The Higher Grounds Showreel
Some fifty years ago there was a curious case of
whale-trover litigated in England, wherein the plaintiffs
set forth that after a hard chase of a whale in the
Northern seas; and when indeed they (the plaintiffs) had
succeeded in harpooning the fish; they were at last,
through peril of their lives, obliged to forsake not only
their lines, but their boat itself.
Ultimately the defendants (the crew of another ship)
came up with the wale, struck, killed, seized, and finally
appropriated it before the very eyes of the plaintiffs. And
when those defendants were remonstrated with, their
captain snapped his fingers in the plaintiffs' teeth, and
assured them that by way of doxology to the deed he had
done.
