Page:Songs from the Southern Seas and Other Poems (1873).djvu/97

Worth a life at sea to witness. In his wake the sea was white
As you've seen it after a steamer's screw, churning up like foaming yeast;
And the boats went hissing along at the rate of twenty knots at least,
With the water flush with the gunwale, and the oars were all apeak.
While the crews sat silent and quiet, watching the long, white streak
That was traced by the line of our passage. We hailed the bark as we passed,
And told them to keep a sharp look-out from the head of every mast;
'And if we 're not back by sundown,' cried the Mate, 'you keep a light
At the royal cross-trees. If he dies, we may stick to the whale all night.'

"And past we swept with our oars apeak, and waved our hands to the hail
Of the wondering men on the taffrail, who were watching our Amber Whale