and Ned Land had frequently harpooned them under these circumstances. He took up his former position at the bows, while the frigate noiselessly approached the animal, and stopped the engines about two cables’ length distant, merely advancing by its momentum. The crew were in a state of breathless attention. Profound silence reigned on deck. We were not a hundred paces from the light which flashed into our eyes.
At this moment I saw Ned Land beneath me, holding by one hand to the martingale, with the other brandishing his fatal harpoon. Scarcely twenty paces separated us from the sleeping monster.
Suddenly Ned launched his harpoon. I heard the blow with which it hit the prey; it sounded as if it had come in contact with a hard substance.
The electric gleam was suddenly extinguished, and two enormous columns of water were directed over the deck of the frigate, rushing like a torrent fore and aft, overturning the men, and breaking the seizings of the spars. A terrible shock was felt, and, thrown over the bulwark, before I had time to save myself, I was precipitated into the sea.
