Mystery: Mr. Witch and Miss Hunter

Chapter 162 Whaling
While Adele was taming the rebellious sailors on the "Little War Horse" in the bilge, Venata was taking Sophie on the deck to watch the sailors busy.

Unlike Adele, although as a mountain dweller, she is much slimmer than those women on the coast of Feysac - the latter's figure is often reminiscent of a female bear with cubs - but she also possesses a considerable degree of deterrence force.If you want to compare it, she feels like an upright female leopard, or a big cat like a lioness.

This pale gold lady with blue eyes just stood beside Sophie, watching the little girl running around excitedly on the deck.Her athletic figure and unabashedly exposed waist holster make those sailors who are interested in sex have to think twice.

Although Wendy did warn Adele and Venata not to go to the deck during the day, they might be watched by the sailors.However, these remarks are applicable to ordinary people with the same appearance and well-dressed clothes.As for a mid-sequence Extraordinary like Venata, just standing there, the sailors felt that there was a tiger or leopard staring at their backs, and it was too late to keep them away, let alone go up to strike up a conversation.

Venata just stood there, only showing a slightly alert posture when Sophie ran near the railing.

To tell the truth, she didn't like the sea, and she didn't like boats either.The last time I took a boat was from Fusac to Loen on a troop ship, all the people were crowded together, and the air was mixed with the smell of sweat and secretions.However, since Sophie wanted to come out to play, she had to come out too.

I heard those sailors say that whaling is a very impatient business.Sometimes I can run for a long time on the sea without seeing the shadow of half a whale, and sometimes I see waves of whales, and the boat can barely hold it...

Venata yawned a little bored.In her opinion, Sophie's interest would be like that of ordinary children, slowly disappearing during the long wait - after all, when she first started hunting, it was difficult to bear the process of waiting for the prey to appear.

However, perhaps with some symbolism, the whale just makes a dramatic appearance.

It wasn't the sailors at the top of the watchtower who first noticed it, but Sophie who was standing by the railing looking out to sea.Venata knew something was going to happen when she noticed Sophie's shoulders suddenly hunched like a frightened kitten.

Then, bursts of blisters popped into her yawning eyes.About a hundred meters downwind of her, a huge sperm whale was rolling in the water, like an overturned warship.The whale heaved lazily in the troughs, occasionally spouting water in a leisurely manner.

The sailors above the watchtower shouted, and the whaler and everyone on board awoke with a start.

"Untie the skiff! Go to leeward!"

Captain Basque appeared on the deck at some point and gave instructions to his subordinates.

Perhaps it was disturbed by the sudden shouts of the sailors. Before the boat was launched, the big whale turned around slowly and swam to the leeward.It seemed to have fully understood its situation, and its head was stretched forward obliquely, and a large pile of sticky water foam was sprayed out in front of its eyes.

However, the sailors are ready.Including Wagner, although many people's clothes were still a little messy, they came to the deck at the first time and lowered the small boat with the harpoon and the heavy whale line.

Whaling lines are all made of hemp wadding, and the surface is sprayed with a little bit of tar, so that the whalelines can be coiled up when not in use.The general whaling line is more than 400 meters long, and it is coiled in the rope barrel at the stern of the boat, but it is not coiled like a serpentine tube on a still, but is coiled layer by layer from the inside to the outside, leaving no gaps in the middle .

Because when the rope is loosened, if there is a slight kink or entanglement, the huge force will strangle the sailor's hands, feet or even the whole body, so the process of winding the rope must be very careful, and some sailors even take a whole morning to finish. When they're done, they run the rope high up, through a pulley, and down into the barrel, avoiding any possible kinks.

The sailors screamed, and the sea echoed with shouts of Fusac, Loen, Jianhai dialect, and various languages ​​of the southern colonies.There were orders, curses, prayers, chaos.

Amidst the noise, Adele came to the deck without a sound. At the same time, she moved her wrist slightly, with a look on her face as if the animal trainer was disturbed during training.

"It seems that this fleet seems to be lucky."

Adele said to Venata while holding Sophie in her arms.

"Indeed, according to the descriptions of the sailors, it is outrageous to encounter prey so quickly, especially after large-scale hunting, and to encounter whales near common shipping routes."

Venata shrugged, "Perhaps after the embargo on passenger ships for a period of time, those whales feel that this sea area is no longer dangerous... You see, those sailors have caught up with the whales."

While speaking, the small boats rowed by those desperado sailors had already caught up with the whale.The harpoon was thrown and the oarsmen galloped backwards.

The whaling rope flew past their ears.As the whaling line turned faster and faster, with the augmented eyesight of the two Adeles, they could almost see a puff of marijuana smoke rising from the rope fixed on the rotating shaft, which mixed with the smoke from Wagner's pipe. together.

"Wet the rope!"

"Take in the rope—quickly take in the rope!"

Disorganized shouts sounded, and some people scooped up sea water with their hats and poured it on the smoking rope. The rope was dangerously tense, and the helmsman took the rope and let the boat approach the side of the whale.

Wagner took the harpoon, kneed on the cleat, and shot after shot at the writhing whale.Blood flowed from the body of the big whale like a rising tide, surging and bubbling behind the boat for hundreds of meters.

Seeing that the strength of the big whale was getting weaker and weaker, Wagner leaned out from the bow of the boat and raised a sharp long-handled spear to stab into the big whale's body. He was not in a hurry to pull it out, but gently shook the handle of the gun. Stir and stir.

The big whale entered a state of "reflection" from the coma just now, rolling in its own blood, covered in blood all over its body, forcing the boat to retreat.

Its orifices spasmodically opened and closed, making rattling, rapid breathing.Finally, strands of clotted blood spurted out like red wine purple residue, slowly flowing into the sea along the dead body.

(End of this chapter)