by Victor Appleton
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The whale, however, continued to come on, speeding through the water with powerful strokes. There was an uneasy movement among some of the passengers.
"Suppose he strikes the ship," suggested one woman.
"Nonsense! He couldn't," said her husband.
"The old man had better get under way, just the same," remarked a sailor near Tom, as he looked up at the bridge where the captain was standing.
The "old man," or commander, evidently thought the same thing, for, after a glance at the oncoming leviathan, which was still headed directly for the vessel, he shoved the lever of the telegraph signal over to "full speed ahead."
Hardly had he done so than the whale sank from sight.
"Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed the woman who had first spoken of the possibility of the whale hitting the ship, "I am afraid of those terrible creatures."
"They're as harmless as a cow, unless they get angry," said her husband.
Slowly the great ship began to move through the water. Tom and his friends were about to go back to their cabin, for they thought the excitement over, when, as the young inventor turned from the rail, he felt a vibration throughout the whole length of the steamer, as if it had hit on a sand-bar.
Instantly there was a jangling of bells in the engine room, and the Soudalar lost headway.
"What's the matter?" asked several persons.
They were answered a moment later, for the big whale, even though grievously wounded in his fight with the killer, had risen not a hundred feet away from the ship, and was coming toward it with the speed of an express train.
"Bless my blubber!" cried Mr. Damon. "We must have hit the whale, or it hit us under the water and now it's going to attack us!"
He had no more than gotten the words out of his mouth ere the great creature of the deep came on full tilt at the vessel, struck it a terrific blow which made it tremble from stem to stern, and careen violently.
There was a chorus of frightened cries, sailors rushed to and fro, the engine-room bells rang violently, and the captain and mates shouted hoarse orders.
"Here he comes again!" yelled Mr. Durban, as he hurried to the side of the ship. "The whale takes us for an enemy, I guess, and he's going to ram us again!"
"And if he does it many times, he'll start the plates and cause a leak that won't be stopped in a hurry!" cried a sailor as he rushed past Tom.
The young inventor looked at the oncoming monster for a moment, and then started on the run for his cabin.
"Here! Where are you going?" cried Mr. Damon, but Tom did not answer.
