One could hear the 'booming' noise as the whales rose under the ice and struck it with their backs.

Whale after whale rose under the ice, setting it rocking fiercely; luckily Ponting kept his feet and was able to fly to security.

By an extraordinary chance also, the splits had been made around and between the dogs, so that neither of them fell into the water.

Then it was clear that the whales shared our astonishment, for one after another their huge hideous heads shot vertically into the air through the cracks which they had made.

As they reared them to a height of 6 or 8 feet it was possible to see their tawny head markings, their small glistening eyes, and their terrible array of teeth--by far the largest and most terrifying in the world.