Well, it's about him anyway, whatever she thinks.What's the message ? Anne handed him the letter as Chapman appeared on the landing, and descended towards them. Dicky glanced up from his reading to nod as he passed and say, "See you in t' smoking-room." Chapman nodded, and went on. They were close on the house, and Dicky wanted time to think. He had no intention of acting as Cupid's adviser to this queerly-assorted pair without some deep thought on the subject. Chapman was evidently perfectly serious, and expected to hear something useful from his friend. It was very improbable, however, that the sophisticated Elsie was in the very least serious. Tell Mr Fancett that I want "All right," he said. We're to know if it's too late for me going to change now. I'll to get that picture back, because tell you what I think after I'd like to. dinner." She's put in another post- a hurry; that he'd enjoyed his script for you." visit very much, and hoped to see them all in Yorkshire; and could he get telegrams off this time o' night ? " (To be continued.) A WHALE-HUNT. BY X. on I was idling on the quays of that very beautiful town, Durban. I had watched a great pearl-grey liner finish her long voyage and berth herself alongside the jetty without aid of tug-boat, and with as much ease as if she had been a cross - Solent ferry steamer coming alongside Ryde Pier. THERE may be people who whales killed amid polar surthink, as I did till recently, roundings. that the pursuit of the whale is carried on amongst no other surroundings than those provided by the Arctic Circles, that the whale is approached as he lies motionless on the surface of the sea, and is stricken with a harpoon projected by man's hand from an open boat. In the offing lies the whaling ship, more or less covered with icicles and threatened with bergs. I imagine that I gained these impressions from certain old books whaling. There were certainly pictures of the whaling-boat being sent sky-high by a blow from the whale's tail. From which one gathered that it was a form of the chase fraught with perils, liable to end in an icy ducking, and altogether desirable for boys. For aught I know to the contrary, these splendid adventures may still be obtained. But there are other more prosaic and less dangerous ways of killing your whale, under blue skies and in waters where there are no icebergs or polar bears, but where there are plenty of sharks and a plaguy hot sun. This is the only sort of whaling I have ever done. If I could only have another day of it, I'd forgo any chance that might come along of seeing Farther up the harbour were to be seen the lofty spars of a tall sailing-ship or two. For still we have these chief ornaments of the oceans, although we are always being told that they are past and gone. There were several gross-looking and quite unbeautiful tramp steamers, whose very masts were derricks. And there was a fleet of red- or white-sailed racing craft scurrying over the wide waters of the great harbour. The purpose and métier of all these craft were plain to the veriest land-lubber. But there were some half-dozen stumpy little vessels which puzzled me, little cock-nosed vessels, boasting a funnel and a short mast, with a barrel or something like it about twothirds of the way up. They were not ocean-going tugs, nor were they steam trawlers. I asked what they were, and was told that they were whalers. Further inquiries elicited the information that a small fleet of these plied their calling up and down the east coast of South Africa, and had their headquarters at Durban. Away behind a hill on the farther side of the harbour was a flensing station, well out of nose-shot. One of these little whalers lay alongside the quay close by me. I was seized with the wish to see a whale-hunt. So I stepped on board and asked for the skipper. My experience of sea-captains led me to look on them as rather awful people, completely bound in brass, aloof, and cloistered in enviable cabins on the top storeys of large ships. But here I found jolly seaman sweeping out a little deck-house, and made of just such clay as I was. I told him my wish, and he seemed to think that the only possible obstacle to my gratifying it was the very early start he was making next morning. He said if I could be on board at 3.30 A.M. I was welcome to see whatever there was to be seen, and that with any luck we should be back in Durban the same night. That was good enough for me. I collected a companion, and next next morning we had walked the two miles, and were on board the whaler in good time. We had brought food with us for the day, and a couple of bottles of whisky. But for all the use we made of them, we might have left them behind. Some sleepy hands were unmooring, and we made ourselves scarce on on the bridge, and with our backs against the rail slumbered till the engines began to rumble, and we began to glide out of the harbour in the darkness. Soon we were clear of the land and gently heaving on the bosom of the Indian Ocean. When daylight came we were steaming south, and some three or four miles distant from the emerald-green coast of Natal. The greenness was that of sugar-cane, though at that distance it appeared as close and velvety as turf. On either hand of us, and at intervals of about a mile, were other whalers pursuing a course parallel to our own. A hand now climbed up and occupied the crow'snest on our stumpy mast. Right up on our cocked-up little fo'c'sle the harpoon-gun was unjacketed and loaded. The great barb of the harpoon projected like something unswallowed from the muzzle of the gun. The gunner came along and explained things to us. Our little ship was from Norway. Skipper and crew were all