near the fast boats it was plain that the whale was in his flurry, and we "hove up," seeing that there was no other one for us to attack. "Now, I shouldn't be at all surprised," said Mr. Grafton, "if that was the game whale that dragged me so far on the road to Davy's locker. They've killed him so quick that I think he must have been more than half-dead when they struck him; and besides, that would account for his not being seen by any of us, as his spout would be very faint and broken. She must have been very near to the whale herself, before she raised him." "I have no doubt it was a wounded whale," answered the old man; "and if so, it may or may not be ours. If our iron is not in him of course we have no claim; and I presume they'll take care that it sha'n't be in him, when they take him alongside. But you and Mr. Dunham may as well go aboard and keep company, and I'll make Worth a visit when he flukes the whale, and see what discoveries I can make." "There's our boat to windward coming down," said the mate, "and that's Captain Taber in the stern of her, or else I don't know him. So that's the Leonidas. Come, pull ahead, boys, and let's get home again, we can do no good here. It'll be Worth's turn to blow now, as it was ours off the Western Islands."