It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable, that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on its passage and was making the most of it. It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around it. For two months no one heard it spoken of. The arsenals were opened to Commander Farragut, who hastened the arming of his frigate but, as it always happens, the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster did not appear. A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in commission as soon as possible. The United States were the first in the field and in New York they made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this narwhal. The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd's List, the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial Review, all papers devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of premium, were unanimous on this point. The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this point of view.
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