No harpoon, or such tackle we took. 
Brave boys! 
For we knowed they was no ava-a-a-il. 
No, we went for to look
For that Whale—­with a hook.
That’s how we went for that Whale,
Brave boys! 
That’s how we went for that Whale!

We knowed that a sprat was the bait,
Brave boys! 
What was never knowed for to fa-a-a-il. 
So the sprat I throwed,
Whilst SOLLY, he rowed,
That’s how we angled for that Whale,
Brave boys! 
That’s how we angled for that Whale!

He lashed, and he dashed, and he splashed,
Brave boys! 
And he spouted on a werry big sca-a-a-le. 
But the skipper, he still held on,
And that sprat what I have telled on,
I dangled,—­for to catch that Whale,
Brave boys! 
I dangled,—­for to catch that Whale!

“Strike! turn yer winch, pull in yer line! 
Brave boys! 
(Sings out SOLLY) and yer prize you’ll na-a-a-il!”
Then a rummy thing did ’appen
Wich amazed me and the Cap’en;
I struck,—­but so did that Whale,
Brave boys! 
I struck—­but so did that Whale!

We found he was the better at a Strike,
Brave boys! 
Fhwisk!  He hit us such a wallop with his ta-a-a-il. 
With my hook, sprat, tackle too
He just vanished from our view. 
So—­we haven’t yet caught that Whale,
Brave boys! 
No,—­we haven’t yet caught that Whale!

[Footnote 1:  Supposed to be rival whaling captains.]

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SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.—­The name of the “unknown steamer laden with gums and ivory,” reported as having passed down the Congo last week, has been discovered to be The Dentist.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  “A SPRAT TO CATCH A WHALE!”]

* * * * *

[Illustration:  MOST EXTRAORDINARY.

Dismounted Sportsman.  “NOW, HOW THE DEUCE DID MY HAT MANAGE TO GET UP THERE?”]

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THE LATEST IN TELEGRAMS.

(SEE DAILY PAPERS PASSIM.)

[ALL FROM THE RAZZLE-DAZZLE AGENCY.]

HUKIEWAUKIE, February 28.

An extraordinary incident has just stirred the heart of this populous Western centre to its depths.  Some fifteen years ago Colonel ZACHARY B. DIBBS, one of the most prominent citizens of Hukiewaukie (then a mere collection of log-huts), disappeared without leaving any address to which his letters and papers were to be forwarded.  Mrs. DIBBS, who was then about to give birth to the seventh scion of the house of DIBBS, was inconsolable, and ordered the fish-ponds in the vicinity to be subjected to a rigorous scrutiny.  All her conjugal efforts proved fruitless, the missing Colonel was nowhere to be found, and, after a decent interval spent in the wearing of widow’s weeds,