the world of ice, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. some of the dramatis personae introduced--retrospective glances--causes of future effects--our hero's early life at sea--a pirate--a terrible fight and its consequences--buzzby's helm lashed amidships--a whaling cruise begun. nobody ever caught john buzzby asleep by any chance whatever. no weasel was ever half so sensitive on that point as he was. wherever he happened to be (and in the course of his adventurous life he had been to nearly all parts of the known world) he was the first awake in the morning and the last asleep at night; he always answered promptly to the first call, and was never known by any man living to have been seen with his eyes shut, except when he winked, and that operation he performed less frequently than other men. john buzzby was an old salt--a regular true-blue jack tar of the old school, who had been born and bred at sea; had visited foreign parts innumerable; had weathered more storms than he could count, and had witnessed more strange sights than he could remember. he was tough, and sturdy, and grizzled, and broad, and square, and massive--a first-rate specimen of a john bull, and, according to himself, "always kept his weather-eye open." this remark of his was apt to create confusion in the minds of his hearers, for john meant the expression to be understood figuratively, while, in point of fact, he almost always kept one of his literal eyes open and the other partially closed, but as he reversed the order of arrangement frequently, he might have been said to keep his lee-eye as much open as the weather one. this peculiarity gave to his countenance an expression of earnest thoughtfulness mingled with humour. buzzby was fond of being thought old, and he looked much older than he really was. men guessed his age at fifty-five, but they were ten years out in their reckoning, for john had numbered only forty-five summers, and was as tough and muscular as ever he had been--although not quite so elastic. john buzzby stood on the pier of the seaport town of grayton watching the active operations of the crew of a whaling ship which was on the point of starting for the icebound seas of the frozen regions, and making sundry remarks to a stout, fair-haired boy of fifteen, who stood by his side gazing at the ship with an expression of deep sadness. "she's a trim-built craft and a good sea-boat, i'll be bound, master fred," observed the sailor, "but she's too small by half, accordin' to my notions, and i _have_ seen a few whalers in my day. them bow-timbers, too, are scarce thick enough for goin' bump agin the ice o' davis straits. howsome'iver, i've seen worse craft drivin' a good trade in the polar seas." "she's a first-rate craft in all respects, and you have too high an opinion of your own judgment," replied the youth indignantly. "do you suppose that my father, who is an older man than yourself, and as good a sailor, would buy a ship, and fit her out, and go off to the whale-fishery in her if he did not think her a good one?" "ah! master fred, you're a chip of the old block--neck or nothing-- carry on all sail till you tear the masts out of her! reef the t'gallant sails of your temper, boy, and don't run foul of an old man who has been all but a wet-nurse to ye--taught ye to walk, and swim, and pull an oar, and build ships, and has hauled ye out o' the sea when ye fell in--from the time ye could barely stump along on two legs, lookin' like as if ye was more nor half seas over." "well, buzzby," replied the boy, laughing, "if you've been all that to me, i think you _have_ been a wet-nurse too! but why do you run down my father's ship? do you think i'm going to stand that? no, not even from you, old boy." "hallo! youngster," shouted a voice from the deck of the vessel in question, "run up and tell your father we're all ready, and if he don't make haste he'll lose the tide, so he will, and that'll make us have to start on a friday, it will, an' that'll not do for me no how, it won't; so make sail and look sharp about it, do--won't you?" "what a tongue he's got," remarked buzzby. "before i'd go to sea with a first mate who jawed like that i'd be a landsman. don't ever you git to talk too much, master fred, wotever ye do. my maxim is--and it has served me through life, uncommon,--`keep your weather-eye open and your tongue housed 'xcept when you've got occasion to use it.' if that fellow'd use his eyes more and his tongue less he'd see your father comin' down the road there, right before the wind; with his old sister in tow." "how i wish he would have let me go with him!" muttered fred to himself sorrowfully. "no chance now, i'm a-feared," remarked his companion. "the gov'nor's as stiff as a nor'wester. nothin' in the world can turn him once he's made up his mind, but a regular sou'easter. now, if you had been _my_ son, and yonder tight craft _my_ ship, i would have said, come, at once. but your father knows best, lad, and you're a wise son to obey orders cheerfully, without question. that's another o' my maxims: `obey orders an' ax no questions.'" frederick ellice, senior, who now approached, whispering words of consolation into the ear of his weeping sister, might, perhaps, have just numbered fifty years. he was a fine, big, bold, hearty englishman, with a bald head, grizzled locks, a loud but not harsh voice, a rather quick temper, and a kind, earnest, enthusiastic heart. like buzzby, he had spent nearly all his life at sea, and had become so thoroughly accustomed to walking on an unstable foundation, that he felt quite uncomfortable on solid ground, and never remained more than a few months at a time on shore. he was a man of good education and gentlemanly manners, and had worked his way up in the merchant service, step by step, until he obtained the command of a west india trader. a few years previous to the period in which our tale opens, an event occurred which altered the course of captain ellice's life, and for a long period plunged him into the deepest affliction. this was the loss of his wife at sea, under peculiarly distressing circumstances. at the age of thirty captain ellice had married a pretty blue-eyed girl, who resolutely refused to become a sailor's bride, unless she should be permitted to accompany her husband to sea. this was without much difficulty agreed to, and forthwith alice bremner became mrs ellice, and went to sea. it was during her third voyage to the west indies that our hero, fred, was born, and it was during this, and succeeding voyages, that buzzby became "all but a wet-nurse" to him. mrs ellice was a loving, gentle, seriously-minded woman. she devoted herself, heart and soul, to the training of her boy, and spent many a pleasant hour in that little unsteady cabin, in endeavouring to instil into his infant mind the blessed truths of christianity, and in making the name of jesus familiar to his ear. as fred grew older, his mother encouraged him to hold occasional intercourse with the sailors, for her husband's example taught her the value of a bold, manly spirit, and she knew that it was impossible for her to instil _that_ into him, but she was careful to guard him from the evil that he might chance to learn from the men, by committing him to the tender care of buzzby. to do the men justice, however, this was almost unnecessary, for they felt that a mother's watchful eye was on the child, and no unguarded word fell from their lips while he was romping about the forecastle. when it was time for fred to go to school, mrs ellice gave up her roving life, and settled in her native town of grayton, where she resided with her widowed sister, amelia bright, and her niece isobel. here fred received the rudiments of an excellent education at a private academy. at the age of twelve, however, master fred became restive, and, during one of his father's periodical visits home, begged to be taken to sea. captain ellice agreed; mrs ellice insisted on accompanying them, and in a few weeks they were once again on their old home, the ocean, and fred was enjoying his native air in company with his friend buzzby, who stuck to the old ship like one of her own stout timbers. but this was destined to be a disastrous voyage. one evening, after crossing the line, they descried a suspicious-looking schooner to windward, bearing down upon them under a cloud of canvas. "what do you think of her, buzzby?" enquired captain ellice, handing his glass to the seaman. buzzby gazed in silence and with compressed lips for some time; then he returned the glass, at the same time muttering the word: "pirate." "i thought so," said the captain in a deep, unsteady voice. "there is but one course for us, buzzby," he continued, glancing towards his wife, who, all unconscious of their danger, sat near the taffrail, employed with her needle; "these fellows show no mercy, because they expect none, either from god or man. we must fight to the last. go, prepare the men and get out the arms. i'll tell my wife." buzzby went forward, but the captain's heart failed him, and he took two or three rapid, hesitating turns on the quarter-deck ere he could make up his mind to speak. "alice," he said at length abruptly, "yonder vessel is a pirate." mrs ellice looked up in surprise, and her face grew pale as her eye met the troubled gaze of her husband. "are you quite sure, frederick?" "yes, quite. would god that i were left alone to--but--nay, do not be alarmed; perhaps i am wrong; it may be a--a clipper-built trading vessel. if not, alice, we must make some show of fighting, and try to frighten them. meanwhile you must go below." the captain spoke encouragingly as he led his wife to the cabin, but his candid countenance spoke too truthfully, and she felt that his look of anxious concern bade her fear the worst. pressing her fervently to his heart, captain ellice sprang on deck. by this time the news had spread through the ship, and the crew, consisting of upwards of thirty men, were conversing earnestly in knots of four or five while they sharpened and buckled on cutlasses, or loaded pistols and carbines. "send the men aft, mr thompson," said the captain, as he paced the deck to and fro, casting his eyes occasionally on the schooner, which was rapidly nearing the vessel. "take another pull at these main-topsail-halyards, and send the steward down below for my sword and pistols. let the men look sharp; we've no time to lose, and hot work is before us." "i will go for your sword, father," cried fred, who had just come on deck. "boy, boy, you must go below; you can be of no use here." "but, father, you know that i'm not _afraid_." "i know that, boy; i know it well; but you're too young to fight; you're not strong enough; besides, you must comfort and cheer your mother, she may want you." "i am old enough and strong enough to load and fire a pistol, father; and i heard one of the men say we would need all the hands on board, and more if we had them; besides, it was my mother who told me what was going on, and sent me on deck to _help you to fight_." a momentary gleam of pride lit up the countenance of the captain as he said hastily: "you may stay, then," and turned towards the men, who now stood assembled on the quarterdeck. addressing the crew in his own blunt, vigorous style, he said: "lads, yon rascally schooner is a pirate, as you all know well enough. i need not ask you if you are ready to fight--i see by your looks you are. but that's not enough--you must make up your minds to fight _well_. you know that pirates give no quarter. i see the decks are swarming with men. if you don't go at them like bull-dogs you'll walk the plank before sunset, every man of you. now, go forward, and double-shot your muskets and pistols, and stick as many of the latter into your belts as they will hold. mr thompson, let the gunner double-shot the four big guns, and load the little carronade with musket balls to the muzzle. if they do try to board us, they'll get a warm reception." "there goes a shot, sir," said buzzby, pointing towards the piratical schooner, from the side of which a white cloud burst and a round shot ricochetted over the sea, passing close ahead of the ship. "ay, that's a request for us to lay-to," said the captain bitterly, "but we won't. keep her away a point." "ay, ay, sir," sung out the man at the wheel. a second and third shot were fired, but passed unheeded, and the captain, fully expecting that the next would be fired into them, ordered the men below. "we can't afford to lose a man, mr thompson; send them all down." "please, sir, may i remain?" said buzzby, touching his hat. "obey orders," answered the captain sternly. the sailor went below with a sulky fling. for nearly an hour the two vessels cut through the water before a steady breeze, during which time the fast-sailing schooner gradually overhauled the heavy west-indiaman, until she approached within speaking distance. still captain ellice paid no attention to her, but stood with compressed lips beside the man at the wheel, gazing alternately at the sails of his vessel, and at the windward horizon, where he fancied he saw indications that led him to hope the breeze would fail ere long. as the schooner drew nearer, a man leaped on the hammock-nettings, and, putting a trumpet to his mouth, sang out lustily: "ship ahoy, where are you from and what's your cargo?" captain ellice made no reply, but ordered four of his men on deck to point one of the stern-chasers. again the voice came harshly across the waves, as if in passion: "heave to, or i'll sink you." at the same moment the black flag was run up to the peak, and a shot passed between the main and fore-mast. "stand by to point this gun," said the captain in a subdued voice. "ay, ay, sir!" "fetch a red-hot iron; luff, luff a little--a little more--steady, so." at the last word there was a puff and a roar, and an iron messenger flew towards the schooner. the gun had been fired more as a reply of defiance to the pirate, than with the hope of doing him any damage, but the shot had been well aimed--it cut the schooner's main-sail-yard in two, and brought it rattling down on deck. instantly the pirate yawed and delivered a broadside, but in the confusion on deck the guns were badly aimed, and none took effect. the time lost in this manoeuvre, added to the crippled condition of the schooner, enabled the west-indiaman to gain considerably on her antagonist, but the pirate kept up a well-directed fire with his bow-chasers, and many of the shots struck the hull, and cut the rigging seriously. as the sun descended towards the horizon the wind fell gradually, and ceased at length altogether, so that both vessels lay rolling on the swell with their sails flapping idly against the masts. "they're a gittin' out the boats, sir," remarked john buzzby, who, unable to restrain himself any longer, had crept upon deck at the risk of another reprimand; "and, if my eyes be'nt deceiving me, there's a sail on the horizon to wind'ard--leastways, the direction which _wos_ wind'ard afore it fell calm." "she's bringing a breeze along with her," remarked the captain, "but i fear the boats will come up before it reaches us. there are three in the water, and manned already. there they come. now, then, call up all hands." in a few seconds the crew of the west-indiaman were at their stations, ready for action, and captain ellice, with fred at his elbow, stood beside one of the stern-chasers. meanwhile, the boats of the pirate-- five in number--pulled away in different directions, evidently with the intention of attacking the ship at different points. they were full of men armed to the teeth. while they rowed towards the ship the schooner resumed its fire, and one ball cut away the spanker boom, and slightly wounded two of the men with splinters. the guns of the ship were now brought to bear on the boats, but without effect, although the shot plunged into the water all round them. as they drew nearer, a brisk fire of musketry was opened on them, and the occasional falling of an oar and confusion on board showed that the shots told. the pirates replied vigorously, but without effect, as the men of the ship were sheltered by the bulwarks. "pass the word to load and reserve fire," said the captain, "and hand me a musket, fred. load again as fast as i fire." so saying, the captain took aim, and fired at the steersman of the largest boat, which pulled towards the stern. "another, fred--" at this moment a withering volley was poured upon the boat, and a savage yell of agony followed, while the rowers--who remained unhurt--paused for an instant as if paralysed. next instant they recovered, and another stroke would have brought them almost alongside, when captain ellice pointed the little carronade and fired. there was a terrific crash, the gun recoiled violently to the other side of the deck, and the pirate boat sank, leaving the sea covered with dead and wounded men. a number, however, who seemed to bear charmed lives, seized their cutlasses with their teeth, and swam boldly for the ship. this incident, unfortunately, attracted too much of the attention of the crew, and, ere they could prevent it, another boat reached the bow of the ship, the crew of which sprang up the side like cats, formed on the forecastle, and poured a volley upon the men. "follow me, lads," shouted the captain, as he sprang forward like a tiger. the first man he reached fell by a ball from his pistol; in another moment the opposing parties met in a hand-to-hand conflict. meanwhile fred, having been deeply impressed with the effect of the shot from the little carronade, succeeded in raising and reloading it. he had scarcely accomplished this when one of the boats reached the larboard quarter, and two of the men sprang up the side. fred observed them, and felled the first with a handspike before he reached the deck, but the pirate who instantly followed, would have killed him, had he not been observed by the second mate, who had prevented several of the men from joining in the melee on the forecastle, in order to meet such an emergency as this. rushing to the rescue with his party, he drove the pirates back into the boat, which was immediately pulled towards the bow, where the other two boats were now grappling and discharging their crews on the forecastle. although the men of the west-indiaman fought with desperate courage, they could not stand before the increasing numbers of pirates, who now crowded the forepart of the ship in a dense mass. gradually they were beaten back, and at length were brought to bay on the quarter-deck. "help, father!" cried fred, pushing through the struggling crowd, "here's the carronade ready loaded." "ha! boy, well done!" cried the captain, seizing the gun, and, with the help of buzzby, who never left his side, dragging it forward. "clear the way, lads!" in a moment the little cannon was pointed to the centre of the mass of men, and fired. one awful shriek of agony rose above the din of the fight, as a wide gap was cut through the crowd; but this only seemed to render the survivors more furious. with a savage yell they charged the quarter-deck, but were hurled back again and again by the captain, and a few chosen men who stood around him. at length one of the pirates, who had been all along conspicuous for his strength and daring, stepped deliberately up, and, pointing a pistol at the captain's breast, fired. captain ellice fell, and at the same moment a ball laid the pirate low; another charge was made; fred rushed forward to protect his father, but was thrown down and trodden under foot in the rush, and in two minutes more the ship was in possession of the pirates. being filled with rage at the opposition they had met with, these villains proceeded, as they said, to make short work of the crew, while several of them sprang into the cabin, where they discovered mrs ellice almost dead with terror. dragging her violently on deck, they were about to cast her into the sea, when buzzby, who stood with his hands bound, suddenly burst his bonds and sprang towards her. a blow from the butt of a pistol, however, stretched him insensible on the deck. "where is my husband?--my boy?" screamed mrs ellice wildly. "they've gone before you, or they'll soon follow," said a savage fiercely, as he raised her in his powerful arms, and hurled her overboard. a loud shriek was followed by a heavy plunge. at the same moment two of the men raised the captain, intending to throw him overboard also, when a loud boom arrested their attention, and a cannon-shot ploughed up the sea close in front of their bows. while the fight was raging, no one had observed the fact that the breeze had freshened, and a large man-of-war, with american colours at her peak, was now within gunshot of the ship. no sooner did the pirates make this discovery than they rushed to their boats, with the intention of pulling to their schooner, but those who had been left in charge, seeing the approach of the man-of-war, and feeling that there was no chance of escape for their comrades, or, as is more than probable, being utterly indifferent about them, crowded all sail, and slipped away, and it was now hull-down on the horizon to leeward. the men in the boats rowed after her with the energy of despair, but the americans gave chase, and we need scarcely add that, in a very short time, all were captured. when the man-of-war rejoined the west-indiaman, the night had set in and a stiff breeze had arisen, so that the long and laborious search that was made for the body of poor mrs ellice, proved utterly fruitless. captain ellice, whose wound was very severe, was struck down as if by a thunderbolt, and for a long time his life was despaired of. during his illness fred nursed him with the utmost tenderness, and, in seeking to comfort his father, found some relief to his own stricken heart. months passed away. captain ellice was conveyed to the residence of his sister in grayton, and, under her care, and the nursing of his little niece, isobel, he recovered his wonted health and strength. to the eyes of men, captain ellice and his son were themselves again, but those who judge of men's hearts by their outward appearance and expressions, in nine cases out of ten judge very wide of the mark indeed. both had undergone a great change. the brilliancy and glitter of this world had been completely and rudely dispelled, and both had been led to enquire whether there was not something better to live for than mere present advantage and happiness; something that would stand by them in those hours of sickness and sorrow which must inevitably, sooner or later, come upon all men. but captain ellice could not be induced to resume the command of his old ship, or voyage again to the west indies. he determined to change the scene of his future labours and sail to the frozen seas, where the aspect of every object--even the ocean itself--would be very unlikely to recall the circumstances of his loss. some time after his recovery, captain ellice purchased a brig, and fitted her out as a whaler, determined to try his fortune in the northern seas. fred pleaded hard to be taken out, but his father felt that he had more need to go to school than to sea; so he refused, and fred, after sighing very deeply once or twice, gave in with a good grace. buzzby, too, who stuck to his old commander like a leech, was equally anxious to go, but buzzby, in a sudden and unaccountable fit of tenderness, had, just two months before, married a wife, who might be appropriately described as "fat, fair, and forty," and buzzby's wife absolutely forbade him to go. alas! buzzby was no longer his own master. at the age of forty-five he became--as he himself expressed it--an abject slave, and he would as soon have tried to steer in a slipper bath, right in the teeth of an equinoctial hurricane, as have opposed the will of his wife. he used to sigh gruffly when spoken to on this subject, and compare himself to a dutch galliot that made more lee-way than head-way, even with a wind on the quarter. "once," he would remark, "i was clipper-built and could sail right in the wind's eye, but ever since i tuck this craft in tow i've gone to leeward like a tub. in fact, i find there's only one way of going ahead with my poll, and that is right before the wind! i used to yaw about a good deal at first, but she tuck that out o' me in a day or two. if i put the helm only so much as one stroke to starboard, she guv' a tug at the tow-rope that brought the wind dead aft again; so i've gi'n it up, and lashed the tiller right amidships." so buzzby did not accompany his old commander; he did not even so much as suggest the possibility of it, but he shook his head with great solemnity as he stood with fred, and mrs bright, and isobel, at the end of the pier, gazing at the brig, with one eye very much screwed up, and a wistful expression in the other, while the graceful craft spread out her canvas and bent over to the breeze. chapter two. departure of the pole star for the frozen seas--sage reflections of mrs. bright, and sagacious remarks of buzzby--anxieties, fears, surmises, and resolutions--isobel--a search proposed--departure of the dolphin for the far north. digressions are bad at the best, and we feel some regret that we should have been compelled to begin our book with one; but they are necessary evils, sometimes, so we must ask our reader's forgiveness, and beg him, or her, to remember that we are still at the commencement of our story, standing at the end of the pier, and watching the departure of the _pole star_ whale-ship, which is now a scarcely distinguishable speck on the horizon. as it disappeared buzzby gave a grunt, fred and isobel uttered a sigh in unison, and mrs bright resumed the fit of weeping which for some time she had unconsciously suspended. "i fear we shall never see him again," sobbed mrs bright, as she took isobel by the hand and sauntered slowly home, accompanied by fred and buzzby, the latter of whom seemed to regard himself in the light of a shaggy newfoundland or mastiff, who had been left to protect the family. "we are always hearing of whale-ships being lost, and, somehow or other, we _never_ hear of the crews being saved, as one reads of when ships are wrecked in the usual way on the sea-shore." isobel squeezed her mother's hand, and looked up in her face with an expression that said plainly: "don't cry so, mamma, i'm _sure_ he will come back," but she could not find words to express herself, so she glanced towards the mastiff for help. buzzby felt that it devolved upon him to afford consolation under the circumstances, but mrs bright's mind was of that peculiar stamp which repels advances in the way of consolation unconsciously, and buzzby was puzzled. he screwed up first the right eye and then the left, and smote his thigh repeatedly; and assuredly, if contorting his visage could have comforted mrs bright, she would have returned home a happy woman, for he made faces at her violently for full five minutes; but it did her no good, perhaps because she didn't see him, her eyes being suffused with tears. "ah! yes," resumed mrs bright, with another burst, "i _know_ they will never come back, and your silence shows that you think so too; and to think of their taking two years' provisions with them _in case of accidents_!