Giving a sudden gasp,
he tumultuously sounded. With a grating rush, the three lines flew round
the loggerheads with such a force as to gouge deep grooves in them;
while so fearful were the harpooneers that this rapid sounding
would soon exhaust the lines, that using all their dexterous might,
they caught repeated smoking turns with the rope to hold on;
till at last--owing to the perpendicular strain from the lead-lined
chocks of the boats, whence the three ropes went straight
down into the blue--the gunwales of the bows were almost even
with the water, while the three sterns tilted high in the air.
And the whale soon ceasing to sound, for some time they
remained in that attitude, fearful of expending more line,
though the position was a little ticklish. But though boats have
been taken down and lost in this way, yet it is this "holding on,"
as it is called; this hooking up by the sharp barbs of his live
flesh from the back; this it is that often torments the Leviathan
into soon rising again to meet the sharp lance of his foes.
Yet not to speak of the peril of the thing, it is to be doubted
whether this course is always the best; for it is but reasonable
to presume, that the longer the stricken whale stays under water,
the more he is exhausted.
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