Norwegians. They had sailed from their home port a year or so before, to whaling waters off New Zealand, but doing badly there, had brought their little vessel half across the world to Durban, where their luck had been better. Small though the ship was, she was by no means an uncomfortable boat, although her coal carrying capacity was not the range, accuracy, and killing great. The gunner opened a locker, which was divided into pigeonholes, each containing a white calico bag of black powder, the charge for the harpoongun. "The other day," said the gunner, who held in his hand a lighted cigar which he used, and somewhat nearly, as a pointer, a gunner on another vessel was showing his powder charges to a friend. Unfortunately he had a lighted cigar in his hand, and the whole went sky-high-blown to pieces. A sad accident." He closed the locker, placed the cigar in his mouth, and we breathed again. He took us forward and showed us his gun. It was mounted on a swivel, and had a shoulder-piece, and could be easily and quickly swung to either hand, in order to take advantage of fleeting chances. The harpoon looked like six or seven feet cut off a railway line, its great barbed head detachable from the shaft, and between the two a bursting charge. This latter is actuated by a fuse, which is set going by the shock of discharge, and is timed to go off when well home in the whale. Truly a formidable missile. Coiled down close to the gun was a very powerful line, of some extra special material and make. The end of this is attached to the harpoon. It must run absolutely free, and be stout enough to hold the stricken whale to the ship. We were anxious to know powers of the gun and harpoon. We were told that about forty yards was a safe maximum range, and we gathered that although gunners sometimes miss targets, it is not considered the thing to do. A single well-placed shot may kill a whale instantly, but sometimes three or more harpoons are necessary. Our guide spoke perfect English, and so did the skipper. We were bidden to breakfast with them, and a most excellent meal it was. When we came on deck again we were still cruising south, over an oily sea, with a very long swell. Away on our left came the boom of a gun. A cloud of smoke enveloped the bows of one of our little consorts, and it was evident that she was busy with a whale. She turned out of the line and went away northward. A second and a third ship similarly came into action and went away, each under tow of a whale. Then our crow's-nest man hailed the deck in the Norse equivalent for, "There she blows!" A minute or so later we on deck could see two whales, diving and spouting and coming towards us. Every one went to action stationts-he skipper to the wheel, the gunner to his gun, the engineer down a skylight to his engines, while the deck-hands disposed themselves so as to have a pair of eyes looking in every direction. We joined the skipper on the bridge, where a good view all his next series of appearances, the vessel would have to keep steaming ahead on his line so far as she could judge it, and the gunner would hope to be within shot, or at the least within closing distance, when the whale next broke surface. For the rest, neither the rate of the whale's progress, which is not great, nor his steady line forward, seemed to be the least affected by the proximity of the whaler. In a word, the whale seemed unconscious of pursuit. Our steamer easily got on terms with her pair of whales, and maintained her position for an hour or more. Had the quarry put on pace or jinked about to right or left, matters would have been very different. round was to be had. To us was to be solved a problem that appeared unsolvable-how a rapidly-moving whale, and one only showing itself between dives for a matter of seconds, could ever be harpooned. The procedure on the present occasion, and for this particular kind of whale, was as follows. At this season of the year the whales are all passing on their lawful occasions northward, and not too far from the coast. Each whale, or in the case narrated below, pair of whales, appeared to progress in a series or group of dives, and then in a disappearance under water of some minutes' duration, during which progress northward was continued in fairly straight line, and at a constant speed. So that, when out of sight, one knew more or less for certain on what line to watch for his reappearance. The whaler had first to get "on terms" with the whale that is, to be proceeding with him and as near his line and place of reappearance as possible, ready to take a shot should luck bring the whale up within range. Then when the whale broke surface for his group of dives, the gunner, if not able to shoot at his first appearance, might close up, and be able to do so at one of the later ones. Failing that, he would miss his chance during that series of dives and rapid appearances, and when the whale dived for the last time and was to be some minutes under water before beginning the surface. The racer is too As the whales broke surface and slowly revolved like the rims of two huge wheels, which were being heaved round by some agency under water, they presented at about forty yards a very large and not very rapidly-moving target-large both in height and length. And, given readiness and steadiness on the part of the gunner, I do not think that any extreme degree of marksmanship was required. But there are several kinds of whale-the humpback, which was our particular quarry; the sperm, which is the largest, most valuable, and most sought after; the blue whale; the racer; and I dare say others. The sperm whale, I believe, can often be approached and slain as he lies sleeping on |