--doesn't that prove that there are _going_ to be accidents? and didn't i hear one of the sailors say that she was a crack ship, a number one? i don't know what he meant by a number one; but if she's a cracked ship i _know_ she will never come back; and although i told my dear brother of it, and advised him not to go, he only laughed at me, which was very unkind, i'm sure--" here mrs bright's feelings overcame her again. "why, aunt," said fred, scarce able to restrain a laugh, despite the sadness that lay at his heart, "when the sailor said it was a crack ship, he meant that it was a _good_ one, a first-rate one." "then why did he not say what he meant? but you are talking nonsense, boy; do you think that i will believe a man means to say a thing is good when he calls it cracked? and i'm sure nobody would say a cracked tea-pot was as good as a whole one; but tell me, buzzby, do you think they ever _will_ come back?" "why, ma'am, in coorse i do," replied buzzby vehemently; "for why? if they don't, they're the first that ever went out o' this port in my day as didn't. they've a good ship and lots o' grub, and it's like to be a good season; and captain ellice has, for the most part, good luck; and they've started with a fair wind, and kep' clear of a friday, and what more could ye wish? i only wish as i was aboard along with them, that's all." buzzby delivered himself of this oration with the left eye shut and screwed up, and the right one open. having concluded, he shut and screwed up the right eye, and opened the left--he reversed the engine, so to speak, as if he wished to back out from the scene of his triumph, and leave the course clear for others to speak. but his words were thrown away on mrs bright, who was emphatically a weak-minded woman, and never exercised her reason at all, except in a spasmodic, galvanic sort of way, when she sought to defend or to advocate some unreasonable conclusion of some sort, at which her own weak mind had arrived somehow. so she shook her head, and sobbed good-bye to buzzby, as she ascended the sloping avenue that led to her pretty cottage, on the green hill that overlooked the harbour and the sea beyond. as for john buzzby, having been absent from home full half an hour beyond his usual dinner-hour, he felt that, for a man who had lashed his helm amidships, he was yawing alarmingly out of his course, so he spread all the canvas he could carry, and steered, right before the wind, towards the village, where, in a little, whitewashed, low-roofed, one-doored and two-little-windowed cottage, his spouse (and dinner) awaited him. to make a long story short, three years passed away, but the _pole star_ did not return, and no news of her could be got from the various whale-ships that visited the port of grayton. towards the end of the second year buzzby began to shake his head despondingly; and as the third drew to a close, the expression of gloom never left his honest, weather-beaten face. mrs bright too, whose anxiety at first was only half genuine, now became seriously alarmed, and the fate of the missing brig began to be the talk of the neighbourhood. meanwhile fred ellice and isobel grew and improved in mind and body, but anxiety as to his father's fate rendered the former quite unable to pursue his studies, and he determined at last to procure a passage in a whale-ship, and go out in search of the brig. it happened that the principal merchant and ship-owner in the town, mr singleton by name, was an intimate friend and old school-fellow of captain ellice, so fred went boldly to him and proposed that a vessel should be fitted out immediately, and sent off to search for his father's brig. mr singleton smiled at the request, and pointed out the utter impossibility of his agreeing to it; but he revived fred's sinking hopes by saying that, he was about to send out a whaler to the northern seas at any rate, and that he would give orders to the captain to devote a _portion_ of his time to the search, and, moreover, agreed to let fred go as a passenger in company with his own son tom. now tom singleton had been fred's bosom friend and companion during his first year at school, but during the last two years he had been sent to the edinburgh university, to prosecute his medical studies, and the two friends had only met at rare intervals. it was with unbounded delight, therefore, that he found his old companion, now a youth of twenty, was to go out as surgeon of the ship, and he could scarce contain himself, as he ran down to buzzby's cottage to tell him the good news, and ask him to join. of course buzzby was ready to go, and, what was of far greater importance in the matter, his wife threw no obstacle in the way. on the contrary, she undid the lashings of the helm with her own hand, and told her wondering partner, with a good-humoured (but firm) smile, to steer where he chose, and she would content herself with the society of the two young buzzbys (both miniature facsimiles of their father), till he came back. once again a whale-ship prepared to sail from the port of grayton, and once again mrs bright and isobel stood on the pier to see her depart. isobel was about thirteen now, and as pretty a girl, according to buzzby, as you could meet with in any part of britain. her eyes were blue, and her hair nut-brown, and her charms of face and figure were enhanced immeasurably by an air of modesty and earnestness that went straight home to your heart, and caused you to adore her at once. buzzby doated on her as if she were his only child, and felt a secret pride in being in some undefinable way her protector. buzzby philosophised about her, too, after a strange fashion. "you see," he would say to fred, "it's not that her figure-head is cut altogether after a parfect pattern; by no means, for i've seen pictur's and statues that wos better; but she carries her head a little down, d'ye see, master fred, and there's where it is; that's the way i gauges the worth o' young women, jist accordin' as they carry their chins up or down. if their brows come well for'ard, and they seems to be lookin' at the ground they walk on, i knows their brains is firm stuff, and in good workin' order; but when i sees them carryin' their noses high out o' the water, as if they wos afeard o' catchin' sight o' their own feet, and their chins elewated so that a little boy standin' in front o' them couldn't see their faces nohow, i make pretty sure that t'other end is filled with a sort o' _mush_ that's fit only to think o' dress and dancing." on the present occasion isobel's eyes were red and swollen, and by no means improved by weeping. mrs bright, too, although three years had done little to alter her character, seemed to be less demonstrative, and much more sincere than usual, in her grief at parting from fred. in a few minutes all was ready. young singleton and buzzby having hastily but earnestly bade mrs bright and her daughter farewell, leaped on board. fred lingered for a moment. "once more, dear aunt," said he, "farewell! with god's blessing we shall come back soon. write to me, darling isobel, won't you? to uppernavik, on the coast of greenland. if none of our ships are bound in that direction, write by way of denmark. old mr singleton will tell you how to address your letter, and see that it be a long one." "now, then, youngster, jump aboard," shouted the captain; "look sharp!" "ay, ay," returned fred, and in another moment he was on the quarter-deck, by the side of his friend tom. the ship, loosed from her moorings, spread her canvas, and plunged forward on her adventurous voyage. but this time she does not grow smaller as she advances before the freshening breeze, for you and i, reader, have embarked in her, and the land now fades in the distance, until it sinks from view on the distant horizon, while nothing meets our gaze, but the vault of the bright blue sky above, and the plain of the dark blue sea below. chapter three. the voyage--the dolphin and her crew--ice ahead--polar scenes--masthead observations--the first whale--great excitement. and now we have fairly got into blue water--the sailor's delight, the landsman's dread-- "the sea! the sea! the open sea; the blue, the fresh, the ever free." "it's my opinion," remarked buzzby to singleton one day, as they stood at the weather gangway, watching the foam that spread from the vessel's bow as she breasted the waves of the atlantic gallantly,--"it's my opinion that our skipper is made o' the right stuff. he's entered quite into the spirit of the thing, and i hear'd him say to the first mate yesterday, he'd made up his mind to run right up into baffin's bay, and make enquiries for captain ellice first, before goin' to his usual whalin'-ground. now that's wot i call doin' the right thing; for, ye see, he runs no small risk o' gettin' beset in the ice, and losing the fishin' season altogether by so doin'." "he's a fine fellow," said singleton; "i like him better every day, and i feel convinced he will do his utmost to discover the whereabouts of our missing friend; but i fear much that our chances are small, for although we know the spot which captain ellice intended to visit, we cannot tell to what part of the frozen ocean, ice and currents may have carried him." "true," replied buzzby, giving to his left eye and cheek just that peculiar amount of screw which indicated intense sagacity and penetration; "but i've a notion that, if they are to be found, captain guy is the man to find 'em." "i hope it may turn out as you say. have you ever been in these seas before, buzzby?" "no, sir--never; but i've got a half-brother wot has bin in the greenland whale-fishery, and i've bin in the south-sea line myself." "what line was that, buzzby?" enquired david summers, a sturdy boy of about fifteen, who acted as assistant steward, and was, in fact, a nautical maid-of-all-work. "was it a log-line, or a bow-line, or a cod-line, or a bit of the equator?--eh!" the old salt deigned no reply to this passing sally, but continued his converse with singleton. "i could give ye many a long yarn about the south seas," said buzzby, gazing abstractedly down into the deep. "one time, when i was about fifty mile to the sou'west o' cape horn, i--" "dinner's ready, sir," said a thin, tall, active man, stepping smartly up to singleton, and touching his cap. "we must talk over that some other time, buzzby. the captain loves punctuality." so saying, the young surgeon sprang down the companion ladder, leaving the old salt to smoke his pipe in solitude. and here we may pause a few seconds to describe our ship and her crew. the _dolphin_ was a tight, new, barque-rigged vessel of about three hundred tons burden, built expressly for the northern whale-fishery, and carried a crew of forty-five men. ships that have to battle with the ice require to be much more powerfully built, than those that sail in unencumbered seas. the _dolphin_ united strength with capacity and buoyancy. the under part of her hull and sides were strengthened with double timbers, and fortified externally with plates of iron; while, internally, stanchions and cross-beams were so arranged as to cause pressure on any part to be supported by the whole structure; and on her bows, where shocks from the ice might be expected to be most frequent and severe, extra planking, of immense strength and thickness, was secured. in other respects the vessel was fitted up much in the same manner as ordinary merchantmen. the only other peculiarity about her, worthy of notice, was the crow's-nest, a sort of barrel-shaped structure fastened to the fore-masthead, in which, when at the whaling-ground, a man is stationed to look out for whales. the chief men in the ship were captain guy, a vigorous, practical american; mr bolton, the first mate, an earnest, stout, burly, off-hand englishman; and mr saunders, the second mate, a sedate, broad-shouldered, raw-boned scot, whose opinion of himself was unbounded, whose power of argument was extraordinary, not to say exasperating, and who stood six feet three in his stockings. mivins, the steward, was, as we have already remarked, a tall, thin, active young man, of a brisk, lively disposition, and was somewhat of a butt among the men, but being in a position of power and trust he was respected. the young surgeon, tom singleton, whom we have yet scarcely introduced to the reader, was a tall, slim, but firmly-knit, youth, with a kind, gentle disposition. he was always open, straightforward, and polite. he never indulged in broad humour, though he enjoyed it much, seldom ventured on a witticism, was rather shy in the company of his companions, and spoke little; but for a quiet, pleasant _tete-a-tete_ there was not a man in the ship equal to tom singleton. his countenance was spanish-looking and handsome, his hair black, short, and curling, and his budding moustache was soft and dark as the eyebrow of an andalusian belle. it would be unpardonable, in this catalogue, to omit the cook, david mizzle. he was round, and fat, and oily, as one of his own "duff" puddings. to look at him you could not help suspecting that he purloined, and ate, at least half of the salt pork he cooked, and his sly, dimpling laugh, in which every feature participated, from the point of his broad chin to the top of his bald head, rather tended to favour this supposition. mizzle was prematurely bald--being quite a young man,--and, when questioned on the subject, he usually attributed it to the fact of his having been so long employed about the cooking-coppers, that the excessive heat to which he was exposed, had stewed all the hair off his head! the crew was made up of stout, active men in the prime of life, nearly all of whom had been more or less accustomed to the whale-fishing, and some of the harpooners were giants in muscular development and breadth of shoulder, if not in height. chief among these harpooners was amos parr, a short, thick-set, powerful man of about thirty-five, who had been at sea since he was a little boy, and had served in the fisheries of both the northern and southern seas. no one knew what country had the honour of producing him--indeed, he was ignorant of that point himself; for, although he had vivid recollections of his childhood having been spent among green hills, and trees, and streamlets, he was sent to sea with a strange captain before he was old enough to care about the name of his native land. afterwards he ran away from his ship, and so lost all chance of ever discovering who he was; but, as he sometimes remarked, he didn't much care who he was, so long as he was _himself_; so it didn't matter. from a slight peculiarity in his accent, and other qualities, it was surmised that he must be an irishman--a supposition which he rather encouraged, being partial to the sons, and particularly partial to the daughters, of the emerald isle, one of which last he had married just six months before setting out on this whaling expedition. such was the _dolphin_ and her crew, and merrily they bowled along over the broad atlantic with favouring winds, and without meeting with anything worthy of note until they neared the coast of greenland. one fine morning, just as the party in the cabin had finished breakfast, and were dallying with the last few morsels of the repast, as men who have more leisure than they desire, are wont to do, there was a sudden shock felt, and a slight tremor passed through the ship, as if something had struck her. "ha!" exclaimed captain guy, finishing his cup of chocolate, "there goes the first bump." "ice ahead, sir!" said the first mate, looking down the skylight. "is there much?" asked the captain, rising and taking down a small telescope, from the hook on which it usually hung. "not much, sir--only a stream; but there is an ice blink right ahead, all along the horizon." "how's her head, mr bolton?" "nor'-west and by north, sir." before this brief conversation came to a close, fred ellice and tom singleton sprang up the companion, and stood on the deck gazing ahead with feelings of the deepest interest. both youths were well read in the history of polar seas and regions; they were well acquainted, by name at least, with floes, and bergs, and hummocks of ice, but neither of them had seen such in reality. these objects were associated in their young minds with all that was romantic and wild, hyperborean and polar, brilliant and sparkling, and light and white--emphatically _white_. to behold ice actually floating on the salt sea was an incident of note in their existence; and certainly the impressions of their first day in the ice remained sharp, vivid and prominent, long after scenes of a much more striking nature had faded from the tablets of their memories. at first the prospect that met their ardent gaze was not calculated to excite excessive admiration. there were only a few masses of low ice floating about in various directions. the wind was steady, but light, and seemed as if it would speedily fall altogether. gradually the _blink_ on the horizon (as the light haze always distinguishable above ice, or snow-covered land, is called) resolved itself into a long white line of ice, which seemed to grow larger as the ship neared it, and in about two hours more they were fairly in the midst of the pack, which was fortunately loose enough to admit of the vessel being navigated through the channels of open water. soon after, the sun broke out in cloudless splendour, and the wind fell entirely, leaving the ocean in a dead calm. "let's go to the fore-top, tom," said fred, seizing his friend by the arm, and hastening to the shrouds. in a few seconds they were seated alone on the little platform at the top of the fore-mast, just where it is connected with the fore-top-mast, and from this elevated position they gazed in silent delight upon the fairy-like scene. those who have never stood at the mast-head of a ship at sea, in a dead calm, cannot comprehend the feeling of intense solitude, that fills the mind in such a position. there is nothing analogous to it on land. to stand on the summit of a tower and look down on the busy multitude below is not the same, for there the sounds are quite different in _tone_, and signs of life are visible all over the distant country, while cries from afar reach the ear, as well as those from below. but from the mast-head you hear only the few subdued sounds under your feet--all beyond is silence; you behold only the small oval-shaped platform that is your world--beyond lies the calm, desolate ocean. on deck you cannot realise this feeling, for there sails and yards tower above you, and masts, and boats, and cordage, intercept your view; but from above you _take in_ the intense minuteness of your home at a single glance--you stand aside, as it were, and, in some measure, comprehend the insignificance of the _thing_ to which you have committed your life. the scene witnessed by our friends at the mast-head of the _dolphin_ on this occasion was surpassingly beautiful. far as the eye could stretch, the sea was covered with islands and fields of ice of every conceivable shape. some rose in little peaks and pinnacles, some floated in the form of arches and domes, some were broken and rugged, like the ruins of old border strongholds, while others were flat and level, like fields of white marble; and so calm was it that the ocean in which they floated seemed like a groundwork of polished steel, in which the sun shone with dazzling brilliancy. the tops of the icy islets were pure white, and the sides of the higher ones of a delicate blue colour, which gave to the scene a transparent lightness that rendered it pre-eminently fairy-like. "it far surpasses anything i ever conceived," ejaculated singleton after a long silence. "no wonder that authors speak of scenes being indescribable. does it not seem like a dream, fred?" "tom," said fred earnestly, "i've been trying to fancy myself in another world, and i have almost succeeded. when i look long and intensely at the ice, i get almost to believe that these are streets, and palaces, and cathedrals. i never felt so strong a desire to have wings, that i might fly from one island to another, and go floating in and out, and round about, those blue caves and sparkling pinnacles." "it's a curious fancy, fred, but not unnatural." "tom," said fred, after another long silence, "has not the thought occurred to you that god made it all?" "some such thought did cross my mind, fred, for a moment, but it soon passed away. is it not _very_ strange that the idea of the creator is so seldom, and so slightly, connected with his works in our minds?" again there was a long silence. both youths had a desire to continue the conversation, and yet each felt an unaccountable reluctance to renew it. neither of them distinctly understood that the natural heart is enmity against god, and that, until he is converted by the holy spirit, man neither loves to think of his maker, nor to speak of him. while they sat thus musing, a breeze dimmed the surface of the sea, and the _dolphin_, which had hitherto lain motionless in one of the numerous canals, began slowly to advance between the islands of ice. the breeze freshened, and rendered it impossible to avoid an occasional collision with the floating masses; but the good ship was well armed for the fight, and, although she quivered under the blows, and once or twice recoiled, she pushed her way through the pack gallantly. in the course of an hour or two they were once more in comparatively clear water. suddenly there came a cry from the crow's-nest: "there she blows!" instantly every man in the ship sprang to his feet as if he had received an electric shock. "where away?" shouted the captain. "on the lee-bow, sir," replied the look-out. from a state of comparative quiet and repose the ship was now thrown into a condition of the utmost animation, and, apparently, unmeaning confusion. the sight of a whale acted on the spirits of the men like wild-fire. "there she blows!" sang out the man at the mast-head again. "are we keeping right for her!" asked the captain. "keep her away a bit; steady!" replied the look-out. "steady it is!" answered the man at the wheel. "call all hands and get the boats out, mr bolton," said the captain. "all hands ahoy!" shouted the mate in a tempestuous voice, while the men rushed to their respective stations. "boat-steerers, get your boats ready." "ay, ay, sir!" "there go flukes!" cried the look-out as the whale dived and tossed its flukes, that is its tail, in the air, not more than a mile on the lee-bow; "she's heading right for the ship." "down with the helm!" roared the captain. "mr bolton, brace up the mizzen top-sail! hoist and swing the boats! lower away!" in another moment three boats struck the water, and their respective crews tumbled tumultuously into them. fred and singleton sprang into the stern-sheets of the captain's boat, just as it pushed off, and in less than five minutes the three boats were bounding over the sea in the direction of the whale like race-horses. every man did his best, and the tough oars bent like hoops as each boat's crew strove to outstrip the others. chapter four. the chase and the battle--the chances and dangers of whaling war--buzzby dives for his life and saves it--so does the whale and loses it--an anxious night which terminates happily, though with a heavy loss. the chase was not a long one, for, while the boats were rowing swiftly towards the whale, the whale was, all unconsciously, swimming towards the boats. "give way now, lads, give way," said the captain in a suppressed voice; "bend your backs, boys, and don't let the mate beat us." the three boats flew over the sea, as the men strained their muscles to the utmost, and for some time they kept almost in line, being pretty equally matched; but gradually the captain shot ahead, and it became evident that his harpooner, amos parr, was to have the honour of harpooning the first whale. amos pulled the bow oar, and behind him was the tub with the line coiled away and the harpoon bent on to it. being an experienced whaleman, he evinced no sign of excitement, save in the brilliancy of his dark eye, and a very slight flush on his bronzed face. they had now neared the whale, and ceased rowing for a moment, lest they should miss it when down. "there she goes!" cried fred in a tone of intense excitement, as he caught sight of the whale not more than fifty yards ahead of the boat. "now, boys," said the captain in a hoarse whisper, "spring hard, lay back hard, i say--_stand up_!" at the last word amos parr sprang to his feet, and seized the harpoon; the boat ran right on to the whale's back, and in an instant parr sent two irons, to the hitches, into the fish. "stern all!" the men backed their oars with all their might, in order to avoid the flukes of the wounded monster of the deep, as it plunged down headlong into the sea, taking the line out perpendicularly like lightning. this was a moment of great danger. the friction of the line, as it passed the loggerhead, was so great that parr had to keep constantly pouring water on it, to prevent its catching fire. a hitch in the line at that time, as it flew out of the tub, or any accidental entanglement, would have dragged the boat and crew right down. many such fatal accidents occur to whalers, and many a poor fellow has had a foot or an arm torn off, or been dragged overboard and drowned, in consequence of getting entangled. one of the men stood ready with a small hatchet to cut the line in a moment, if necessary, for whales sometimes run out all that is in a boat at the first plunge, and should none of the other boats be at hand, to lend a second line to attach to the one nearly expended, there is nothing for it but to cut. on the present occasion, however, none of these accidents befel the men of the captain's boat. the line ran all clear, and long before it was exhausted the whale ceased to descend, and the _slack_ was hauled rapidly in. meanwhile the other boats pulled up to the scene of action, and prepared to strike, the instant the fish should rise to the surface. it appeared suddenly, not twenty yards from the mate's boat, where buzzby, who was harpooner, stood in the bow ready to give it the iron. "spring, lads, spring!" shouted the mate, as the whale spouted into the air a thick stream of water. the boat dashed up, and buzzby planted his harpoon vigorously. instantly the broad flukes of the tail were tossed into the air, and, for a single second, spread like a canopy over buzzby's head. there was no escape. the quick eye of the whaleman saw at a glance that the effort to back out was hopeless. he bent his head, and the next moment was deep down in the waves. just as he disappeared, the flukes descended on the spot which he had left, and cut the bow of the boat completely away, sending the stern high into the air with a violence that tossed men, and oars, and shattered planks, and cordage, flying over the monster's back into the seething caldron of foam around him. it was apparently a scene of the most complete and instantaneous destruction, yet, strange to say, not a man was lost. a few seconds after, the white foam of the sea was dotted with black heads, as the men rose one by one to the surface, and struck out for floating oars and pieces of the wrecked boat. "they're lost!" cried fred ellice in a voice of horror. "not a bit of it, youngster; they're safe enough, i'll warrant," replied the captain, as his own boat flew past the spot, towed by the whale. "pay out, amos parr; give him line, or he'll tear the bows out of us." "ay, ay, sir!" sang out amos, as he sat coolly pouring water on the loggerhead, round which a coil of the rope was whizzing like lightning; "all right! the mate's men are all safe, sir; i counted them as we shot past, and i seed buzzby come up last of all, blowin' like a grampus; and small wonder, considerin' the dive he took." "take another turn of the coil, amos, and hold on," said the captain. the harpooneer obeyed, and away they went after the whale like a rocket, with a tremendous strain on the line, and a bank of white foam gurgling up to the edge of the gunwale, that every moment threatened to fill the boat and sink her. such a catastrophe is not of unfrequent occurrence, when whalemen, thus towed by a whale, are tempted to hold on too long; and many instances have happened of boats and their crews being in this way dragged under water and lost. fortunately the whale dashed horizontally through the water, so that the boat was able to hold on and follow, and in a short time the creature paused and rose for air. again the men bent to their oars, and the rope was hauled in until they came quite close to the fish. this time a harpoon was thrown, and a deep lance-thrust given which penetrated to the vital parts of its huge carcass, as was evidenced by the blood which it spouted, and the convulsive lashing of its tremendous tail. while the captain's crew were thus engaged, saunders, the second mate, observing from the ship the accident to the first mate's boat, sent off a party of men to the rescue, thus setting free the third boat, which was steered by a strapping fellow named peter grim, to follow up the chase. peter grim was the ship's carpenter, and he took after his name. he was, as the sailors expressed it, a "grim customer", being burnt by the sun to a deep rich brown colour, besides being covered nearly up to the eyes with a thick coal-black beard and moustache, which completely concealed every part of his visage, except his prominent nose and dark, fiery-looking eyes. he was an immense man, the largest in the ship, probably, if we except the scotch second mate saunders, to whom he was about equal in all respects--except argument. like most big men, he was peaceable and good-humoured. "look alive now, lads," said grim, as the men pulled towards the whale; "we'll get a chance yet, we shall, if you give way like tigers. split your sides, boys--do--that's it. ah! there she goes, right down. pull away now, and be ready when she rises." as he spoke the whale suddenly _sounded_, that is, went perpendicularly down, as it had done when first struck, and continued to descend until most of the line in the captain's boat was run out. "hoist an oar," cried amos parr, as he saw the coil diminishing. grim observed the signal of distress, and encouraged his men to use their utmost exertions. "another oar!