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man; "we gain on them; give way! A long, steady stroke, that's the way to tell it.”

5. The chase was now truly soul-stirring. Sometimes the larboard, then the starboard, then the waist boat took the lead. It was a severe trial of skill and muscle. After we had run two miles at this rate, the whales turned flukes, going straight to windward. "Now for it, my lads!" cried our headsman. "We'll have them the next rising. steady pull! That's it! whales belong to us.

Now pile it on! A long, That's the way! Those Don't give out! Half an

hour more, and they're our whales."

6. On dashed the boat, clearing its way through the rough sea as if the briny element were blue smoke. The whale we pursued, however, turned flukes before we could reach him. When he appeared again above the surface of the water, it was evident that he had gone a good distance while down, gaining on us nearly a mile.

7. The chase was now almost hopeless, as the whale was making to windward rapidly. A heavy black cloud was on the horizon, portending an approaching squall, and the bark was fast fading from sight. Still we were not to be baffled by discouraging circumstances of this kind, and we braced our sinews for a grand and final effort.

8. Our situation was rather unpleasant; in a rough sea, the other boats out of sight, and each moment the wind increasing. We continued to strain every muscle until we were hard upon the whale. Tabor sprang to the bow, and stood by it with the harpoon.

9. "Softly, softly, my lads!" said the headsman. "Ay, ay, sir."-"Hush-h-h! Softly! Now's your time, Tabor!" Tabor let fly the harpoon, and buried the iron. "Stern all!" thundered the headsman. "Stern all!" And as we rapidly backed from the whale he flung his tremendous flukes high in the air, covering us with a cloud of spray.

10. He then plunged down under water, making the line whiz as it passed through the chocks. When he rose to the surface again, we hauled up, and the second mate stood ready in the bow to dispatch him with lances.

11. "He is spouting blood!" said Tabor; "he is a dead whale. He will not need much lancing." It was true enough; for, before the officer could get within dart's reach of him, the monster commenced his dying struggles. The sea was crimsoned with his blood. We lay upon our oars a moment to witness his last throes; and when he had turned his head towards the sun, a loud simultaneous cheer burst from every lip.

monotony, dullness.
bow, forward end of a vessel.
lee, opposite to the point from
which the wind blows.
school, company.
clew, to draw up.
belay, to fasten.

falls, means of lowering a boat.
larboard, left hand to one
standing on the ship and look
ing towards the bow.
starboard, right hand.

waist, middle of a ship.
head and head, just even.
fluke, part of a whale's tail.
throes, struggles.
windward, towards the point

from which the wind blows. horizon, the line where the earth and sky seem to meet. harpoon, a spear of peculiar shape.

simultaneous, at the same

moment.

mill

small

dream

LESSON CXL.

di-a-mond mon-strous

treas-ure

mon-ey

THE DISCONTENTED MILLER.

WH

HANG, the miller, was naturally avaricious; nobody loved money better than he, or more respected those who had it. When people would talk of a rich man in company, Whang would say, "I know him very well; he and I have been long acquainted." But, if ever a poor man was mentioned, he had not the least knowledge of the man.

2. Whang, however, with all his eagerness for riches, was poor. He had nothing but the profits of his mill to support him; but, though these were small, they were certain; and his frugality was such that he every day laid some money by, which he would at intervals count with much satisfaction. Yet still his acquisitions were not equal to his desires.

3. One day, as he was indulging these wishes, he was informed that a neighbor of his had found a pan of money under ground, having dreamed of it three nights running before. These tidings were daggers to the heart of poor Whang. "Here am I," says he, "toiling from morning till night for a few paltry farthings, while neighbor Thanks only goes quietly to bed and dreams himself into thousands before morning.

4. "Oh that I could dream like him! With what pleasure would I dig round the pan! How slyly would I carry it home! not even my wife should see

fru-gal-i-ty foun-da-tion

av-a-ri-cious

for-tune

rap-ture

me; and then, oh the pleasure of thrusting one's hand into a heap of gold up to the elbow!"

5. Such reflections only served to make the miller unhappy; he was quite disgusted with small gains, and his customers began to forsake him. Every day he repeated the wish,, and every night laid himself down in order to dream.

6. Fortune, that was for a long time unkind, at last, however, seemed to smile on his distresses, and indulged him with the wished-for vision. He dreamed that under a certain part of the foundation of his mill there was concealed a monstrous pan of gold and diamonds, buried deep in the ground, and covered with a large flat stone.

7. He concealed his good luck from every person, as is usual in money dreams, in order to have the vision repeated the two succeeding nights, by which he should be certain of its truth. His wishes in this, also, were answered; he still dreamed of the same pan of money in the very same place. Now, therefore, it was past a doubt; so, getting up early the the third morning, he repaired alone, with a mattock in his hand, to the mill, and began to undermine that part of the wall to which the vision directed him.

8. The first omen of success that he met was a broken ring; digging still deeper, he turned up a house-tile, quite new and entire. At last, after much digging, he came to a broad, flat stone, but then, so large that it was beyond man's strength to remove it.

9. "Here!" cried he, in raptures, to himself; "here it is; under this stone there is room for a very

large pan of diamonds indeed. I must e'en go home to my wife, and tell her the whole affair, and get her to assist me in turning it up.".

10. Away, therefore, he goes, and acquaints his wife with every circumstance of their good fortune. Her raptures on this occasion may easily be imagined. She flew round his neck, and embraced him in an ecstasy of joy. Returning together to the same place where Whang had been digging, there they found not, indeed, the expected treasure-but the mill, their only support, undermined and fallen.

avaricious, loving money. mattock, kind of pick-ax. frugality, carefulness in spend

ing.

omen, sign.

rapture, great joy.

ecstasy, being overcome with excitement.

LESSON CXLI.

THE WORD OF GOD.

From the Bible.

HY word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto

THY

my path. The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

2. Therefore ye shall lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

3. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of

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