--another!" shouted parr, as the whale continued its headlong descent. "stand by to cut the line," said captain guy with compressed lips. "no! hold on, hold on!" at this moment, having drawn down more than a thousand fathoms of rope, the whale slackened its speed, and parr, taking another coil round the loggerhead, held on until the boat was almost dragged under water. then the line became loose, and the slack was hauled in rapidly. meanwhile grim's boat had reached the spot and the men now lay on their oars at some distance ahead, ready to pull the instant the whale should show itself. up it came, not twenty yards ahead. one short, energetic pull, and the second boat sent a harpoon deep into it, while grim sprang to the bow, and thrust a lance with deadly force deep into the carcass. the monster sent up a stream of mingled blood, oil, and water, and whirled its huge tail so violently that the sound could be heard a mile off. before it dived again, the captain's boat came up, and succeeded in making fast another harpoon, while several additional lance-thrusts were given with effect, and it seemed as if the battle were about to terminate, when suddenly the whale struck the sea with a clap like thunder, and darted away once more like a rocket to windward, tearing the two boats after it, as if they had been egg-shells. meanwhile a change had come over the scene. the sun had set, red and lowering, behind a bank of dark clouds, and there was every appearance of stormy weather; but as yet it was nearly calm, and the ship was unable to beat up against the light breeze in the wake of the two boats, which were soon far away on the horizon. then a furious gust arose and passed away; a dark cloud covered the sky as night fell, and soon boats and whale were utterly lost to view. "waes me," cried the big scotch mate, as he ran up and down the quarter-deck wringing his hands, "what _is_ to be done noo?" saunders spoke a mongrel kind of language--a mixture of scotch and english,--in which, although the scotch words were sparsely scattered, the scotch accent was very strong. "how's her head?" "nor'-nor'-west, sir." "keep her there, then. maybe, if the wind holds stiddy, we may overhaul them before it's quite dark." although saunders was really in a state of the utmost consternation at this unexpected termination to the whale-hunt, and expressed the agitation of his feelings pretty freely, he was too thorough a seaman to neglect anything that was necessary to be done under the circumstances. he took the exact bearings of the point at which the boats had disappeared, and during the night, which turned out gusty and threatening, kept making short tacks, while lanterns were hung at the mast-heads, and a huge torch, or rather a small bonfire, of tarred materials was slung at the end of a spar, and thrust out over the stern of the ship. but for many hours there was no sign of the boats, and the crew of the _dolphin_ began to entertain the most gloomy forebodings regarding them. at length, towards morning, a small speck of light was noticed on the weather-beam. it flickered for a moment, and then disappeared. "did ye see yon?" said saunders to mivins in an agitated whisper, laying his huge hand on the shoulder of that worthy. "down your helm," (to the steersman). "ay, ay, sir!" "stiddy!" "steady it is, sir!" mivins' face, which for some hours had worn an expression of deep anxiety, relaxed into a bland smile, and he smote his thigh powerfully as he exclaimed: "that's them, sir, _and_ no mistake! what's your opinion, mr saunders!" the second mate peered earnestly in the direction in which the light had been seen, and mivins, turning in the same direction, screwed up his visage into a knot of earnest attention, so complicated and intense that it seemed as if no human power could evermore unravel it. "there it goes again!" cried saunders, as the light flashed distinctly over the sea. "down helm; back fore-top-sails!" he shouted, springing forward; "lower away the boat there!" in a few seconds the ship was hove to, and a boat, with a lantern fixed to an oar, was plunging over the swell in the direction of the light. sooner than was expected they came up with it, and a hurrah in the distance told that all was right. "here we are, thank god," cried captain guy, "safe and sound! we don't require assistance, mr saunders; pull for the ship." a short pull sufficed to bring the three boats alongside, and in a few seconds more the crew were congratulating their comrades, with that mingled feeling of deep heartiness, and a disposition to jest, which is characteristic of men who are used to danger, and think lightly of it after it is over. "we've lost our fish, however," remarked captain guy, as he passed the crew on his way to the cabin; "but we must hope for better luck next time." "well, well," said one of the men, wringing the water out of his wet clothes as he walked forward, "we got a good laugh at peter grim, if we got nothin' else by our trip." "how was that, jack?" "why, ye see, jist before the whale gave in, it sent up a spout o' blood and oil as thick as the main-mast, and, as luck would have it, down it came slap on the head of grim, drenchin' him from head to foot, and makin' him as red as a lobster." "'ow did you lose the fish, sir?" enquired mivins, as our hero sprang up the side, followed by singleton. "lost him as men lose money in railway speculations nowadays. we _sank_ him, and that was the last of it. after he had towed us i don't know how far-out of sight of the ship at any rate,--he suddenly stopped, and we pulled up and gave him some tremendous digs with the lances, until he spouted jets of blood, and we made sure of him, when, all at once, down he went head foremost like a cannon-ball, and took all the line out of both boats, so we had to cut, and he never came up again. at least, if he did, it became so dark that we never saw him. then we pulled to where we thought the ship was, and, after rowing nearly all night, caught sight of your lights; and here we are, dead-tired, wet to the skin, and minus about two miles of whale-line and three harpoons." chapter five. miscellaneous reflections--the coast of greenland--uppernavik--news of the pole star--midnight day--scientific facts and fairy-like scenes--tom singleton's opinion of poor old women--in danger of a squeeze--escape. in pursuance of his original intention, captain guy now proceeded through davis' straits into baffin's bay, at the head of which he intended to search for the vessel of his friend captain ellice, and afterwards prosecute the whale-fishery. off the coast of greenland, many whalers were seen, actively engaged in warfare with the giants of the polar seas, and to several of these captain guy spoke, in the faint hope of gleaning some information as to the fate or the _pole star_, but without success. it was now apparent to the crew of the _dolphin_ that they were engaged as much on a searching, as a whaling expedition; and the fact that the commander of the lost vessel was the father of "young mr fred", as they styled our hero, induced them to take a deep interest in the success of their undertaking. this interest was further increased by the graphic account that honest john buzzby gave of the death of poor mrs ellice, and the enthusiastic way in which he spoke of his old captain. fred, too, had, by his frank, affable manner, and somewhat reckless disposition, rendered himself a general favourite with the men, and had particularly recommended himself to mivins the steward (who was possessed of an intensely romantic spirit), by stating once or twice, very emphatically, that he (fred) meant to land on the coast of baffin's bay, should the captain fail to find his father, and continue the search on foot and alone. there was no doubt whatever that poor fred was in earnest, and had made up his mind to die in the search, rather than not find him. he little knew the terrible nature of the country in which for a time his lot was to be cast, and the hopelessness of such an undertaking as he meditated. with boyish inconsiderateness he thought not of how his object was to be accomplished; he cared not what impossibilities lay in the way, but with manly determination he made up his mind to quit the ship and search for his father through the length and breadth of the land. let not the reader smile at what he may perhaps style a childish piece of enthusiasm. many a youth, at his age, has dreamed of attempting as great if not greater impossibilities. all honour, we say, to the boy who _dreams_ impossibilities, and greater honour to him who, like fred, _resolves to attempt them_! james watt stared at an iron tea kettle till his eyes were dim, and meditated the monstrous impossibility of making that kettle work like a horse; and men might (perhaps did) smile at james watt _then_; but do men smile at james watt _now_--now that thousands of iron kettles are dashing, like dreadful comets, over the length and breadth of the land, not to mention the sea, with long tails of men, and women, and children behind them? "that's 'ow it is, sir," mivins used to say, when spoken to by fred on the subject, "i've never bin in cold countries myself, sir, but i've bin in 'ot, and i knows that with a stout pair o' legs, and a will to work, a man can work 'is way hanywhere. of course there's not much of a pop'lation in them parts, i've heer'd; but there's heskimos, and where one man can live, so can another, and what one man can do, so can another--that's bin my hexperience, and i'm not ashamed to hown it, i'm not, though i _do_ say it as shouldn't, and i honour you, sir, for your filleral detarmination to find your father, sir, and--" "steward!" shouted the captain down the cabin skylight. "yes, sir!" "bring me the chart." "yes, sir!" and mivins disappeared like a jack-in-the-box from the cabin just as tom singleton entered it. "here we are, fred," he said, seizing a telescope that hung over the cabin door, "within sight of the danish settlement of uppernavik; come on deck and see it." fred needed no second bidding. it was here that the captain had hinted there would, probably, be some information obtained regarding the _pole star_, and it was with feelings of no common interest the two friends examined the low-roofed houses of this out-of-the-way settlement. in an hour afterwards the captain and first mate, with our young friends, landed amid the clamorous greetings of the entire population, and proceeded to the residence of the governor, who received them with great kindness and hospitality; but the only information they could obtain was that, a year ago, captain ellice had been driven there in his brig by stress of weather, and, after refitting and taking in a supply of provisions, had set sail for england. here the _dolphin_ laid in a supply of dried fish, and procured several dogs, besides an esquimaux interpreter and hunter, named meetuck. leaving this little settlement, they stood out once more to sea, and threaded their way among the ice, with which they were now well acquainted in all its forms, from the mighty berg, or mountain of ice, to the wide field. they passed in succession one or two esquimaux settlements, the last of which, votlik, is the most northerly point of colonisation. beyond this all was terra incognita. here enquiry was again made, through the medium of the esquimaux interpreter, who had been taken on board at uppernavik, and they learned that the brig in question had been last seen, beset in the pack, and driving to the northward. whether or not she had ever returned, they could not tell. a consultation was now held, and it was resolved to proceed north as far as the ice would permit, towards smith's sound, and examine the coast carefully in that direction. for several weeks past there had been gradually coming over the aspect of nature, a change to which we have not yet referred, and which filled fred ellice and his friend, the young surgeon, with surprise and admiration; this was the long-continued daylight, which now lasted the whole night round, and increased in intensity every day, as they advanced north. they had, indeed, often heard and read of it before, but their minds had utterly failed to form a correct conception of the exquisite calmness and beauty of the _midnight-day_ of the north. everyone knows that, in consequence of the axis of the earth not being perpendicular to the plane of its orbit round the sun, the poles are alternately directed more or less _towards_ that great luminary during one part of the year, and _away_ from it during another part. so that, far north, the days during the one season grow longer and longer until, at last, there is _one long day_ of many weeks' duration, in which the sun does not set at all; and during the other season there is _one long night_, in which the sun is never seen. it was approaching the height of the summer season when the _dolphin_ entered the arctic regions, and, although the sun descended below the horizon for a short time each night, there was scarcely any diminution of the light at all, and, as far as one's sensations were concerned, there was but one long continuous day, which grew brighter and brighter at midnight, as they advanced. "how thoroughly splendid this is," remarked tom singleton to fred one night, as they sat in their favourite out-look, the main-top, gazing down on the glassy sea, which was covered with snowy icebergs and floes, and bathed in the rays of the sun, "and how wonderful to think that the sun will only set for an hour or so, and then get up as splendid as ever!" the evening was still as death. not a sound broke upon the ear save the gentle cries of a few sea-birds, that dipped ever and anon into the sea, as if to kiss it gently while asleep, and then circled slowly into the bright sky again. the sails of the ship, too, flapped very gently, and a spar creaked plaintively, as the vessel rose and fell on the gentle undulations that seemed to be the breathing of the ocean; but such sounds did not disturb the universal stillness of the hour; neither did the gambols of yonder group of seals and walrus, that were at play round some fantastic blocks of ice; nor did the soft murmur of the swell that broke in surf at the foot of yonder iceberg, whose blue sides were seamed with a thousand water-courses, and whose jagged pinnacles rose up like needles of steel into the clear atmosphere. there were many bergs in sight, of various shapes and sizes, at some distance from the ship, which caused much anxiety to the captain, although they were only a source of admiration to our young friends in the main-top. "tom," said fred, breaking a long silence, "it may seem a strange idea to you, but, do you know, i cannot help fancying that heaven must be something like this." "i'm not sure that that's such a strange idea, fred, for it has two of the characteristics of heaven in it--peace and rest." "true; that didn't strike me. do you know, i wish that it were always calm like this, and that we had no wind at all." tom smiled. "your voyage would be a long one if that were to happen. i dare say the esquimaux would join with you in the wish, however, for their kayaks and oomiaks are better adapted for a calm than a stormy sea." "tom," said fred, breaking another long silence, "you're very tiresome and stupid tonight; why don't you talk to me?" "because this delightful dreamy evening inclines me to think and be silent." "ah, tom! that's your chief fault. you are always inclined to think too much, and to talk too little. now i, on the contrary, am always--" "inclined to talk too much, and think too little; eh, fred?" "bah! don't try to be funny, man; you haven't it in you. did you ever see such a miserable set of creatures as the old esquimaux women are, at uppernavik?" "why, what put _them_ into your head?" enquired tom, laughing. "yonder iceberg; look at it! there's the nose and chin, exactly, of the extraordinary hag you gave your silk pocket-handkerchief to at parting. now, i never saw such a miserable old woman as that before; did you?" tom singleton's whole demeanour changed, and his dark eyes brightened as the strongly marked brows frowned over them, while he replied: "yes, fred, i have seen old women more miserable than that. i have seen women so old that their tottering limbs could scarcely support them, going about in the bitterest november winds, with clothing too scant to cover their wrinkled bodies, and so ragged and filthy, that you would have shrunk from touching it--i have seen such groping about among heaps of filth that the very dogs looked at, and turned away as if in disgust." fred was inclined to laugh at his friend's sudden change of manner, but there was something in the young surgeon's character--perhaps its deep earnestness--that rendered it impossible, at least for his friends, to be jocular when he was disposed to be serious. fred became grave as he spoke. "where have you seen such poor wretches, tom?" he asked with a look of interest. "in the cities, the civilised cities of our own christian land. if you have ever walked about the streets of some of these cities, before the rest of the world was astir, at grey dawn, you must have seen them shivering along, and scratching among the refuse cast out by the tenants of the neighbouring houses. oh, fred, fred, in my professional career, short though it has been, i have seen much of these poor old women, and many others, whom the world never sees on the streets at all, experiencing a slow, lingering death by starvation, and fatigue, and cold. it is the foulest blot on our country, that there is no sufficient provision for the _aged poor_." "i have seen those old women too," replied fred, "but i never thought very seriously about them before." "that's it--that's just it; people don't _think_, otherwise this dreadful state of things would not continue. just listen _now_, for a moment, to what i have to say. but don't imagine that i'm standing up for the poor in general. i don't feel--perhaps i'm wrong," continued tom thoughtfully,--"perhaps i'm wrong--i hope not--but it's a fact i don't feel much for the young and the sturdy poor, and i make it a rule _never_ to give a farthing to _young_ beggars, not even to little children, for i know full well that they are sent out to beg by idle, good-for-nothing parents. i stand up only for the _aged_ poor, because, be they good or wicked, they _cannot_ help themselves. if a man fell down in the street, struck with some dire disease that shrunk his muscles, unstrung his nerves, made his heart tremble, and his skin shrivel up, would you look upon him and then pass him by _without thinking_?" "no!" cried fred in an emphatic tone; "i would not! i would stop and help him." "then, let me ask you," resumed tom earnestly, "is there any difference between the weakness of muscle and the faintness of heart which is produced by disease, and that which is produced by old age, except that the latter is incurable? have not these women feelings like other women? think you that there are not amongst them those who have `known better times?' they think of sons and daughters dead and gone, perhaps, just as other old women in better circumstances do; but they must not indulge such depressing thoughts, they must reserve all the energy, the stamina, they have, to drag round the city--barefoot, it may be, and in the cold--to beg for food, and scratch up what they can find among the cinder-heaps. they groan over past comforts and past times, perhaps, and think of the days when their limbs were strong, and their cheeks were smooth--for they were not always `hags',--and remember that _once_ they had friends who loved them and cared for them, although they are old, unknown, and desolate now." tom paused and pressed his hand upon his flushed forehead. "you may think it strange," he continued, "that i speak to you in this way about poor old women, but i feel _deeply_ for their forlorn condition. the young can help themselves, more or less, and they have strength to stand their sorrows, with _hope_, blessed hope, to keep them up; but _poor_ old men and old women cannot help themselves and cannot stand their sorrows, and, as far as this life is concerned, they have _no hope_; except to die soon and easy, and, if possible, in summer-time, when the wind is not so very cold and bitter." "but how can this be put right, tom?" asked fred in a tone of deep commiseration. "our being sorry for it, and anxious about it (and you've made me sorry, i assure you) can do very little good, you know." "i don't know, fred," replied tom, sinking into his usual quiet tone. "if every city and town in great britain would start a society whose first resolution should be that they would not leave one poor _old_ man or woman unprovided for, _that_ would do it. or if the government would take it in hand _honestly_, that would do it." "call all hands, mr bolton," cried the captain in a sharp voice. "get out the ice-poles, and lower away the boats." "hallo! what's wrong!" said fred, starting up. "getting too near the bergs, i suspect," remarked tom. "i say, fred, before we go on deck, will you promise to do what i ask you?" "well--yes, i will." "will you promise, then, all through your life, especially if you ever come to be rich or influential, to think _of_, and _for_, old men and women who are poor?" "i will," answered fred, "but i don't know that i'll ever be rich, or influential, or able to help them much." "of course you don't. but when a thought about them strikes you, will you always _think it out_, and, if possible, _act it out_, as god shall enable you?" "yes, tom, i promise to do that as well as i can." "that's right, thank you, my boy!" said the young surgeon, as they descended the shrouds and leaped on deck. here they found the captain walking up and down rapidly, with an anxious expression of face. after taking a turn or two he stopped short, and gazed out astern. "set the stun'sails, mr bolton. the breeze will be up in a little, i think. let the men pull with a will." the order was given, and soon the ship was under a cloud of canvas, advancing slowly as the boats towed her between two large icebergs, which had been gradually drawing near to each other the whole afternoon. "is there any danger, buzzby?" enquired fred, as the sturdy sailor stood looking at the larger berg, with an ice-pole in his hands. "danger! ay, that there is, lad! more nor's agreeable, d'ye see. here we are without a breath o' wind to get us on, right between two bergs as could crack us like a walnut. we can't get to starboard of 'em for the current, nor to larboard of 'em for the pack, as ye see, so we must go between them, neck or nothing." the danger was indeed imminent. the two bergs were within a hundred yards of each other, and the smaller of the two, being more easily moved by the current, probably, was setting down on the larger at a rate that bade fair to decide the fate of the _dolphin_ in a few minutes. the men rowed lustily, but their utmost exertions could move the ship but slowly. aid was coming, however, direct from the hand of him who is a refuge in the time of danger. a breeze was creeping over the calm sea right astern, and it was to meet this that the studding sails had been set a-low and aloft, so that the wide-spreading canvas, projecting far to the right and left, had, to an inexperienced eye, the appearance of being out of all proportion to the little hull, by which it was supported. with breathless anxiety those on board stood watching the two bergs and the approaching breeze. at last it came. a few cat's-paws ruffled the surface of the sea, distending the sails for a moment, then leaving them flat and loose as before. this, however, was sufficient; another such puff and the ship was almost out of danger, but before it came, the projecting summit of the smaller berg was overhanging the deck. at this critical moment the wind began to blow steadily, and soon the _dolphin_ was in the open water beyond. five minutes after she had passed, the moving mountains struck with a noise louder than thunder; the summits and large portions of the sides fell, with a succession of crashes like the roaring of artillery, just above the spot where the ship had lain not quarter of an hour before, and the vessel, for some time after, rocked violently to and fro, in the surges that the plunge of the falling masses raised. chapter six. the gale--anchored to a berg which proves to be a treacherous one-- dangers of the "pack"--beset in the ice--mivins shows an enquiring mind--walrus--gale freshens--chains and cables--holding on for life--an unexpected discovery--a "nip" and its terrible consequences--yoked to an iceberg. the narrow escape related in the last chapter was but the prelude to a night of troubles. fortunately, as we have before mentioned, _night_ did not now add darkness to their difficulties. soon after passing the bergs, a stiff breeze sprang up off shore, between which and the _dolphin_ there was a thick belt of loose ice, or sludge, while outside, the pack was in motion, and presented a terrible scene of crashing and grinding masses under the influence of the breeze, which soon freshened to a gale. "keep her away two points," said captain guy to the man at the wheel; "we'll make fast to yonder berg, mr bolton; if this gale carries us into the pack, we shall be swept far out of our course, if, indeed, we escape being nipped and sent to the bottom." being nipped is one of the numberless dangers to which arctic navigators are exposed. should a vessel get between two moving fields or floes of ice, there is a chance, especially in stormy weather, of the ice being forced together and squeezing in the sides of the ship; this is called nipping. "ah!" remarked buzzby, as he stood with folded arms by the capstan, "many and many a good ship has been sent to the bottom by that same. i've see'd a brig, with my own two eyes, squeezed together a'most flat by two big floes of ice, and after doin' it they jist separated agin an' let her go plump down to the bottom. before she was nipped, the crew saved themselves by jumpin' on to the ice, and they wos picked up by our ship that wos in company." "there's no dependin' on the ice, by no means," remarked amos parr, "for i've see'd the self-same sort of thing that ye mention happen to a small schooner in davis straits, only, instead o' crushin' it flat, the ice lifted it right high and dry out o' the water, and then let it down again, without more ado, as sound as iver." "get out the warps and ice-anchors, there," cried the captain. in a moment the men were in the boats, and busy heaving and planting ice-anchors, but it was not until several hours had been spent in this tedious process that they succeeded in making fast to the berg. they had barely accomplished this when the berg gave indications of breaking up, so they cast off again in great haste, and, not long afterwards, a mass of ice, many tons in weight, fell from the edge of the berg close to where they had been moored. the captain now beat up for the land in the hope of finding anchoring-ground. at first the ice presented an impenetrable barrier, but at length a lead of open water was found, through which they passed to within a few hundred yards of the shore, which, at this spot, showed a front of high precipitous cliffs. "stand by to let go the anchor," shouted the captain. "ay, ay, sir!" "down your helm! let go!" down went the anchor to the music of the rattling chain-cable, a sound which had not been heard since the good ship left the shores of old england. "if we were only a few yards farther in, sir," remarked the first mate, "we should be better. i'm afraid of the stream of ice coming round yonder point." "so am i," replied the captain; "but we can scarcely manage it, i fear, on account of the shore ice. get out a boat, mr saunders, and try to fix an anchor. we may warp in a few yards." the anchor was fixed, and the men strained at the capstan with a will, but, notwithstanding their utmost efforts, they could not penetrate the shore ice. meanwhile the wind increased, and snow began to fall in large flakes. the tide, too, as it receded, brought a stream of ice round the point ahead of them, which bore right down on their bows. at first the concussions were slight, and the bow of the ship turned the floes aside, but heavier masses soon came down, and at last one fixed itself on the cable, and caused the anchor to drag with a harsh, grating sound. fred ellice, who stood beside the second mate, near the companion hatch, looked enquiringly at him. "ah! that's bad," said saunders, shaking his head slowly, "i dinna like that sound. if we're carried out into the pack there, dear knows where we'll turn up in the long run." "perhaps we'll turn bottom up, sir," suggested the fat cook, as he passed, at the moment with a tray of meat. mizzle could not resist a joke--no matter how unsuitable the time or dreadful the consequences. "hold your tongue, sir," exclaimed saunders indignantly. "attend to your business, and speak only when you're spoken to." with some difficulty the mass of ice that had got foul of the cable was disengaged, but in a few moments another and a larger mass fixed upon it, and threatened to carry it away. in this extremity the captain ordered the anchor to be hove up, but this was not easily accomplished, and when at last it was hove up to the bow, both flukes were found to have been broken off, and the shank was polished bright with rubbing on the rocks. ice now came rolling down in great quantities and with irresistible force, and at last the ship was whirled into the much-dreaded pack, where she became firmly embedded, and drifted along with it before the gale into the unknown regions of the north all that night. to add to their distress and danger a thick fog overspread the sea, so that they could not tell whither the ice was carrying them, and to warp out of it was impossible. there was nothing for it, therefore, but to drive before the gale and take advantage of the first opening in the ice that should afford them a chance of escape. towards evening of the following day the gale abated, and the sun shone out bright and clear, but the pack remained close as ever, drifting steadily towards the north. "we're far beyond the most northerly sea that has ever yet been reached," remarked captain guy to fred and singleton, as he leaned on the weather bulwarks, and gazed wistfully over the fields of ice in which they were embedded. "i beg your pardon for differing, captain guy, but i think that captain parry was farther north than this when he attempted to reach the pole," remarked saunders, with the air of a man who was prepared to defend his position to the last. "very possibly, mr saunders, but i think we are at least farther north in _this_ direction than anyone has yet been; at least i make it out so by the chart." "i'm no sure o' that," rejoined the second mate positively; "charts are not always to be depended on, and i've heard that whalers have been up hereabouts before now." "perhaps you are right, mr saunders," replied the captain, smiling; "nevertheless i shall take observations and name the various headlands until i find that others have been here before me. mivins, hand me the glass; it seems to me there's a water-sky to the northward." "what is a water-sky, captain?" enquired fred. "it is a peculiar, dark appearance of the sky on the horizon, which indicates open water--just the reverse of that bright appearance which you have often seen in the distance, and which we call the ice-blink." "we'll have open water soon," remarked the second mate authoritatively. "mr saunders," said mivins, who, having just finished clearing away and washing up the debris and dishes of one meal, was enjoying in complete idleness the ten minutes of leisure that intervened between that and preparations for the next,--"mr saunders, sir, can you hinform me, sir, 'ow it is that the sea don't freeze at 'ome the same as it does hout 'ere?" the countenance of the second mate brightened, for he prided himself not a little on his vast and varied stores of knowledge, and nothing pleased him so much as to be questioned, particularly on knotty subjects. "hem! yes, mivins, i can tell 'ee that. ye must know that before fresh water can freeze on the surface the whole volume of it must be cooled down to degrees, and _salt_ water must be cooled down to degrees. noo, frost requires to be very long continued and very sharp indeed before it can cool the deep sea from the top to the bottom, and until it is so cooled it canna freeze." "oh!" remarked mivins, who only half understood the meaning of the explanation, "'ow very hodd. but can you tell me, mr saunders, 'ow it is that them 'ere hicebergs is made? them's wot i don't comprehend no 'ow." "ay," replied saunders, "there has been many a wiser head than yours puzzled for a long time aboot icebergs. but if ye'll use yer eyes you'll see how they are formed. do you see the high cliffs yonder away to the nor'-east? well, there are great masses o' ice that have been formed against them by the melting and freezing of the snows of many years. when these become too heavy to stick to the cliffs, they tumble into the sea and float away as icebergs. but the biggest bergs come from the foot of glaciers. we know what glaciers are, mivins!" "no, sir, i don't." the second mate sighed. "they are immense accumulations of ice, mivins, that have been formed by the freezings and meltings of the snows of hundreds of years. they cover the mountains of norway and switzerland, and many other places in this world, for miles and miles in extent, and sometimes they flow down and fill up whole valleys. i once saw one in norway that filled up a valley eight miles long, two miles broad, and seven or eight hundred feet deep, and that was only a wee bit of it, for i was told by men who had travelled over it that it covered the mountains of the interior, and made them a level field of ice, with a surface like rough, hard snow, for more than twenty miles in extent." "you don't say so, sir!" said mivins in surprise. "and don't they _never_ melt?" "no, never. what they lose in summer they more than gain in winter. moreover, they are always in motion, but they move so slow that you may look at them ever so closely and so long, you'll not be able to observe the motion--just like the hour hand of a watch,--but we know it by observing the changes from year to year. there are immense glaciers here in the arctic regions, and the lumps which they are constantly shedding off into the sea are the icebergs that one sees and hears so much about." mivins seemed deeply impressed with this explanation, and would probably have continued the conversation much longer had he not been interrupted by the voice of his mischievous satellite, davie summers, who touched his forelock and said: "please, mr mivins, shall i lay the table-cloth, or would it be better to slump dinner with tea this afternoon?" mivins started. "ha! caught me napping! down below, you young dog!" the boy dived instantly, followed first by a dish-clout, rolled tightly up and well aimed, and afterwards by his active-limbed superior. both reached the region of smells, cruets, and crockery at the same moment, and each set energetically to work at their never-ending duties. soon after this the ice suddenly loosened, and the crew succeeded, after a few hours' hard labour, in warping the _dolphin_ once more out of the pack; but scarcely had this been accomplished when another storm, which had been gradually gathering, burst upon them, and compelled them once more to seek the shelter of the land. numerous walrus rolled about in the bays here, and they approached much nearer to the vessel than they had yet done, affording those on board a good view of their huge, uncouth visages, as they shook their shaggy fronts and ploughed up the waves with their tusks. these enormous creatures are the elephants of the arctic ocean. their aspect is particularly grim and fierce, and, being nearly equal to elephants in bulk, they are not less terrible than they appear. in form they somewhat resemble seals, having barrel-shaped bodies, with round, or rather square, blunt heads and shaggy bristling moustache, and two long ivory tusks which curve downwards instead of upwards, serving the purpose frequently of hooks, by means of which and their fore-flippers they can pull themselves up on the rocks and icebergs. indeed they are sometimes found at a considerable height up the sides of steep cliffs, basking in the sun. fred was anxious to procure the skull of one of these monstrous animals, but the threatening appearance of the weather rendered any attempt to secure one at that time impossible. a dark sinister scowl overhung the blink under the cloud-bank to the southward, and the dovkies which had enlivened their progress hitherto forsook the channel, as if they distrusted the weather. captain guy made every possible preparation to meet the coming storm, by warping down under the shelter of a ledge of rock, to which he made fast with two good hawsers, while everything was made snug on board. "we are going to catch it, i fear," said fred, glancing at the black clouds that hurried across the sky to the northward, while he walked the deck with his friend, tom singleton. "i suspect so," replied tom, "and it does not raise my spirits to see saunders shaking his huge visage so portentously. do you know, i have a great belief in that fellow. he seems to know everything and to have gone through every sort of experience, and i notice that most of his prognostications come to pass." "so they do, tom," said fred, "but i wish he would put a better face on things till they _do_ come to pass. his looks are enough to frighten one." "i think we shall require another line out, mr saunders," remarked the captain, as the gale freshened, and the two hawsers were drawn straight and rigid like bars of iron: "send ashore and make a whale-line fast immediately." the second mate obeyed with a grunt that seemed to insinuate that _he_ would have had one out long ago. in a few minutes it was fast, and not a moment too soon, for immediately after it blew a perfect hurricane. heavier and heavier it came, and the ice began to drift more wildly than ever. the captain had just given orders to make fast another line, when the sharp, twanging snap of a cord was heard. the six-inch hawser had parted, and they were swinging by the two others, with the gale roaring like a lion through the spars and rigging. half a minute more and "twang, twang!" came another report, and the whale-line was gone. only one rope now held them to the land, and prevented them being swept into the turmoil of ice, and wind, and water, from which the rocky ledge protected them. the hawser was a good one--a new ten-inch rope. it sung like the deep tones of an organ, loud above the rattle of the rigging and the shrouds, but that was its death-song. it gave way with the noise of a cannon, and in the smoke that followed its recoil, they were dragged out by the wild ice and driven hither and hither at its mercy. with some difficulty the ship was warped into a place of comparative security in the rushing drift, but it was soon thrown loose again, and severely squeezed by the rolling masses. then an attempt was made to set the sails and beat up for the land, but the rudder was almost unmanageable owing to the ice, and nothing could be made of it, so they were compelled to go right before the wind under close-reefed top-sails, in order to keep some command of the ship. all hands were on deck watching in silence the ice ahead of them, which presented a most formidable aspect. away to the north the strait could be seen growing narrower, with heavy ice-tables grinding up and clogging it from cliff to cliff on either side. about seven in the evening they were close upon the piling masses, to enter into which seemed certain destruction. "stand by to let go the anchor," cried the captain, in the desperate hope of being able to wind the ship. "what's that ahead of us?" exclaimed the first mate suddenly. "ship on the starboard bow, right inshore!" roared the look-out. the attention of the crew was for a moment called from their own critical situation towards the strange vessel which now came into view, having been previously concealed from them by a large grounded berg. "can you make her out, mr bolton?" "yes, sir, i think she's a large brig, but she seems much chafed, and there's no name left on the stern, if ever there was one." as he spoke, the driving snow and fog cleared up partially, and the brig was seen not three hundred yards from them, drifting slowly into the loose ice. there was evidently no one on board, and although one or two of the sails were loose, they hung in shreds from the yards. scarcely had this been noted when the _dolphin_ struck against a large mass of ice, and quivered under the violence of the shock. "let go!" shouted the captain. down went the heaviest anchor they had, and for two minutes the chain flew out at the hawse-hole. "hold on!" the chain was checked, but the strain was awful. a mass of ice, hundreds of tons weight, was tearing down towards the bow. there was no hope of resisting it. time was not even afforded to attach a buoy or log to the cable, so it was let slip, and thus the _dolphin's_ best bower was lost for ever. but there was no time to think of or regret this, for the ship was now driving down with the gale, scraping against a lee of ice which was seldom less than thirty feet thick. almost at the same moment the strange vessel was whirled close to them, not more than fifty yards distant, between two driving masses of thick ice. "what if it should be my father's brig?" whispered fred ellice, as he grasped singleton's arm, and turned to him a face of ashy paleness. "no fear of that, lad," said buzzby, who stood near the larboard gangway and had overheard the remark. "i'd know your father's brig among a thousand--" as he spoke, the two masses of ice closed, and the brig was nipped between them. for a few seconds she seemed to tremble like a living creature, and every timber creaked. then she was turned slowly on one side, until the crew of the _dolphin_ could see down into her hold, where the beams were giving way and cracking up as matches might be crushed in the grasp of a strong hand. then the larboard bow was observed to yield as if it were made of soft clay, the starboard bow was pressed out, and the ice was forced into the forecastle. scarcely three minutes had passed since the nip commenced; in one minute more the brig went down, and the ice was rolling wildly, as if in triumph, over the spot where she had disappeared. the fate of this vessel, which might so soon be their own, threw a momentary gloom over the crew of the _dolphin_, but their position left them no time for thought. one upturned mass rose above the gunwale, smashed in the bulwarks, and deposited half a ton of ice on deck. scarcely had this danger passed when a new enemy appeared in sight ahead. directly in their way, just beyond the line of floe-ice against which they were alternately thumping and grinding, lay a group of bergs. there was no possibility of avoiding them, and the only question was whether they were to be dashed to pieces on their hard blue sides or, perchance, in some providential nook to find a refuge from the storm. "there's an open lead between them and the floe-ice," exclaimed bolton in a hopeful tone of voice, seizing an ice-pole and leaping on the gunwale. "look alive, men, with your poles," cried the captain, "and shove with a will." the "ay, ay, sir!" of the men was uttered with a heartiness that showed how powerfully this gleam of hope acted on their spirits; but a new damp was cast over them when, on gaining the open passage, they discovered that the bergs were not at rest, but were bearing down on the floe-ice with slow but awful momentum, and threatened to crush the ship between the two. just then a low berg came driving up from the southward, dashing the spray over its sides, and with its fore-head ploughing up the smaller ice as if in scorn. a happy thought flashed across the captain's mind. "down the quarter boat," he cried. in an instant it struck the water, and four men were on the thwarts. "cast an ice-anchor on that berg." peter grim obeyed the order, and, with a swing that hercules would have envied, planted it securely. in another moment the ship was following in the wake of this novel tug! it was a moment of great danger, for the bergs encroached on their narrow canal as they advanced, obliging them to brace the yards to clear the impending ice-walls, and they shaved the large berg so closely that the port-quarter boat would have been crushed if it had not been taken from the davits. five minutes of such travelling brought them abreast of a grounded berg, to which they resolved to make fast; the order was given to cast off the rope; away went their white tug on his race to the far north, and the ship swung round in safety under the lee of the berg, where the crew acknowledged with gratitude their merciful deliverance from imminent danger. chapter seven. new characters introduced--an old game under novel circumstances-- remarkable appearances in the sky--o'riley meets with a mishap. dumps was a remarkably grave and sly character, and poker was a wag--an incorrigible wag--in every sense of the term. moreover, although they had an occasional fight, dumps and poker were excellent friends, and great favourites with the crew. we have not yet introduced these individuals to our reader; but as they will act a conspicuous part in the history of the _dolphin's_ adventurous career in the arctic regions, we think it right now to present them. while at uppernavik, captain guy had purchased a team of six good, tough esquimaux dogs, being desirous of taking them to england, and there presenting them to several of his friends who were anxious to possess specimens of those animals. two of these dogs stood out conspicuous from their fellows, not only in regard to personal appearance, but also in reference to peculiarities of character. one was pure white, with a lively expression of countenance, a large shaggy body, two erect, sharp-pointed ears, and a short projection that once had been a tail. owing to some cause unknown, however, his tail had been cut or bitten off, and nothing save the stump remained. but this stump did as much duty as if it had been fifty tails in one. it was never at rest for a moment, and its owner evidently believed that wagging it was the true and only way to touch the heart of man; therefore the dog wagged it, so to speak, doggedly. in consequence of this animal's thieving propensities, which led him to be constantly _poking_ into every hole and corner of the ship in search of something to steal, he was named _poker_. poker had three jet-black spots in his white visage--one was the point of his nose, the other two were his eyes. poker's bosom friend, dumps, was so named because he had the sulkiest expression of countenance that ever fell to the lot of a dog. hopelessly incurable melancholy seemed to have taken possession of his mind, for he never by any chance smiled--and dogs do smile, you know, just as evidently as human beings do, although not exactly with their mouths. dumps never romped either, being old, but he sat and allowed his friend poker to romp round him with a sort of sulky satisfaction, as if he experienced the greatest enjoyment his nature was capable of in witnessing the antics of his youthful companion--for poker was young. the prevailing colour of dumps's shaggy hide was a dirty brown, with black spots, two of which had fixed themselves rather awkwardly round his eyes, like a pair of spectacles. dumps, also, was a thief, and, indeed, so were all his brethren. dumps and poker were both of them larger and stronger, and in every way better, than their comrades; and they afterwards were the sturdy, steady, unflinching leaders of the team during many a toilsome journey over the frozen sea. one magnificent afternoon, a few days after the escape of the _dolphin_ just related, dumps and poker lay side by side in the lee-scuppers, calmly sleeping off the effects of a surfeit produced by the eating of a large piece of pork, for which the cook had searched in vain for three-quarters of an hour, and of which he at last found the bare bone sticking in the hole of the larboard pump. "bad luck to them dogs!" exclaimed david mizzle, stroking his chin as he surveyed the bone. "if i could only find out, now, which of ye it was, i'd have ye slaughtered right off, and cooked for the mess, i would." "it was dumps as did it, i'll bet you a month's pay," said peter grim, as he sat on the end of the windlass refilling his pipe, which he had just smoked out. "not a bit of it," remarked amos parr, who was squatted on the deck busily engaged in constructing a rope mat, while several of the men sat round him engaged in mending sails, or stitching canvas slippers, etcetera. "not a bit of it, grim; dumps is too honest by half to do sich a thing. 'twas poker as did it, i can see by the roll of his eye below the skin. the blackguard's only shammin' sleep." on hearing his name mentioned, poker gently opened his right eye, but did not move. dumps, on the contrary, lay as if he heard not the base aspersion on his character. "what'll ye bet it was dumps as did it?" cried davie summers, who passed at the moment with a dish of some sort of edible towards the galley or cooking-house on deck. "i'll _bet_ you over the 'ead, i will, if you don't mind your business," said mivins. "you'd _bet_ter not," retorted davie with a grin. "it's as much as your situation's worth to lay a finger on me." "that's it, youngster, give it 'im," cried several of the men, while the boy confronted his superior, taking good care, however, to keep the fore-mast between them. "what do you mean, you young rascal?" cried mivins with a frown. "mean!" said davie, "why, i mean that if you touch me i'll resign office; and if i do that, you'll have to go out, for everyone knows you can't get on without me." "i say, mivins," cried tom green, the carpenter's mate, "if you were asked to say: `hold on hard to this handspike here, my hearties,' how would ye go about it?" "he'd 'it you a pretty 'ard crack hover the 'ead with it, 'e would," remarked one of the men, throwing a ball of yarn at davie, who stood listening to the conversation with a broad grin. in stepping back to avoid the blow the lad trod on dumps's paw, and instantly there came from the throat of that excellent dog a roar of anguish that caused poker to leap, as the cook expressed it, nearly out of his own skin. dogs are by nature extremely sympathetic and remarkably inquisitive; and no sooner was dumps's yell heard than it was vigorously responded to by every dog in the ship, as the whole pack rushed each from his respective sleeping-place, and looked round in amazement. "hallo! what's wrong there for'ard?" enquired saunders, who had been pacing the quarter-deck with slow giant strides, arguing mentally with himself in default of a better adversary. "only trod on dumps's paw, sir," said mivins as he hurried aft; "the men are sky-larking." "sky-larking, are you?" said saunders, going forward; "weel, lads, you've had a lot o' hard work of late, ye may go and take a run on the ice." instantly the men, like boys set free from school, sprang up, tumbled over the side, and were scampering over the ice like madmen. "pitch over the ball!--the football!" they cried. in a second the ball was tossed over the ship's side, and a vigorous game was begun. for two days past the _dolphin_ had been sailing with difficulty through large fields of ice, sometimes driving against narrow necks and tongues that interrupted her passage from one lead, or canal, to another; at other times boring with difficulty through compact masses of sludge, or, occasionally, when unable to advance farther, making fast to a large berg or field. they were compelled to proceed north, however, in consequence of the pack having become fixed towards the south, and thus rendering retreat impossible in that direction until the ice should be again set in motion. captain guy, however, saw, by the steady advance of the larger bergs, that the current of the ocean in that place flowed southward, and trusted that in a short time the ice which had been forced into the strait by the gales, would be released, and open up a passage. meanwhile he pushed along the coast, examining every bay and inlet in the hope of discovering some trace of the _pole star_ or her crew. on the day about which we are writing, the ship was beset by large fields, the snow-white surfaces of which extended north and south to the horizon, while on the east the cliffs rose in dark, frowning precipices from the midst of the glaciers that encumber them all the year round. it was a lovely arctic day. the sun shone with unclouded splendour, and the bright air, which trembled with that liquidity of appearance that one occasionally sees in very hot weather under peculiar circumstances, was vocal with the wild music of thousands of gulls, and auks, and other sea-birds, which clustered on the neighbouring cliffs, and flew overhead in clouds. all round, the pure surfaces of the ice-fields were broken by the shadows which the hummocks and bergs cast over them, and by the pools of clear water which shone like crystals in their hollows, while the beautiful beryl blue of the larger bergs gave a delicate colouring to the dazzling scene. words cannot describe the intense _glitter_ that characterised everything. every point seemed a diamond; every edge sent forth a gleam of light, and many of the masses reflected the rich prismatic colours of the rainbow. it seemed as if the sun himself had been multiplied in order to add to the excessive brilliancy, for he was surrounded by _parhelia_, or _sun-dogs_ as the men called them. this peculiarity in the sun's appearance was very striking. the great orb of day was about ten degrees above the horizon, and a horizontal line of white passed completely through it extending to a considerable distance on either hand, while around it were two distinct halos, or circles of light. on the inner halo were situated the mock-suns, which were four in number--one above and one below the sun, and one on each side of him. not a breath of wind stirred the little flag that drooped from the mizzen-peak, and the clamorous ceaseless cries of sea-birds, added to the merry shouts and laughter of the men, as they followed the restless football, rendered the whole a scene of life, as it was emphatically one of beauty. "ain't it glorious?" panted davie summers vehemently, as he stopped exhausted in a headlong race beside one of his comrades, while the ball was kicked hopelessly beyond his reach by a comparatively fresh member of the party. "ah! then, it bates the owld country intirely, it does," replied o'riley, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. it is needless to say that o'riley was an irishman. we have not mentioned him until now, because up to this time he had not done anything to distinguish himself beyond his messmates; but on this particular day o'riley's star was in the ascendant, and fortune seemed to have singled him out as an object of her special attention. he was a short man, and a broad man, and a particularly _rugged_ man--so to speak. he was all angles and corners. his hair stuck about his head in violently rigid and entangled tufts, rendering it a matter of wonder how anything in the shape of a hat could stick on. his brow was a countless mass of ever-varying wrinkles, which gave to his sly visage an aspect of humorous anxiety that was highly diverting--and all the more diverting when you came to know that the man had not a spark of anxiety in his composition, though he often said he had. his dress, like that of most jack-tars, was naturally rugged, and he contrived to make it more so than usual. "an' it's hot, too, it is," he continued, applying his kerchief again to his pate. "if it warn't for the ice we stand on, we'd be melted down, i do belave, like bits o' whale blubber." "wot a jolly game football is, ain't it?" said davie, seating himself on a hummock, and still panting hard. "ay, boy, that's jist what it is. the only objiction i have agin it is that it makes ye a'most kick the left leg clane off yer body." "why don't you kick with your right leg, then, stupid, like other people?" enquired summers. "why don't i, is it? troth, then, i don't know for sartin. me father lost his left leg at the great battle o' the nile, and i've sometimes thought that had somethin' to do wid it; but then me mother was lame o' the _right_ leg intirely, and wint about wid a crutch, so i can't make out how it was, d'ye see?" "look out, pat," exclaimed summers, starting up, "here comes the ball." as he spoke, the football came skimming over the ice, towards the spot on which they stood, with about thirty of the men running at full speed and shouting like maniacs after it. "that's your sort, my hearties! another like that and it's home! pitch into it, mivins. you're the boy for me. now, then, grim, trip him up! hallo, buzzby, you bluff-bowed dutchman, luff! luff! or i'll stave in your ribs! mind your eye, mizzle, there's green, he'll be into your larboard quarter in no time. hurrah! mivins, up in the air with it. kick, boy, kick like a spanker boom in a hurricane!" such were a few of the expressions that showered like hail round the men as they rushed hither and thither after the ball. and here we may remark that the crew of the _dolphin_ played football in a somewhat different style, from the way in which that noble game is played by boys in england. sides, indeed, were chosen, and boundaries were marked out, but very little if any attention was paid to such secondary matters! to kick the ball, and keep on kicking it in front of his companions, was the ambition of each man; and so long as he could get a kick at it that caused it to fly from the ground like a cannon-shot, little regard was had by anyone to the direction in which it was propelled. but, of course, in this effort to get a kick, the men soon became scattered over the field, and ever and anon the ball would fall between two men, who rushed at it simultaneously from opposite directions. the inevitable result was a collision, by which both men were suddenly and violently arrested in their career. but generally the shock resulted in one of the men being sent staggering backwards, and the other getting the _kick_. when the two were pretty equally matched, both were usually, as they expressed it, "brought up all standing", in which case a short scuffle ensued, as each endeavoured to trip up the heels of his adversary. to prevent undue violence in such struggles, a rule was laid down that hands were not to be used on any account. they might use their feet, legs, shoulders, and elbows, but not their hands. in such rough play the men were more equally matched than might have been expected, for the want of weight among the smaller men was often more than counterbalanced by their activity; and frequently a sturdy little fellow launched himself so vigorously against a heavy tar as to send him rolling head over heels on the ice. this was not always the case, however, and few ventured to come into collision with peter grim, whose activity was on a par with his immense size. buzzby contented himself with galloping on the outskirts of the fight, and putting in a kick when fortune sent the ball in his way. in this species of warfare he was supported by the fat cook, whose oily carcass could neither stand the shocks nor keep up with the pace of his messmates. mizzle was a particularly energetic man in his way, however, and frequently kicked with such good-will that he missed the ball altogether, and the tremendous swing of his leg lifted him from the ice, and laid him sprawling on his back. "look out ahead!" shouted green, the carpenter's mate; "there's a sail bearing down on your larboard bow." mivins, who had the ball before him at the moment, saw his own satellite, davie, coming down towards him with vicious intentions. he quietly pushed the ball before him for a few yards, then kicked it far over the boy's head, and followed it up like an antelope. mivins depended for success on his almost superhuman activity. his tall, slight frame could not stand the shocks of his comrades, but no one could equal or come near to him in speed, and he was quite an adept at dodging a _charge_, and allowing his opponent to rush far past the ball by the force of his own momentum. such a charge did peter grim make at him at this moment. "starboard hard!" yelled davie summers, as he observed his master's danger. "starboard it is!" replied mivins, and, leaping aside to avoid the shock, he allowed grim to pass. grim knew his man, however, and had held himself in hand, so that in a moment he pulled up and was following close on his heels. "it's an ill wind that blows no good," cried one of the crew, towards whose foot the ball rolled, as he quietly kicked it into the centre of the mass of men. grim and mivins turned back, and for a time looked on at the general make that ensued. it seemed as though the ball must inevitably be crushed among them as they struggled and kicked hither and thither for five minutes, in their vain efforts to get a kick; and during those few exciting moments many tremendous kicks, aimed at the ball, took effect upon shins, and many shouts of glee terminated in yells of anguish. "it can't last much longer!" screamed the cook, his face streaming with perspiration, and beaming with glee, as he danced round the outside of the circle. "there it goes!" as he spoke, the ball flew out of the circle, like a shell from a mortar. unfortunately it went directly over mizzle's head. before he could wink he went down before them, and the rushing mass of men passed over him like a mountain torrent over a blade of grass. meanwhile mivins ran ahead of the others, and gave the ball a kick that nearly burst it and down it came exactly between o'riley and grim, who chanced to be far ahead of the others. grim dashed at it. "och! ye big villain," muttered the irishman to himself, as he put down his head and rushed against the carpenter like a battering-ram. big though he was, grim staggered back from the impetuous shock, and o'riley, following up his advantage, kicked the ball in a side direction, away from everyone except buzzby, who happened to have been steering rather wildly over the field of ice. buzzby, on being brought thus unexpectedly within reach of the ball, braced up his energies for a kick, but seeing o'riley coming down towards him like a runaway locomotive, he pulled up, saying quietly to himself: "ye may take it all yer own way, lad; i'm too old a bird to go for to make my carcass a buffer for a mad-cap like you to run agin." jack mivins, however, was troubled by no such qualms. he happened to be about the same distance from the ball as o'riley, and ran like a deer to reach it first. a pool of water lay in his path, however, and the necessity of going round it enabled the irishman to gain on him a little, so that it became evident that both would come up at the same moment and a collision be inevitable. "hold yer wind, paddy," shouted the men, who paused for a moment to watch the result of the race. "mind your timbers, mivins! back your top-sails, o'riley; mind how he yaws!" then there was a momentary silence of breathless expectation. the two men seemed about to meet with a shock that would annihilate both, when mivins bounded to one side like an india-rubber ball. o'riley shot past him like a rocket, and the next instant went head-foremost into the pool of water. this unexpected termination to the affair converted the intended huzzah of the men into a yell of mingled laughter and consternation as they hastened in a body to the spot; but before they reached it o'riley's head and shoulders reappeared, and when they came up, he was standing on the margin of the pool blowing like a walrus. "oh, then, but it is cowld!" he exclaimed, wringing the water from his garments. "och, where's the ball? give me a kick or i'll freeze, so i will." as he spoke, the drenched irishman seized the ball from mivins' hands and gave it a kick that sent it high into the air. he was too wet and heavy to follow it up, however, so he ambled off towards the ship as vigorously as his clothes would allow him, followed by the whole crew. chapter eight. fred and the doctor go on an excursion, in which, among other strange things, they meet with red snow and a white bear, and fred makes his first essay as a sportsman. but where were fred ellice and tom singleton all this time? the reader will probably ask. long before the game at football was suggested, they had obtained leave of absence from the captain, and, loaded with game-bags, a botanical box, and geological hammer, and a musket, were off along the coast on a semi-scientific cruise. young singleton carried the botanical box and hammer, being an enthusiastic geologist and botanist, while fred carried the game-bag and musket. "you see, tom," he said, as they stumbled along over the loose ice towards the ice-belt that lined the cliffs,--"you see, i'm a great dab at ornithology, especially when i've got a gun on my shoulder. when i haven't a gun, strange to say, i don't feel half so enthusiastic about birds!" "that's a very peculiar style of regarding the science. don't you think it would be worth while communicating your views on the subject to one of the scientific bodies when we get home again? they might elect you a member, fred." "well, perhaps i shall," replied fred gravely; "but i say, to be serious, i'm really going to screw up my energies as much as possible, and make coloured drawings of all the birds i can get hold of in the arctic regions. at least i would like to try." fred finished his remark with a sigh, for just then the object for which he had gone out to those regions occurred to him, and although the natural buoyancy and hopefulness of his feelings enabled him generally to throw off anxiety in regard to his father's fate, and join in the laugh, and jest, and game as heartily as anyone on board, there were times when his heart failed him, and he almost despaired of ever seeing his father again; and these feelings of despondency had been more frequent, since the day on which he witnessed the sudden and utter destruction of the strange brig. "don't let your spirits down, fred," said tom, whose hopeful and earnest disposition often reanimated his friend's drooping spirits. "it will only unfit you for doing any good service; besides, i think we have no cause yet to despair. we know that your father came up this inlet, or strait, or whatever it is, and that he had a good stock of provisions with him, according to the account we got at uppernavik, and it is not more than a year since he was there. many and many a whaler and discovery ship has wintered more than a year in these regions. and then, consider the immense amount of animal life all around us. they might have laid up provisions for many months long before winter set in." "i know all that," replied fred, with a shake of his head; "but think of yon brig that we saw go down in about ten minutes." "well, so i do think of it. no doubt the brig was lost very suddenly, but there was ample time, had there been anyone on board, to have leaped upon the ice, and they might have got to land by jumping from one piece to another. such things have happened before, frequently. to say truth, at every point of land we turn, i feel a sort of expectation, amounting almost to certainty, that we shall find your father and his party travelling southward on their way to the danish settlements." "perhaps you are right. god grant that it may be so!" as he spoke they reached the fixed ice which ran along the foot of the precipices for some distance, like a road of hard white marble. many large rocks lay scattered over it, some of them several tons in weight, and one or two balanced in a very remarkable way on the edge of the cliffs. "there's a curious-looking gull i should like to shoot," exclaimed fred, pointing to a bird that hovered over his head, and throwing forward the muzzle of his gun. "fire away, then," said his friend, stepping back a pace. fred, being unaccustomed to the use of firearms, took a wavering aim and fired. "what a bother! i've missed it!" "try again," remarked tom with a quiet smile, as the whole cliff vomited forth an innumerable host of birds, whose cries were perfectly deafening. "it's my opinion," said fred with a comical grin, "that if i shut my eyes and point upwards i can't help hitting something; but i particularly want yon fellow, because he's beautifully marked. ah! i see him sitting on a rock yonder, so here goes once more." fred now proceeded towards the coveted bird in the fashion that is known by the name of _stalking_--that is, creeping as close up to your game as possible, so as to get a good shot; and it said much for his patience and his future success, the careful manner in which, on this occasion, he wound himself in and out among the rocks and blocks of ice on the shore in the hope of obtaining that sea-gull. at last he succeeded in getting to within about fifteen yards of it, and then, resting his musket on a lump of ice, and taking an aim so long and steadily that his companion began to fancy he must have gone to sleep, he fired, and blew the gull to atoms! there was scarcely so much as a shred of it to be found. fred bore his disappointment and discomfiture manfully. he formed a resolution then and there to become a good shot, and although he did not succeed exactly in becoming so that day, he nevertheless managed to put several fine specimens of gulls and an auk into his bag. the last bird amused him much, being a creature with a dumpy little body and a beak of preposterously large size and comical aspect. there were also a great number of eider ducks flying about but they failed to procure a specimen. singleton was equally successful in his scientific researches. he found several beautifully green mosses, one species of which was studded with pale-yellow flowers, and, in one place, where a stream trickled down the steep sides of the cliffs, he discovered a flower-growth which was rich in variety of colouring. amid several kinds of tufted grasses were seen growing a small purple flower and the white star of the chickweed. the sight of all this richness of vegetation growing in a little spot close beside the snow, and amid such cold arctic scenery, would have delighted a much less enthusiastic spirit than that of our young surgeon. he went quite into raptures with it and stuffed his botanical box with mosses and rocks until it could hold no more, and became a burden that cost him a few sighs before he got back to the ship. the rocks were found to consist chiefly of red sandstone. there was also a good deal of greenstone and gneiss, and some of the spires of these that shot up to a considerable height were particularly striking and picturesque objects. but the great sight of the day's excursion was that which unexpectedly greeted their eyes on rounding a cape towards which they had been walking for several hours. on passing this point they stopped with an exclamation of amazement. before them lay a scene such as the arctic regions alone can produce. in front lay a vast reach of the strait, which at this place opened up abruptly and stretched away northward laden with floes, and fields, and hummocks, and bergs of every shade and size, to the horizon, where the appearance of the sky indicated open water. ponds of various sizes, and sheets of water whose dimensions entitled them to be styled lakes, spangled the white surface of the floes, and around these were sporting innumerable flocks of wild fowl, many of which, being pure white, glanced like snow-flakes in the sunshine. far off to the west the ice came down with heavy uniformity to the water's edge. on the right there was an array of cliffs whose frowning grandeur filled them with awe. they varied from twelve to fifteen hundred feet in height, and some of the precipices descended sheer down seven or eight hundred feet into the sea, over which they cast a dark shadow. just at the feet of our young discoverers, for such we may truly call them, a deep bay or valley trended away to the right, a large portion of which was filled with the spur of a glacier, whose surface was covered with _pink snow_! one can imagine with what feelings the two youths gazed on this beautiful sight. it seemed as if that valley, instead of forming a portion of the sterile region beyond the arctic circle, were one of the sunniest regions of the south, for a warm glow rested on the bosom of the snow, as if the sun were shedding upon it his rosiest hues. a little farther to the north the red snow ceased, or only occurred here and there in patches, and beyond it there appeared another gorge in the cliffs within which rose a tall column of rock, so straight and cylindrical that it seemed to be a production of art. the whole of the back country was one great rolling distance of glacier, and, wherever a crevice or gorge in the riven cliffs afforded an opportunity, this ocean of land-ice sent down spurs into the sea, the extremities of which were constantly shedding off huge bergs into the water. "what a scene!" exclaimed tom singleton, when he found words to express his admiration. "i did not think that our world contained so grand a sight. it surpasses my wildest dreams of fairy-land." "fairy-land!" ejaculated fred, with a slight look of contempt; "do you know, since i came to this part of the world i've come to the conclusion that fairy tales are all stuff, and very inferior stuff too! why, this reality is a thousand million times grander than anything that was ever invented. but what surprises me most is the red snow. what can be the cause of it?" "i don't know," replied singleton; "it has long been a matter of dispute among learned men; but we must examine it for ourselves, so come along." the remarkable colour of the snow referred to, although a matter of dispute at the period of the _dolphin's_ visit to the arctic seas, is generally admitted now to be the result of a curious and extremely minute vegetable growth, which spreads not only over its surface, but penetrates into it sometimes to a depth of several feet. the earlier navigators who discovered it, and first told the astonished world that the substance which they had been accustomed to associate with the idea of the purest and most radiant whiteness had been seen by them lying _red_ upon the ground, attributed the phenomenon to innumerable multitudes of minute creatures belonging to the order _radiata_, but the discovery of red snow among the central alps of europe, and in the pyrenees, and on the mountains of norway, where _marine_ animalcules could not exist, effectually overturned this idea. the colouring matter has now been ascertained to result from plants belonging to the order called _algae_, which have a remarkable degree of vitality, and possess the power, to an amazing extent, of growing and spreading with rapidity even over such an ungenial soil as the arctic snow. while singleton was examining the red snow, and vainly endeavouring to ascertain the nature of the minute specks of matter, by which it was coloured, fred continued to gaze with a look of increasing earnestness towards the tall column, around which a bank of fog was spreading, and partially concealing it from view. at length he attracted the attention of his companion towards it. "i say, i'm half inclined to believe that yon is no work of nature, but a monument set up to attract the attention of ships. don't you think so?" singleton regarded the object in question for some time. "i don't think so, fred; it is larger than you suppose, for the fog-bank deceives us; but let us go and see--it cannot be far off." as they drew near to the tall rock, fred's hopes began to fade, and soon were utterly quenched by the fog clearing away and showing that the column was indeed of nature's own constructing. it was a single, solitary shaft of green limestone, which stood on the brink of a deep ravine, and was marked by the slaty limestone that once encased it. the length of the column was apparently about five hundred feet, and the pedestal of sandstone on which it stood was itself upwards of two hundred feet high. this magnificent column seemed the flag-staff of a gigantic crystal fortress, which was suddenly revealing by the clearing away of the fog-bank to the north. it was the face of the great glacier of the interior, which here presented an unbroken perpendicular front--a sweep of solid glassy wall, which rose three hundred feet above the water-level, with an unknown depth below it. the sun glittered on the crags, and peaks, and battlements of this ice fortress as if the mysterious inhabitants of the far north had lit up their fires, and planted their artillery to resist further invasion. the effect upon the minds of the two youths, who were probably the first to gaze upon those wondrous visions of the icy regions, was tremendous. for a long time neither of them could utter a word, and it would be idle to attempt to transcribe the language, in which, at length, their excited feelings sought to escape. it was not until their backs had been for some time turned on the scene, and the cape near the valley of red snow had completely shut it out from view, that they could condescend to converse again in their ordinary tones on ordinary subjects. as they hastened back over the ice-belt at the foot of the cliffs, a loud boom rang out in the distance, and rolled in solemn echoes along the shore. "there goes a gun," exclaimed tom singleton, hastily pulling out his watch. "hallo! do you know what time it is?" "pretty late, i suppose; it was afternoon, i know, when we started, and we must have been out a good while now. what time is it?" "just two o'clock in the morning!" "what! do you mean to say it was _yesterday_ when we started, and that we've been walking all night, and got into _to-morrow morning_ without knowing it?" "even so, fred. we have overshot our time, and the captain is signalling us to make haste. he said that he would not fire unless there seemed some prospect of the ice moving, so we had better run, unless we wish to be left behind; come along." they had not proceeded more than half a mile when a polar bear walked leisurely out from behind a lump of ice, where it had been regaling itself on a dead seal, and sauntered slowly out towards the icebergs seaward, not a hundred yards in advance of them. "hallo! look there! what a monster!" shouted fred, as he cocked his musket and sprang forward. "what'll you do, tom, you've no gun?" "never mind, i'll do what i can with the hammer. only make sure you don't miss. don't fire till you are quite close to him." they were running after the bear at top speed while they thus conversed in hasty and broken sentences, when suddenly they came to a yawning crack in the ice, about thirty feet wide, and a mile long on either hand, with the rising tide boiling at the bottom of it. bruin's pursuers came to an abrupt halt. "now, isn't that disgusting!" probably it was, and the expression of chagrin on fred's countenance as he said so evidently showed that he meant it, but there is no doubt that this interruption to their hunt was extremely fortunate; for to attack a polar bear with a musket charged only with small shot, and a geological hammer, would have been about as safe and successful an operation as trying to stop a locomotive with one's hand. neither of them had yet had experience of the enormous strength of this white monarch of the frozen regions and his tenacity of life, although both were reckless enough to rush at him with any arms they chanced to have. "give him a long shot quick!" cried singleton. fred fired instantly, and the bear stopped, and looked round, as much as to say: "did you speak, gentlemen?" then, not receiving a reply, he walked away with dignified indifference, and disappeared among the ice-hummocks. an hour afterwards the two wanderers were seated at a comfortable breakfast in the cabin of the _dolphin_, relating their adventures to the captain and mates, and, although unwittingly, to mivins, who generally managed so to place himself, while engaged in the mysterious operations of his little pantry, that most of the cabin-talk reached his ear, and travelled thence through his mouth to the forecastle. the captain was fully aware of this fact, but he winked at it, for there was nothing but friendly feeling on board the ship, and no secrets. when, however, matters of serious import had to be discussed, the cabin door was closed, and mivins turned to expend himself on davie summers, who, in the capacity of a listener, was absolutely necessary to the comfortable existence of the worthy steward. having exhausted their appetites and their information, fred and tom were told that, during their absence, a bear and two seals had been shot by meetuck, the esquimaux interpreter, whom they had taken on board at uppernavik; and they were further informed that the ice was in motion to the westward, and that there was every probability of their being released by the falling tide. having duly and silently weighed these facts for a few minutes, they simultaneously, and as if by a common impulse, yawned and retired to bed. chapter nine. the dolphin gets beset in the ice--preparations for wintering in the ice--captain guy's code of laws. an accident now befell the _dolphin_ which effectually decided the fate of the ship and her crew, at least for that winter. this was her getting aground near the ravine of the giant flagstaff before mentioned, and being finally beset by ice from which all efforts on the part of the men to extricate her proved abortive, and in which she was ultimately frozen in--hard and fast. the first sight the crew obtained of the red snow filled them with unbounded amazement, and a few of the more superstitious amongst them with awe approaching to fear. but soon their attention was attracted from this by the wonderful column. "och, then! may i niver!" exclaimed o'riley, the moment he caught sight of it, "if there ben't the north pole at long last--sure enough!" the laugh that greeted this remark was almost immediately checked, partly from the feelings of solemnity inspired by the magnificent view which opened up to them, and partly from a suspicion on the part of the more ignorant among the men that there might be some truth in o'riley's statement after all. but their attention and energies were speedily called to the dangerous position of the ship, which unexpectedly took the ground in a bay where the water proved to be unusually shallow, and before they could warp her off, the ice closed round her in compact, immovable masses. at first captain guy was not seriously alarmed by this untoward event, although he felt a little chagrin in consequence of the detention, for the summer was rapidly advancing, and it behoved him to return to baffin's bay, and prosecute the whale-fishing as energetically as possible; but when day after day passed, and the ice round the ship still remained immovable, he became alarmed, and sought by every means in his power to extricate himself. his position was rendered all the more aggravating by the fact that, a week after he was beset, the main body of the ice in the strait opened up and drifted to the southward, leaving a comparatively clear sea through which he could have pushed his way without much difficulty in any direction, but the solid masses in which they lay embedded were fast to the ground for about fifty yards beyond the vessel, seaward, and until these should be floated away there was no chance of escape. "get up some powder and canisters, mr bolton," he exclaimed, one morning after breakfast; "i'll try what can be done by blasting the ice. the highest spring tide will occur to-morrow, and if the ship don't move then we shall--" he did not finish the sentence, but turned on his heel, and walked forward, where he found buzzby and some of the men preparing the ice-saws. "ay, ay," muttered the mate, as he went below to give the necessary directions, "you don't need to conclude your speech, captain. if we don't get out to-morrow, we're locked up for one winter at least if not more." "ay, and ye'll no get oot to-morrow," remarked saunders with a shake of his head, as he looked up from the log-book, in which he was making an entry. "we're hard and fast, so we'll just have to make the best o't." saunders was right as the efforts of the next day proved. the ice lay around the vessel in solid masses, as we have said, and with each of the last three tides these masses had been slightly moved. saws and ice chisels, therefore, had been in constant operation, and the men worked with the utmost energy, night and day, taking it by turns, and having double allowance of hot coffee served out to them. we may mention here that the _dolphin_ carried no spirits, except what was needed for medicinal purposes, and for fuel to several small cooking-lamps that had been recently invented. it had now been proved by many voyagers of experience that in cold countries, as well as hot, men work harder, and endure the extremity of hardship better, without strong drink than with it, and the _dolphin's_ crew were engaged on the distinct understanding that coffee, and tea, and chocolate were to be substituted for rum, and that spirits were never to be given to anyone on board, except in cases of extreme necessity. but, to return--although the men worked as only those can who toil for liberation from long imprisonment, no impression worth mentioning could be made on the ice. at length the attempt to rend it by means of gunpowder was made. a jar containing about thirty pounds of powder was sunk in a hole in an immense block of ice which lay close against the stern of the ship. mivins, being light of foot, was set to fire the train. he did so, and ran--ran so fast that he missed his footing in leaping over a chasm, and had well-nigh fallen into the water below. there was a whiz and a loud report, and the enormous mass of ice heaved upwards in the centre, and fell back in huge fragments. so far the result was satisfactory, and the men were immediately set to sink several charges in various directions around the vessel, to be in readiness for the highest tide, which was soon expected. warps and hawsers were also got out and fixed to the seaward masses, ready to heave on them at a moment's notice; the ship was lightened as much as possible, by lifting her stores upon the ice, and the whole crew--captain, mates, and all--worked and heaved like horses, until the perspiration streamed from their faces, while mizzle kept supplying them with a constant deluge of hot coffee. fred and the young surgeon, too, worked like the rest, with their coats off, handkerchiefs bound round their heads, and shirt-sleeves tucked up to their shoulders. at last the tide rose--inch by inch, and slowly, as if it grudged to give them even a chance of escape. mivins grew impatient and unbelieving under it. "i don't think it'll rise another hinch," he remarked to o'riley, who stood near him. "niver fear, boy. the capting knows a sight better than you do, and _he_ says it'll rise a fut yit." "does he?" asked grim, who was also beginning to despond. "ov coorse he does. sure he towld me in a confidential way, just before he wint to turn in last night--if it wasn't yisturday forenoon, for it's meself as niver knows an hour o' the day since the sun became dissipated, and tuck to sittin' up all night in this fashion." "shut up yer tatie trap and open yer weather eye," muttered buzzby, who had charge of the gang, "there'll be time enough to speak after we're off." gradually, as the tide rose, the ice and the ship moved, and it became evident that the latter was almost afloat though the former seemed to be only partly raised from the ground. the men were at their several posts ready for instant action, and gazing in anxious expectation at the captain, who stood, watch in hand, ready to give the word. "now, then, fire!" he said in a low voice. in a moment the ice round the ship was rent and upheaved, as if some leviathan of the deep were rising from beneath it and the vessel swung slowly round. a loud cheer burst from the men. "now, lads, heave with a will!" roared the captain. round went the capstan, the windlass clanked, and the ship forged slowly ahead as the warps and hawsers became rigid. at that moment a heavy block of ice, which had been overbalanced by the motion of the vessel, fell with a crash on the rudder, splitting off a large portion of it, and drawing the iron bolts that held it completely out of the stern-post. "never mind; heave away--for your lives!" cried the captain. "jump on board all of you!" the few men who had until now remained on the ice scrambled up the side. there was a sheet of ice right ahead which the ship could not clear, but which she was pushing out to sea in advance of her. suddenly this took the ground and remained motionless. "out there with ice-chisels. sink a hole like lightning. prepare a canister, mr bolton; quick!" shouted the captain in desperation, as he sprang over the side and assisted to cut into the unwieldy obstruction. the charge was soon fixed and fired, but it only split the block in two, and left it motionless as before. a few minutes after, the ship again grounded; the ice settled round her; the spring tide was lost, and they were not delivered. those who know the bitterness of repeated disappointment, and of hope deferred, may judge of the feelings with which the crew of the _dolphin_ now regarded their position. little, indeed, was said, but the grave looks of most of the men, and the absence of the usual laugh, and jest, and disposition to skylark, which on almost all other occasions characterised them, showed too plainly how heavily the prospect of a winter in the arctic regions weighed upon their spirits. they continued their exertions to free the ship, however, for several days after the high tide, and did not finally give in until all reasonable hope of moving her was utterly annihilated. before this, however, a reaction began to take place; the prospects of the coming winter were discussed, and some of the more sanguine looked even beyond the winter, and began to consider how they would contrive to get the ship out of her position into deep water again. fred ellice, too, thought of his father, and this abrupt check to the search, and his spirits sank again as his hopes decayed. but poor fred, like the others, at last discovered that it was of no use to repine, and that it was best to face his sorrows and difficulties "like a man!" among so many men there were all shades of character, and the fact that they were doomed to a year's imprisonment in the frozen regions was received in very different ways. some looked grave and thought of it seriously; others laughed and treated it lightly; a few grumbled and spoke profanely, but most of them became quickly reconciled, and in a week or two nearly all forgot the past and the future in the duties, and cares, and amusements of the present. captain guy and his officers, however, and a few of the more sedate men, among whom were buzzby and peter grim, looked forward with much anxiety, knowing full well the dangers and trials that lay before them. it is true the ship was provisioned for more than a year, but most of the provisions were salt, and tom singleton could have told them, had they required to be told, that without fresh provisions they stood a poor chance of escaping that dire disease, scurvy, before which have fallen so many gallant tars whom nothing in the shape of dangers or difficulties could subdue. there were, indeed, myriads of wild fowl flying about the ship, on which the men feasted and grew fat every day; and the muskets of meetuck, and those who accompanied him, seldom failed to supply the ship with an abundance of the flesh of seals, walrus, and polar bears, portions of all of which creatures were considered very good indeed by the men, and particularly by the dogs, which grew so fat that they began to acquire a very disreputable waddle in their gait as they walked the deck for exercise, which they seldom did, by the way, being passionately fond of sleep! but birds and, perchance, beasts might be expected to take themselves off when the winter arrived, and leave the crew without fresh food. then, although the _dolphin_ was supplied with every necessary for a whaling expedition, and with many luxuries besides, she was ill-provided with the supplies that men deem absolutely indispensable for a winter in the arctic regions, where the cold is so bitterly intense that, after a prolonged sojourn, men's minds become almost entirely engrossed by two clamant demands of nature--food and heat. they had only a small quantity of coal on board, and nothing except a few extra spars that could be used as a substitute, while the bleak shores afforded neither shrub nor tree of any kind. meanwhile they had a sufficiency of everything they required for at least two or three months to come, and for the rest as grim said, they had "stout hearts and strong arms." as soon as it became apparent that they were to winter in the bay, which the captain named the bay of mercy, all further attempt to extricate the ship was abandoned, and every preparation for spending the winter was begun and carried out vigorously. it was now that captain guy's qualities as a leader began to be displayed. he knew, from long experience and observation, that in order to keep up the _morale_ of any body of men it was absolutely necessary to maintain the strictest discipline. indeed this rule is so universal in its application that many men find it advantageous to impose strict rules on themselves in the regulation of their time and affairs, in order to keep their own spirits under command. one of the captain's first resolves, therefore, was to call the men together and address them on this subject, and he seized the occasion of the first sabbath morning they spent in the bay of mercy, when the crew were assembled on the quarterdeck, to speak to them. it was an exceedingly bright day. captain guy stood up, and, in an earnest, firm tone, said:-- "my lads, i consider it my duty to say a few plain words to you in reference to our present situation and prospects. i feel that the responsibility of having brought you here rests very much upon myself, and i deem it my solemn duty, in more than the ordinary sense, to do all i can to get you out of the ice again. you know as well as i do that this is impossible at the present time, and that we are compelled to spend a winter here. some of you know what that means, but the most of you know it only by hearsay, and that's much the same as knowing nothing about it at all. before the winter is done your energies and endurance will probably be taxed to the uttermost. i think it right to be candid with you. the life before you will not be child's-play, but i assure you that it may be mingled with much that will be pleasant and hearty if you choose to set about it in the right way. well, then, to be short about it. there is no chance whatever of our getting through the winter in this ship comfortably, or even safely, unless the strictest discipline is maintained aboard. i know, for i've been in similar circumstances before, that when cold and hunger, and, it may be, sickness, press upon us--should it please the almighty to send these on us in great severity--you will feel duty to be irksome, and you'll think it useless, and perhaps be tempted to mutiny. now i ask you solemnly, while your minds are clear from all prejudices, each individually to sign a written code of laws, and a written promise that you will obey the same, and help me to enforce them even with the punishment of _death_, if need be. now, lads, will you agree to that?" "agreed, agreed!" cried the men at once, and in a tone of prompt decision that convinced their leader he had their entire confidence--a matter of the highest importance in the critical circumstances, in which they were placed. "well, then, i'll read the rules; they are few, but sufficiently comprehensive. "first. prayers shall be read every morning before breakfast, unless circumstances render it impossible to do so." the captain laid down the paper, and looked earnestly at the men. "my lads, i have never felt so strongly as i now do the absolute need we have of the blessing and guidance of the almighty, and i am persuaded that it is our duty as well as our interest to begin, not only the sabbath, but _every_ day with prayer. "second. the ordinary duties of the ship shall be carried on, the watches regularly set and relieved, regular hours observed, and the details of duty attended to in the usual way, as when in harbour. "third. the officers shall take watch and watch about as heretofore, except when required to do otherwise; the log-books, and meteorological observations, etcetera, shall be carried on as usual. "fourth. the captain shall have supreme and absolute command as when at sea, but he, on his part, promises that, should any peculiar circumstance arise, in which the safety of the crew or ship shall be implicated, he will, if the men are so disposed, call a council of the whole crew, in which case the decision of the majority shall become law, but the minority in that event shall have it in their option to separate from the majority and carry along with them their share of the general provisions. "fifth. disobedience to orders shall be punishable according to the decision of a council, to be appointed specially for the purpose of framing a criminal code, hereafter to be submitted for the approval of the crew." the rules above laid down were signed by every man in the ship. several of them could not write, but these affixed a cross (x) at the foot of the page, against which their names were written by the captain in presence of witnesses, which answered the same purpose. and from that time, until events occurred which rendered all such rules unnecessary, the work of the ship went on pleasantly and well. chapter ten. beginning of winter--meetuck effects a remarkable change in the men's appearance--mossing, and working, and plans for a winter campaign. in august the first frost came and formed "young ice" on the sea, but this lasted only for a brief hour or two, and was broken up by the tide and melted. by the th of september the young ice cemented the floes of last year's ice together, and soon rendered the ice round the ship immovable. hummocks clustered round several rocky islets in the neighbourhood, and the rising and falling of the tide covered the sides of the rocks with bright crystals. all the feathered tribes took their departure for less rigorous climes, with the exception of a small white bird about the size of a sparrow, called the snow-bird, which is the last to leave the icy north. then a tremendous storm arose, and the sea became choked up with icebergs and floes which the frost soon locked together into a solid mass. towards the close of the storm snow fell in great abundance, and when the mariners ventured again to put their heads up the opened hatchways, the decks were knee-deep, the drift to windward was almost level with the bulwarks, every yard was edged with white, every rope and cord had a light side and a dark, every point and truck had a white button on it, and every hole, corner, crack, and crevice was choked up. the land and the sea were also clothed with this spotless garment, which is indeed a strikingly appropriate emblem of purity, and the only dark objects visible in the landscape were those precipices which were too steep for the snow to lie on, the towering form of the giant flag-staff, and the leaden clouds that rolled angrily across the sky. but these leaden clouds soon rolled off, leaving a blue wintry sky and a bright sun behind. the storm blew itself out early in the morning, and at breakfast-time on that day, when the sun was just struggling with the last of the clouds, captain guy remarked to his friends, who were seated round the cabin table: "well, gentlemen, we must begin hard work to-day." "hard work, captain!" exclaimed fred ellice, pausing for a second or two in the hard work of chewing a piece of hard salt junk; "why, what do you call the work we've been engaged in for the last few weeks?" "play, my lad; that was only play--just to bring our hands in, before setting to work in earnest! what do you think of the health of the men, doctor?" "never was better, but i fear the hospital will soon fill if you carry out your threat in regard to work." "no fear," remarked the second mate; "the more work the better health is my experience. busy men have no time to git seek." "no doubt of it sir," said the first mate, bolting a large mouthful of pork. "nothing so good for 'em as work." "there are two against you, doctor," said the captain. "then it's two to two," cried fred, as he finished breakfast, "for i quite agree with tom, and with that excellent proverb which says: `all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.'" the captain shook his head as he said: "of all the nuisances i ever met with in a ship a semi-passenger is the worst. i think, fred, i must get you bound apprentice, and give you regular work to do, you good-for-nothing." we need scarcely say that the captain jested, for fred was possessed of a spirit that cannot rest, so to speak, unless at work. he was able to do almost anything _after a fashion_, and was never idle for a moment. even when his hands chanced to be unemployed his brows were knitted, busily planning what to do next. "well now, gentlemen," resumed the captain, "let us consider the order of business. the first thing that must be done now is to unstow the hold, and deposit its contents on the small island astern of us, which we shall call store island, for brevity's sake. get a tent pitched there, mr bolton, and bank it up with snow. you can leave grim to superintend the unloading. then, mr saunders, do you go and set a gang of men to cut a canal through the young ice from the ship to the island. fortunately the floes there are wide enough apart to let our quarter-boats float between them. the unshipping won't take long. tell buzzby to take a dozen men with him and collect moss; we'll need a large quantity for fuel, and if another storm like this comes, it'll be hard work to get down to it. send meetuck to me when you go on deck; i shall talk to him as to our prospects of finding deer hereabouts, and arrange a hunt. doctor, you may either join the hunting party or post up the observations, etcetera, which have accumulated of late." "thank you, captain," said singleton, "i'll accept the latter duty, the more willingly that i wish to have a careful examination of my botanical specimens." "and what am i to do, captain?" enquired fred. "what you please, lad." "then i'll go and take care of meetuck; he's apt to get into mischief when left--" at this moment a tremendous shout of laughter, long-continued, came from the deck, and a sound as of numbers of men dancing overhead was heard. the party in the cabin seized their caps and sprang up the companion, where they beheld a scene that accounted for the laughter, and induced them to join in it. at first sight it seemed as if thirty polar bears had boarded the vessel, and were executing a dance of triumph before proceeding to make a meal of the crew; but on closer inspection it became apparent that the men had undergone a strange transformation, and were capering with delight at the ridiculous appearance they presented. they were clad from head to foot in esquimaux costume, and now bore as strong a resemblance to polar bears as man could attain to. meetuck was the pattern and the chief instrument in effecting this change. at uppernavik captain guy had been induced to purchase a large number of fox-skins, deer-skins, seal-skins, and other furs as a speculation, and had them tightly packed and stowed away in the hold, little imagining the purpose they were ultimately destined to serve. meetuck had come on board in a mongrel sort of worn-out seal-skin dress, but the instant the cold weather set in he drew from a bundle, which he had brought with him, a dress made of the furs of the arctic fox, some of the skins being white and the others blue. it consisted of a loose coat somewhat in the form of a shirt, with a large hood to it, and a short elongation behind like the commencement of a tail. the boots were made of white bear-skin which, at the end of the foot, were made to terminate with the claws of the animal, and they were so long that they came up the thigh under the coat, or "jumper" as the men called it, and thus served instead of trousers. he also wore fur mittens, with a bag for the fingers, and a separate little bag for the thumb. the hair on these garments was long and soft, and worn outside, so that when a man enveloped himself in them, and put up the hood, which well-nigh concealed the face, he became very much like a bear, or some such creature, standing on its hind-legs. meetuck was a short, fat, burly little fellow by nature, but when he put on his winter dress he became such a round, soft, squat, hairy, and comical-looking creature that no one could look at him without laughing; and the shout with which he was received on deck the first time he made his appearance in his new costume was loud and prolonged. but meetuck was as good-humoured an esquimaux as ever speared a walrus or lanced a polar bear. he joined in the laugh, and cut a caper or two to show that he entered into the spirit of the joke. when the ship was set fast, and the thermometer fell pretty low, the men found that their ordinary dreadnoughts and pea-jackets, etcetera, were not a sufficient protection against the cold, and it occurred to the captain that his furs might now be turned to good account. sailors are proverbially good needle-men of a rough kind. meetuck showed them how to set about their work; each man made his own garments, and in less than a week they were completed. it is true the boots perplexed them a little, and the less ingenious among the men made very rare and curious-looking foot-gear for themselves, but they succeeded after a fashion, and at last the whole crew appeared on deck in their new habiliments, as we have already mentioned, capering among the snow like bears, to their own entire satisfaction and to the intense delight of meetuck, who now came to regard the white men as brothers--so true is it that "the tailor makes the man!" "'ow 'orribly 'eavy it is, hain't it?" gasped mivins, after dancing round the main-hatch till he was nearly exhausted. "heavy?" cried buzzby, whose appearance was such that you would have hesitated to say whether his breadth or length was greater,--"heavy, d'ye say? it must be your sperrits wot's heavy, then, for i feel as light as a feather myself." "o morther! then may i niver sleep on a bed made o' sich feathers!" cried o'riley, capering up to green, the carpenter's mate, and throwing a mass of snow in his face. the frost rendered it impossible to form the snow into balls, but the men made up for this by throwing it about each other's eyes and ears in handfuls. "what d'ye mean by insultin' my mate?--take that!" said peter grim, giving the irishman a twirl that tumbled him on the deck. "oh, bad manners to ye," spluttered o'riley, as he rose and ran away, "why don't ye hit a man o' yer own size." "'deed, then, it must be because there's not one o' my own size to hit," remarked the carpenter with a broad grin. this was true. grim's colossal proportions were increased so much by his hairy dress that he seemed to spread out into the dimensions of two large men rolled into one. but o'riley was not to be overturned with impunity. skulking round behind the crew, who were laughing at grim's joke, he came upon the giant in the rear, and seizing the short tail of his jumper, pulled him violently down on the deck. "ah! then give it him, boys," cried o'riley, pushing the carpenter flat down, and obliterating his black beard and his whole visage in a mass of snow. several of the wilder spirits among the men leaped on the prostrate grim, and nearly smothered him before he could gather himself up for a struggle; then they fled in all directions, while their victim regained his feet and rushed wildly after them. at last he caught o'riley, and grasping him by the two shoulders gave him a heave that was intended and "calc'lated," as amos parr afterwards remarked, "to pitch him over the foretop-sail-yard!" but an irishman is not easily overcome. o'riley suddenly straightened himself and held his arms up over his head, and the violent heave, which, according to parr, was to have sent him to such an uncomfortable elevation, only pulled the jumper completely off his body, and left him free to laugh in the face of his big friend, and run away. at this point the captain deemed it prudent to interfere. "come, come, my lads," he cried, "enough o' this! that's not the morning work, is it? i'm glad to find that your new dresses," he added with a significant smile, "make you fond of rough work in the snow; there's plenty of it before us. come down below with me, meetuck; i wish to talk with you." as the captain descended to the cabin the men gave a final cheer, and in ten minutes they were working laboriously at their various duties. buzzby and his party were the first ready and off to cut moss. they drew a sledge after them towards the red-snow valley, which was not more than two miles distant from the ship. this "mossing", as it was termed, was by no means a pleasant duty. before the winter became severe the moss could be cut out from the beds of the snow streams with comparative ease, but now the mixed turf of willows, heaths, grasses, and moss was frozen solid, and had to be quarried with crowbars and carried to the ship like so much stone. however, it was prosecuted vigorously, and a sufficient quantity was soon procured to pack on the decks of the ship, and around its sides, so as to keep out the cold. at the same time the operation of discharging the stores was carried on briskly, and fred, in company with meetuck, o'riley, and joseph west, started with the dog-sledge on a hunting expedition. in order to enable the reader better to understand the condition of the _dolphin_ and her crew, we will detail the several arrangements that were made at this time and during the succeeding fortnight. as a measure of precaution, the ship, by means of blasting, sawing, and warping, was with great labour got into deeper water, where one night's frost set her fast with a sheet of ice three inches thick round her; in a few weeks this ice became several feet thick, and the snow drifted up her hull so much that it seemed as if she were resting on the land, and had taken final leave of her native element. strong hawsers were then secured to store island in order to guard against the possibility of her being carried away by any sudden disruption of the ice. the disposition of the masts, yards, and sails were next determined on; the top-gallant masts were struck, the lower yards got down to the housings. the top-sail yards, gaff, and jib-boom, however, were left in their places. the top-sails and courses were kept bent to the yards, the sheets being unrove, and the clews tucked in. the rest of the binding sails were stowed on deck to prevent their thawing during winter; and the spare spars were lashed over the ship's sides, to leave a clear space for taking exercise in bad weather. the stores, in order to relieve the strain on the ship, were removed to store island, and snugly housed under the tent erected there, and then a thick bank of snow was heaped up round it. after this was accomplished, all the boats were hauled up beside the tent and covered with snow, except the two quarter boats, which were left hanging at the davits all winter. when the thermometer fell below zero it was found that the vapours below, and the breath of the men, condensed on the beams of the lower deck and in the cabin near the hatchway. it was therefore resolved to convert some sheet-iron, which they fortunately possessed, into pipes, which, being conducted from the cooking-stove through the length of the ship, served in some degree to raise the temperature and ventilate the cabins. a regular daily allowance of coal was served out, and four steady men appointed to attend to the fire in regular watches, for the double purpose of seeing that none of the fuel should be wasted, and of guarding against fire. they had likewise charge of the fire-pumps and buckets, and two tanks of water, all of which were kept in the hatchway in constant readiness in case of accidents. in addition to this, a fire-brigade was formed, with joseph west, a steady, quiet, active young seaman, as its captain, and their stations in the event of fire were fixed beforehand; also a hole was kept constantly open in the ice alongside to ensure at all times a sufficient supply of water. strict regulations as to cleanliness, and the daily airing of the hammocks, were laid down, and adhered to throughout the winter. a regular allowance of provisions was appointed to each man, so that they should not run the risk of starving before the return of the wild fowl in spring. but those provisions were all salt, and the captain trusted much to their hunting expeditions for a supply of fresh food, without which there would be little hope of their continuing in a condition of good health. coffee was served out at breakfast, and cocoa at supper, besides being occasionally supplied at other times to men who had been engaged in exhausting work in extremely cold weather. afterwards, when the dark season set in, and the crew were confined by the intense cold more than formerly within the ship, various schemes were set afoot for passing the time profitably and agreeably. among others a school was started by the captain for instructing such of the crew as chose to attend in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in this hyperborean academy fred ellice acted as the writing-master, and tom singleton as the accountant. the men were much amused at first at the idea of "goin' to school", and some of them looked rather shy at it, but o'riley, after some consideration, came boldly forward and said: "well, boys, bad luck to me if i don't think i'll be a scholard afther all. my old gran'mother used to tell me, whin i refused to go to the school that was kip be an owld man as tuck his fees out in murphies and photteen,--says she: `ah ye spalpeen, ye'll niver be cliverer nor the pig, ye wont.' `ah, then, i hope not,' says i, `for sure she's far the cliverest in the house, an' ye wouldn't have me to be cliverer than me own gran'mother, would ye?' says i. so i niver wint to school, and more be token, i can't sign me name, and if it was only to learn how to do that, i'll go and jine; indeed i will." so o'riley joined, and before long every man in the ship was glad to join, in order to have something to do. the doctor also, twice a week, gave readings from shakespeare, a copy of which he had fortunately brought with him. he also read extracts from the few other books they happened to have on board, and after a time, finding unexpectedly that he had a talent that way, he began to draw upon his memory and his imagination, and told long stories (which were facetiously called _lectures_) to the men, who listened to them with great delight. then fred started an illustrated newspaper once a week, which was named the _arctic sun_, and which was in great favour during the whole course of its brief existence. it is true, only one copy was issued each morning of publication, because, besides supplying the greater proportion of the material himself, and executing the illustrations in a style that would have made mr leech of the present day envious, he had to transcribe the various contributions he received from the men and others in a neat, legible hand. but this _one_ copy was perused and reperused as no single copy of any paper extant--not excepting _the times_ or _punch_--has ever yet been perused; and when it was returned to the editor to be carefully placed in the archives of the _dolphin_, it was emphatically the worse for wear. besides all this, a theatre was set agoing--of which we shall have more to say hereafter. in thus minutely recounting the various expedients which these banished men fell upon to pass the long dark hours of an arctic winter, we may, perhaps, give the reader the impression that a great deal of thought and time were bestowed upon _amusement_, as if that were the chief end and object of their life in those regions. but we must remind him that though many more pages might be filled in recounting all the particulars, but a small portion of their time was, after all, taken up in this way; and it would have been well for them had they been able to find more to amuse them than they did, for the depressing influence of the long-continued darkness, and the want of a sufficiency of regular employment for so many months, added to the rigorous nature of the climate in which they dwelt, well-nigh broke their spirits at last. in order to secure warmth during winter, the deck of the ship was padded with moss about a foot deep, and, down below, the walls were lined with the same material. the floors were carefully plastered with common paste, and covered with oakum a couple of inches deep, over which a carpet of canvas was spread. every opening in the deck was fastened down and covered deeply over with moss, with the exception of one hatch, which was their only entrance, and this was kept constantly closed, except when it was desirable to ventilate. curtains were hung up in front of it to prevent draughts. a canvas awning was also spread over the decks from stem to stern, so that it was confidently hoped the _dolphin_ would prove a snug tenement even in the severest cold. as has been said before, the snow-drift almost buried the hull of the ship; and, as snow is a good _non-conductor_ of heat, this further helped to keep up the temperature within. a staircase of snow was built up to the bulwarks on the larboard quarter, and on the starboard side an inclined plane of snow was sloped down to the ice to facilitate the launching of the sledges when they had to be pulled on deck. such were the chief arrangements and preparations that were made by our adventurers for spending the winter; but although we have described them at this point in our story, many of them were not completed until a much later period. chapter eleven. a hunting expedition, in the course of which the hunters meet with many interesting, dangerous, peculiar, and remarkable experiences, and make acquaintance with seals, walrus, deer, and rabbits. we must now return to fred ellice and his companions, meetuck the esquimaux, o'riley, and joseph west, whom we left while they were on the point of starting on a hunting expedition. they took the direction of the ice hummocks out to the sea, and, seated comfortably on a large sledge, were dragged by the team of dogs over the ice at the rate of ten miles an hour. "well! did i iver expect to ride in a carriage and six?" exclaimed o'riley in a state of great glee as the dogs dashed forward at full speed, while meetuck flourished his awful whip, making it crack like a pistol-shot ever and anon. the sledge on which they travelled was of the very curious and simple construction peculiar to the esquimaux, and was built by peter grim under the direction of meetuck. it consisted of two runners of about ten feet in length, six inches high, two inches broad, and three feet apart. they were made of tough hickory, slightly curved in front, and were attached to each other by cross bars. at the stem of the vehicle there was a low back composed of two uprights and a single bar across. the whole machine was fastened together by means of tough lashings of raw seal-hide, so that, to all appearance, it was a rickety affair, ready to fall to pieces. in reality, however, it was very strong. no metal nails of any kind could have held in the keen frost; they would have snapped like glass at the first jolt; but the seal-skin fastenings yielded to the rude shocks and twistings, to which the sledge was subjected, and seldom gave way, or, if they did, were easily and speedily renewed without the aid of any other implement than a knife. but the whip was the most remarkable part of the equipage. the handle was only sixteen inches in length, but the lash was twenty _feet_ long, made of the toughest seal-skin, and as thick as a man's wrist near the handle, whence it tapered off to a fine point. the labour of using such a formidable weapon is so great that esquimaux usually, when practicable, travel in couples, one sledge behind the other. the dogs of the last sledge follow mechanically and require no whip, and the riders change about so as to relieve each other. when travelling, the whip trails behind, and can be brought with a tremendous crack that makes the hair fly from the wretch that is struck--and esquimaux are splendid _shots_, so to speak. they can hit any part of a dog with certainty, but usually rest satisfied with simply cracking the whip, a sound that produces an answering yell of terror whether the lash takes effect or not. our hunters were clothed in their esquimaux garments, and cut the oddest imaginable figures. they had a soft, rotund, cuddled-up appearance that was powerfully suggestive of comfort. the sled carried one day's provisions, a couple of walrus harpoons, with a sufficient quantity of rope, four muskets, with the requisite ammunition, an esquimaux cooking-lamp, two stout spears, two tarpaulins to spread on the snow, and four blanket sleeping-bags. these last were six feet long, and just wide enough for a man to crawl into at night, feet first. "what a jolly style of travelling, isn't it?" cried fred, as the dogs sprang wildly forward, tearing the sledge behind them, dumps and poker leading, and looking as lively as crickets. "well now, isn't it true that wits jump?--that's jist what i was sayin' to meself," remarked o'riley, grinning from ear to ear as he pulled the fur hood farther over his head, crossed his arms more firmly on his breast, and tried to double himself up as he sat there like an overgrown rat. "i wouldn't exchange it with the lord mayor o' london and his coach an' six--so i wouldn't. arrah! have a care, meetuck, ye baste, or ye'll have us kilt." this last exclamation was caused by the reckless driver dashing over a piece of rough ice that nearly capsized the sledge. meetuck did not answer, but he looked over his shoulder with a quiet smile on his oily countenance. "ah, then, ye may laugh!" said o'riley, with a menacing look, "but av ye break a bone o' me body i'll--" down went the dogs into a crack in the ice as he spoke, over went the sledge, and hurled them all out upon the ice. "musha! but ye've done it!" "hallo, west, are you hurt?" cried fred anxiously, as he observed the sailor fall heavily on the ice. "oh no, sir; all right, thank you!" replied the man, rising alertly and limping to the sledge. "only knocked the skin off my shin, sir." west was a quiet, serious, polite man, an american by birth, who was much liked by the crew in consequence of a union of politeness and modesty with a disposition to work far beyond his strength. he was not very robust, however, and in powers of physical endurance scarcely fitted to engage in an arctic expedition. "an' don't ye think it's worth makin' enquiries about _me_?" cried o'riley, who had been tossed into a crevice in a hummock, where he lay jammed and utterly unable to move. fred and the esquimaux laughed heartily, while o'riley extricated himself from his awkward position. fortunately no damage was done, and in five minutes they were flying over the frozen sea as madly as ever in the direction of the point at the opposite side of red-snow valley, where a cloud of frost-smoke indicated open water. "now, look you, mr meetuck, av ye do that again ye'll better don't, let me tell ye. sure the back o' me's track entirely," said o'riley, as he rearranged himself with a look of comfort that belied his words. "och, there ye go again," he cried, as the sled suddenly fell about six inches, from a higher level to a lower, where the floe had cracked, causing the teeth of the whole party to come together with a snap. "a man dursen't spake for fear o' bitin' his tongue off." "no fee," said meetuck, looking over his shoulder with a broader smirk. "no fee, ye lump of pork! it's a double fee i'll have to pay the dacter an ye go on like that." _no fee_ was meetuck's best attempt at the words _no fear_. he had picked up a little english during his brief sojourn with the sailors, and already understood much of what was said to him, but words were as yet few, and his manner of pronouncing them peculiar. "holo! look! look!" cried the esquimaux, leaping suddenly off the sledge and checking the dogs. "eh! what! where?" ejaculated fred, seizing his musket. "i think i see something, sir," cried west, shading his eyes with his hand, and gazing earnestly in the direction indicated by meetuck. "so do i, be the mortial!" said o'riley in a hoarse whisper. "i see the mountains and the sky, i do, as plain as the nose on me face!" "hush! stop your nonsense, man," said fred. "i see a deer, i'm certain of it." meetuck nodded violently to indicate that fred was right. "well, what's to be done? luckily we are well to leeward, and it has neither sighted nor scented us." meetuck replied by gestures and words to the effect that west and o'riley should remain with the dogs, and keep them quiet, under the shelter of a hummock, while he and fred should go after the reindeer. accordingly, away they went making a pretty long detour in order to gain the shore, and come upon it under the shelter of the grounded floes, behind which they might approach without being seen. in hurrying along the coast they observed the footprints of a musk ox, and also of several arctic hares and foxes, which delighted them much, for hitherto they had seen none of those animals, and were beginning to be fearful lest they should not visit that part of the coast at all. of course fred knew not what sort of animals had made the tracks in question, but he was an adept at guessing, and the satisfied looks of his companion gave him reason to believe that he was correct in his surmises. in half an hour they came within range, and fred, after debating with himself for some time as to the propriety of taking the first shot, triumphed over himself, and, stepping back a pace, motioned to the esquimaux to fire. but meetuck was an innate gentleman, and modestly declined, so fred advanced, took a good aim, and fired. the deer bounded away, but stumbled as it went, showing that it was wounded. "ha! ha! meetuck," exclaimed fred, as he recharged in tremendous excitement (taking twice as long to load in consequence), "i've improved a little you see in my shoot--, o' bother this--ramrod!--tut! tut! there, that's it." bang went meetuck's musket at that moment, and the deer tumbled over upon the snow. "well done, old fellow!" cried fred, springing forward. at the same instant a white hare darted across his path, at which he fired, without even putting the gun to his shoulder, and knocked it over, to his own intense amazement. the three shots were the signal for the men to come up with the sledge, which they did at full gallop, o'riley driving, and flourishing the long whip about in a way that soon entangled it hopelessly with the dogs' traces. "ah, then, ye've done it this time, ye have, sure enough! musha! what a purty crature it is. now, isn't it, west? stop, then, won't ye (to the restive dogs), ye've broke my heart entirely, and the whip's tied up into iver so many knots. arrah, meetuck! ye may drive yer coach yerself for me, you may; i've had more nor enough of it." in a few minutes the deer and the hare were lashed to the sledge--which the irishman asserted was a great improvement, inasmuch as the carcass of the former made an excellent seat--and they were off again at full gallop over the floes. they travelled without further interruption or mishap until they drew near to the open water, when suddenly they came upon a deep fissure or crack in the ice, about four feet wide, with water in the bottom. here they came to a dead stop. "arrah! what's to be done now?" enquired o'riley. "indeed i don't know," replied fred, looking toward meetuck for advice. "hup, cut-up ice, mush, hurroo!" said that fat individual. fortunately he followed his advice with a practical illustration of its meaning. seizing an axe he ran to the nearest hummock, and, chopping it down, rolled the heaviest pieces he could move into the chasm. the others followed his example, and, in the course of an hour, the place was bridged across, and the sledge passed over. but the dogs required a good deal of coaxing to get them to trust to this rude bridge, which their sagacity taught them was not to be depended on like the works of nature. a quarter of an hour's drive brought them to a place where there was another crack of little more than two feet across. meetuck stretched his neck and took a steady look at this as they approached it at full gallop. being apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, he resumed his look of self-satisfied placidity. "look out, meetuck, pull up!" cried fred in some alarm; but the esquimaux paid no attention. "o morther, we're gone now, for iver," exclaimed o'riley, shutting his eyes and clenching his teeth as he laid fast hold of the sides of the sledge. the feet of the dogs went faster and faster until they pattered on the hard surface of the snow like rain. round came the long whip, as o'riley said, "like the shot of a young cannon," and the next moment they were across, skimming over the ice on the other side like the wind. it happened that there had been a break in the ice at this point on the previous night, and the floes had been cemented by a sheet of ice only an inch thick. upon this, to the consternation even of meetuck himself, they now passed, and in a moment, ere they were aware, they were passing over a smooth, black surface that undulated beneath them like the waves of the sea and crackled fearfully. there was nothing for it but to go on. a moment's halt would have allowed the sledge to break through and leave them struggling in the water. there was no time for remark. each man held his breath. meetuck sent the heavy lash with a tremendous crack over the backs of the whole team, but just as they neared the solid floe, the left runner broke through. in a moment the men flung themselves horizontally upon their breasts, and scrambled over the smooth surface until they gained the white ice, while the sledge and the dogs nearest to it were sinking. one vigorous pull, however, by dogs and men together, dragged the sledge upon the solid floe, even before the things in it had got wet. "safe!" cried fred, as he hauled on the sledge rope to drag it farther out of danger. "so we are," replied o'riley, breathing very hard, "and it's meself thought to have had a wet skin at this minute. come, west, lind a hand to fix the dogs, will ye?" a few minutes sufficed to put all to rights and enable them to start afresh. being now in the neighbourhood of dangerous ice, they advanced with a little more caution; the possibility of seals being in the neighbourhood also rendered them more circumspect. it was well that they were on the alert, for a band of seals were soon after descried in a pool of open water not far ahead, and one of them was lying on the ice. there were no hummocks, however, in the neighbourhood to enable them to approach unseen; but the esquimaux was prepared for such a contingency. he had brought a small sledge, of about two feet in length by a foot and a half in breadth, which he now unfastened from the large sledge, and proceeded quietly to arrange it, to the surprise of his companions, who had not the least idea what he was about to do, and watched his proceedings with much interest. "is it to sail on the ice ye're goin', boy?" enquired o'riley, at last, when he saw meetuck fix a couple of poles, about four feet long, into a hole in the little sledge, like two masts, and upon these spread a piece of canvas upwards of a yard square, with a small hole in the centre of it. but meetuck answered not. he fastened the canvas "sail" to a cross-yard above and below. then, placing a harpoon and coil of rope on the sledge, and taking up his musket, he made signs to the party to keep under the cover of a hummock, and, pushing the sledge before him, advanced towards the seals in a stooping posture, so as to be completely hid behind the bit of canvas. "oh the haythen, i see it now!" exclaimed o'riley, his face puckering up with fun. "ah, but it's a cliver trick, no doubt of it!" "what a capital dodge!" said fred, crouching behind the hummock, and watching the movements of the esquimaux with deep interest. "west, hand me the little telescope; you'll find it in the pack." "here it is, sir," said the man, pulling out a glass of about six inches long, and handing it to fred. "how many is there, an' ye plaze?" "six, i think; yes--one, two, three,--i can't make them out quite, but i think there are six, besides the one on the ice. hist! there he sees him. ah! meetuck, he's too quick for you." as he spoke, the seal on the ice began to show symptoms of alarm. meetuck had approached to within shot, but he did not fire; the wary esquimaux had caught sight of another object which a lump of ice had hitherto concealed from view. this was no less a creature than a walrus, who chanced at that time to come up to take a gulp of fresh air, and lave his shaggy front in the brine, before going down again to the depths of his ocean home. meetuck, therefore, allowed the seal to glide quietly into the sea, and advanced towards this new object of attack. at length he took a steady aim through the hole in the canvas screen, and fired. instantly the seal dived, and at the same time the water round the walrus was lashed into foam, and tinged with red. it was evidently badly wounded, for had it been only slightly hurt it would probably have dived. meetuck immediately seized his harpoon, and rushed towards the struggling monster, while fred grasped a gun, and o'riley a harpoon, and ran to his assistance. west remained to keep back the dogs. as meetuck gained the edge of the ice the walrus recovered partially and tried, with savage fury, to reach his assailant, who planted the harpoon deep in its breast, and held on to the rope while the animal dived. "whereabouts is he?" cried o'riley, as he came panting to the scene of action. as he spoke, the walrus ascended almost under his nose, with a loud bellow, and the irishman started back in terror as he surveyed at close quarters, for the first time, the colossal and horrible countenance of this elephant of the northern sea. o'riley was no coward, but the suddenness of the apparition was too much for him, and we need not wonder that in his haste he darted the harpoon far over the animal's head into the sea beyond. neither need we feel surprised that when fred took aim at its forehead, the sight of its broad muzzle, fringed with bristling moustache and defended by huge tusks, caused him to miss it altogether. but o'riley recovered, hauled his harpoon back, and succeeded in planting it deep under the creature's left flipper, and fred, reloading, lodged a ball in its head which finished it. with great labour the four men, aided by the dogs, drew it out upon the ice. this was a great prize, for walrus flesh is not much inferior to beef, and would be an acceptable addition of fresh meat for the use of the _dolphin's_ crew, and there was no chance of it spoiling, for the frost was now severe enough to freeze every animal solid almost immediately after it was killed. the body of this walrus was not less than eighteen feet long and eleven in circumference. it was more like an elephant in bulk and rotundity than any other creature. it partook very much of the form of a seal, having two large paw-like flippers, with which, when struggling for life, it had more than once nearly succeeded in getting upon the ice. its upper face had a square, bluff aspect, and its broad muzzle and cheeks were completely covered by a coarse, quill-like beard of bristles, which gave to it a peculiarly ferocious appearance. the notion that the walrus resembles man is very much overrated. the square, bluff shape of the head already referred to, destroys the resemblance to humanity when distant, and its colossal size does the same when near. some of the seals deserve this distinction more, their drooping shoulders and oval faces being strikingly like to those of man when at a distance. the white ivory tusks of this creature were carefully measured by fred, and found to be thirty inches long. the resemblance of the walrus to our domestic land-animals has obtained for it, among sailors, the names of the sea-horse and sea-cow, and the records of its ferocity when attacked are numerous. its hide is nearly an inch thick, and is put to many useful purposes by the esquimaux, who live to a great extent on the flesh of this creature. they cut up his hide into long lines, to attach to the harpoons, with which they catch himself, the said harpoons being pointed with his own tusks. this tough hide is not the only garment the walrus wears to protect him from the cold. he also wears under-flannels of thick fat and a top-coat of close hair, so that he can take a siesta on an iceberg without the least inconvenience. talking of siestas, by the way, the walrus is sometimes "caught napping". occasionally, when the weather is intensely cold, the hole through which he crawls upon the ice gets frozen over so solidly that, on waking, he finds it beyond even his enormous power to break it. in this extremity there is no alternative but to go to sleep again, and--die! which he does as comfortably as he can. the polar bears, however, are quick to smell him out, and assembling round his carcass for a feast, they dispose of him, body and bones, without ceremony. as it was impossible to drag this unwieldy animal to the ship that night, for the days had now shortened very considerably, the hunters hauled it towards the land, and, having reached the secure ice, prepared to encamp for the night under the lee of a small iceberg. chapter twelve. a dangerous sleep interrupted--a night in a snow-hut, and an unpleasant visitor--snowed up. "now then," cried fred, as they drew up on a level portion of the ice-floe, where the snow on its surface was so hard that the runners of the sledge scarce made an impression on it, "let us to work, lads, and get the tarpaulins spread; we shall have to sleep to-night under star-spangled bed-curtains." "troth," said o'riley, gazing round towards the land, where the distant cliffs loomed black and heavy in the fading light, and out upon the floes and hummocks, where the frost smoke from pools of open water on the horizon circled round the pinnacles of the icebergs,--"troth, it's a cowld place intirely to go to wan's bed in, but that fat-faced exqueemaw seems to be settin' about it quite coolly; so here goes!" "it would be difficult to set about it otherwise than coolly with the thermometer thirty-five below zero," remarked fred, beating his hands together, and stamping his feet, while the breath issued from his mouth like dense clouds of steam, and fringed the edges of his hood and the breast of his jumper with hoar-frost. "it's quite purty, it is," remarked o'riley, in reference to this wreath of hoar-frost, which covered the upper parts of each of them; "it's jist like the ermine that kings and queens wear, so i'm towld, and it's chaper a long way." "i don't know that," said joseph west. "it has cost us a rough voyage and a winter in the arctic regions, if it doesn't cost us more yet, to put that ermine fringe on our jumpers. i can make nothing of this knot; try what you can do with it, messmate, will you?" "sorra wan o' me 'll try it," cried o'riley, suddenly leaping up and swinging both arms violently against his shoulders; "i've got two hands, i have, but niver a finger on them--leastwise i feel none, though it _is_ some small degrae o' comfort to see them." "my toes are much in the same condition," said west, stamping vigorously until he brought back the circulation. "dance, then, wid me," cried the irishman, suiting his action to the word. "i've a mortial fear o' bein' bit wid the frost for it's no joke, let me tell you. didn't i see a whole ship's crew wance that wos wrecked in the gulf o' saint lawrence about the beginnin' o' winter, and before they got to a part o' the coast where there was a house belongin' to the fur-traders, ivery man-jack o' them was frost-bit more or less, they wor. wan lost a thumb, and another the jint of a finger or two, and most o' them had two or three toes off, an' there wos wan poor fellow who lost the front half o' wan fut, an' the heel o' the other, an' two inches o' the bone was stickin' out. sure, it's truth i'm tellin' ye, for i seed it wid me own two eyes, i did." the earnest tones in which the last words were spoken convinced his comrades that o'riley was telling the truth, so, having a decided objection to be placed in similar circumstances, they danced and beat each other until they were quite in a glow. "why, what are you at there, meetuck?" exclaimed fred, pausing. "igloe, make," replied the esquimaux. "ig--what?" enquired o'riley. "oh, i see!" shouted fred, "he's going to make a snow-hut,--igloes they call them here. capital!--i never thought of that! come along; let's help him!" meetuck was indeed about to erect one of those curious dwellings of snow, in which, for the greater part of the year, his primitive countrymen dwell. he had no taste for star-spangled bed-curtains, when solid walls, whiter than the purest dimity, were to be had for nothing. his first operation in the erection of this hut was to mark out a circle of about seven feet diameter. from the inside of this circle the snow was cut by means of a long knife in the form of slabs nearly a foot thick, and from two to three feet long, having a slight convexity on the outside. these slabs were then so cut and arranged that, when they were piled upon each other round the margin of the circle, they formed a dome-shaped structure like a bee-hive, which was six feet high inside, and remarkably solid. the slabs were cemented together with loose snow, and every accidental chink or crevice filled up with the same material. the natives sometimes insert a block of clear ice in the roof for a window, but this was dispensed with on the present occasion--firstly, because there was no light to let in; and, secondly, because if there had been, they didn't want it. the building of the hut occupied only an hour, for the hunters were cold and hungry, and in their case the old proverb might have been paraphrased: "no _work_, no supper." a hole, just large enough to permit a man to creep through on his hands and knees, formed the door of this bee-hive. attached to this hole, and cemented to it, was a low tunnel of about four feet in length. when finished, both ends of the tunnel were closed up with slabs of hard snow, which served the purpose of double doors, and effectually kept out the cold. while this tunnel was approaching completion, fred retired to a short distance, and sat down to rest a few minutes on a block of ice. a great change had come over the scene during the time they were at work on the snow-hut. the night had settled down, and now the whole sky was lit up with the vivid and beautiful coruscations of the aurora borealis--that magnificent meteor of the north which, in some measure, makes up to the inhabitants for the absence of the sun. it spread over the whole extent of the sky in the form of an irregular arch, and was intensely brilliant. but the brilliancy varied, as the green ethereal fire waved mysteriously to and fro, or shot up long streamers toward the zenith. these streamers, or "merry dancers" as they are sometimes termed, were at times peculiarly bright. their colour was most frequently yellowish white, sometimes greenish, and once or twice of a lilac tinge. the strength of the light was something greater than that of the moon in her quarter, and the stars were dimmed when the aurora passed over them as if they had been covered with a delicate gauze veil. but that which struck our hero as being most remarkable was the magnitude and dazzling brightness of the host of stars that covered the black firmament. it seemed as if they were magnified in glory, and twinkled so much that the sky seemed, as it were, to tremble with light. a feeling of deep solemnity filled fred's heart as he gazed upwards; and as he thought upon the creator of these mysterious worlds--and remembered that he came to this little planet of ours to work out the miracle of our redemption, the words that he had often read in the bible: "lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him?" came forcibly to his remembrance, and he felt the appropriateness of that sentiment which the sweet singer of israel has expressed in the words: "praise ye him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars of light." there was a deep, solemn stillness all around--a stillness widely different from that peaceful composure which characterises a calm day in an inhabited land. it was the death-like stillness of that most peculiar and dreary desolation which results from the total absence of animal existence. the silence was so oppressive that it was with a feeling of relief he listened to the low, distant voices of the men as they paused ever and anon in their busy task to note and remark on the progress of their work. in the intense cold of an arctic night the sound of voices can be heard at a much greater distance than usual, and although the men were far off, and hummocks of ice intervened between them and fred, their tones broke distinctly, though gently, on his ear. yet these sounds did not interrupt the unusual stillness. they served rather to impress him more forcibly with the vastness of that tremendous solitude in the midst of which he stood. gradually his thoughts turned homeward, and he thought of the dear ones who circled round his own fireside, and, perchance, talked of him; of the various companions he had left behind, and the scenes of life and beauty where he used to wander; but such memories led him irresistibly to the far north again, for in all home-scenes the figure of his father started up, and he was back again in an instant, searching toilsomely among the floes and icebergs of the polar seas. it _was_ the invariable ending of poor fred's meditations, and, however successful he might be in entering, for a time, into the spirit of fun that characterised most of the doings of his shipmates, and in following the bent of his own joyous nature, in the hours of solitude, and in the dark night, when no one saw him, his mind ever reverted to the one engrossing subject, like the oscillating needle to the pole. as he continued to gaze up, long and earnestly, into the starry sky, his thoughts began to wander over the past and the present at random, and a cold shudder warned him that it was time to return to the hut; but the wandering thoughts and fancies seemed to chain him to the spot, so that he could not tear himself away. then a dreamy feeling of rest and comfort began to steal over his senses, and he thought how pleasant it would be to lie down and slumber; but he knew that would be dangerous, so he determined not to do it. suddenly he felt himself touched, and heard a voice whispering in his ear. then it sounded loud. "hallo, sir! mr ellice! wake up, sir, d'ye hear me?" and he felt himself shaken so violently that his teeth rattled together. opening his eyes reluctantly, he found that he was stretched at full length on the snow, and joseph west was shaking him by the shoulder as if he meant to dislocate his arm. "hallo, west! is that you? let me alone, man, i want to sleep." fred sank down again instantly--that deadly sleep, produced by cold, and from which those who indulge in it never awaken, was upon him. "sleep!" cried west frantically, "you'll die, sir, if you don't rouse up. hallo! meetuck! o'riley! help here!" "i tell you," murmured fred faintly, "i want to sleep--only a moment or two--ah! i see; is the hut finished? well, well, go, leave me. i'll follow--in--a--" his voice died away again, just as meetuck and o'riley came running up. the instant the former saw how matters stood, he raised fred in his powerful arms, set him on his feet, and shook him with such vigour that it seemed as if every bone in his body must be forced out of joint. "what mane ye by that, ye blubber-bag?" cried the irishman wrathfully, doubling his mittened fists and advancing in a threatening manner towards the esquimaux; but, seeing that the savage paid not the least attention to him, and kept on shaking fred violently with a good-humoured smile on his countenance, he wisely desisted from interfering. in a few minutes fred was able to stand and look about him with a stupid expression, and immediately the esquimaux dragged, and pushed, and shook him along towards the snow-hut, into which he was finally thrust, though with some trouble, in consequence of the lowness of the tunnel. here, by means of rubbing and chafing, with a little more buffeting, he was restored to some degree of heat; on seeing which meetuck uttered a quiet grunt, and immediately set about preparing supper. "i do believe i've been asleep," said fred, rising and stretching himself vigorously as the bright flame of a tin lamp shot forth and shed a yellow lustre on the white walls. "aslape is it! be me conscience an' ye have just. oh then, may i never indulge in the same sort o' slumber!" "why so?" asked fred in some surprise. "you fell asleep on the ice, sir," answered west, while he busied himself in spreading the tarpaulin and blanket-bags on the floor of the hut, "and you were very near frozen to death." "frozen, musha! i'm not too shure that he's melted yit!" said o'riley, taking him by the arm and looking at him dubiously. fred laughed. "oh yes; i'm melted now! but let's have supper, else i shall faint for hunger. did i sleep many hours?" "you slept only five minutes," said west, in some surprise at the question. "you were only gone about ten minutes altogether." this was indeed the case. the intense desire for sleep which is produced in arctic countries when the frost seizes hold of the frame soon confuses the faculties of those who come under its influence. as long as fred had continued to walk and work, he felt quite warm, but the instant he sat down on the lump of ice to rest, the frost acted on him. being much exhausted, too, by labour and long fasting, he was more susceptible than he would otherwise have been to the influence of cold, so that it chilled him at once, and produced that deadly lethargy from which, but for the timely aid of his companions, he would never have recovered. the arrangements for supping and spending the night made rapid progress, and under the influence of fire and animal heat--for the dogs were taken in beside them--the igloe became comfortably warm; yet the snow-walls did not melt, or become moist, the intense cold without being sufficient to counteract and protect them from the heat within. the fair roof, however, soon became very dingy, and the odour of melted fat rather powerful. but arctic travellers are proof against such trifles. the tarpaulin was spread over the floor, and a tin lamp, into which several fat portions of the walrus were put, was suspended from a stick thrust into the wall. round this lamp the hunters circled, each seated on his blanket-bag, and each attended to the duty which devolved upon him. meetuck held a tin kettle over the flame, till the snow, with which it was filled, melted and became cold water, and then gradually heated until it boiled; and all the while he employed himself in masticating a lump of raw walrus flesh, much to the amusement of fred, and to the disgust, real or pretended, of o'riley. but the irishman, and fred too, and every man on board the _dolphin_, came at last to _relish_ raw meat, and to long for it. the esquimaux prefer it raw in these parts of the world (although some travellers assert that in more southern latitudes they prefer cooked meat), and with good reason, for it is much more nourishing than cooked flesh; and learned, scientific men, who have wintered in the arctic regions, have distinctly stated that in those cold countries they found raw meat to be better for them than cooked meat, and they assure us that they at last came to _prefer_ it! we would not have our readers to begin forthwith to dispense with the art of cookery, and cast soyer to the dogs; but we would have them henceforth refuse to accept that common opinion, and vulgar error, that esquimaux eat their food raw _because they are savages_. they do it because nature teaches them that, under the circumstances, it is best. the duty that devolved upon o'riley was to roast small steaks of the walrus, in which operation he was assisted by west, while fred undertook to get out the biscuit-bag and pewter plates, and to infuse the coffee when the water should boil. it was a strange feast in a strange place, but it proved to be a delightful one; for hunger requires not to be tempted, and is not fastidious. "oh, but it's good, isn't it?" remarked o'riley, smacking his lips, as he swallowed a savoury morsel of the walrus and tossed the remnant--a sinewy bit--to dumps, who sat gazing sulkily at the flame of the lamp, having gorged himself long before the bipeds began supper. "arrah! ye won't take it, won't ye? here, poker!" poker sprang forward, wagging the stump of his tail, and turned his head to one side, as if to say: "well, what's up? any fun going?" "here, take that, old boy; dumps is sulky." poker took it at once, and a single snap caused it to vanish. he, too, had finished supper, and evidently ate the morsel to please the irishman. "hand me the coffee, meetuck," said fred. "the biscuit lies beside you, don't give in so soon, man." "thank you, sir, i have about done." "meetuck, ye haythen, try a bit o' the roast; do now, av it was only to plaaze me." meetuck shook his head quietly, and, cutting a _fifteenth_ lump off the mass of raw walrus that lay beside him, proceeded leisurely to devour it. "the dogs is nothin' to him," muttered o'riley. "isn't it a curious thing, now, to think that we're all at _sea_ a eatin', and drinkin', and slaapin'--or goin' to slaape--jist as if we wor on the land, and the great ocean away down below us there, wid whales, and seals, and walrusses, and mermaids, for what i know, a swimmin' about jist under whare we sit, and maybe lookin' through the ice at us this very minute. isn't it quare?" "it is odd," said fred, laughing, "and not a very pleasant idea. however, as there is at least twelve feet of solid ice between us and the company you mention, we don't need to care much." "ov coorse not," replied o'riley, nodding his head approvingly as he lighted his pipe; "that's my mind intirely, in all cases o' danger, when ye don't need to be afeared, ye needn't much care. it's a good chart to steer by, that same." this last remark seemed to afford so much food for thought to the company that nothing further was said by anyone until fred rose and proposed to turn in. west had already crawled into his blanket-bag, and was stretched out like a mummy on the floor, and the sound of meetuck's jaws still continued as he winked sleepily over the walrus meat, when a scraping was heard outside the hut. "sure, it's the foxes; i'll go and look," whispered o'riley, laying down his pipe and creeping to the mouth of the tunnel. he came back, however, faster than he went, with a look of consternation, for the first object that confronted him on looking out was the enormous head of a polar bear. to glance round for their firearms was the first impulse, but these had unfortunately been left on the sledge outside. what was to be done? they had nothing but their clasp-knives in the igloe. in this extremity meetuck cut a large hole in the back of the hut intending to creep out and procure one of the muskets, but the instant the opening was made the bear's head filled it up. with a savage yell o'riley seized the lamp and dashed the flaming fat in the creature's face. it was a reckless deed, for it left them all in the dark, but the bear seemed to think himself insulted, for he instantly retreated, and when meetuck emerged and laid hold of a gun he had disappeared. they found, on issuing into the open air, that a stiff breeze was blowing, which, from the threatening appearance of the sky, promised to become a gale; but as there was no apprehension to be entertained in regard to the stability of the floe, they returned to the hut, taking care to carry in their arms along with them. having patched up the hole, closed the doors, rekindled the lamp, and crept into their respective bags, they went to sleep, for, however much they might dread the return of bruin, slumber was a necessity of nature that would not be denied. meanwhile the gale freshened into a hurricane, and was accompanied with heavy snow, and when they attempted to move next morning they found it impossible to face it for a single moment. there was no alternative, therefore, but to await the termination of the gale, which lasted two days, and kept them close prisoners all the time. it was very wearisome, doubtless, but they had to submit, and sought to console themselves and pass the time as pleasantly as possible by sleeping, and eating, and drinking coffee. chapter thirteen. journey resumed--the hunters meet with bears and have a great fight, in which the dogs are sufferers--a bear's dinner--mode in which arctic rocks travel--the ice-belt. in the abating of the great storm, referred to in the last chapter, the hunters sought to free themselves from their snowy prison, and succeeded in burrowing, so to speak, upwards, after severe labour, for the hut was buried in drift which the violence of the gale had rendered extremely compact. o'riley was the first to emerge into the upper world. having dusted the snow from his garments, and shaken himself like a newfoundland dog, he made sundry wry faces, and gazed round him with the look of a man that did not know very well what to do with himself. "it's a quare place, it is, intirely," he remarked, with a shake of the head that betokened intense sagacity, while he seated himself on a mound of snow and watched his comrades as they busied themselves in dragging their sleeping-bags and cooking utensils from the cavern they had just quitted. o'riley seemed to be in a contemplative mood, for he did not venture any further remark, although he looked unutterable things as he proceeded quietly to fill his little black pipe. "ho, o'riley! lend a hand, you lazy fellow," cried fred; "work first and play afterwards, you skulker." "sure that same is what i'm doin'," replied o'riley with a bland smile which he eclipsed in a cloud of smoke. "haven't i bin workin' like a naagur for two hours to git out of that hole, and ain't i playin' a tune on me pipe now? but i won't be cross-grained. i'll lind ye a hand av ye behave yerself. it's a bad thing to be cross-grained," he continued, pocketing his pipe and assisting to arrange the sledge; "me owld grandmother always towld me that, and she was wise, she wos, beyand ordn'r. more like salomon nor anything else." "she must have directed that remark specially to you, i think," said fred--"let dumps lead, west, he's tougher than the others,--did she not, o'riley?" "be no manes. it wos to the pig she said it. most of her conversation (and she had a power of it) wos wid the pig, and many's the word o' good advice she gave it, as it sat in its usual place beside the fire forenint her; but it was all thrown away, it wos, for there wosn't another pig in all the length o' ireland as had sich a will o' its own; and it had a screech, too, when it wasn't plaazed, as bate all the steam whistles in the world, it did. i've often moralated on that same, and i've noticed that as it is wid pigs, so it is wid men and women--some of them at laste--the more advice ye give them, the less they take." "down, poker; quiet, good dog!" said west, as he endeavoured to restrain the ardour of the team, which, being fresh and full fed, could scarcely be held in by the united efforts of himself and meetuck while their companions lashed their provisions, etcetera, on the sledge. "hold on, lads!" cried fred, as he fastened the last lashing. "we'll be ready in a second. now, then, jump on, two of you! catch hold of the tail-line, meetuck! all right!" "hall right!" yelled the esquimaux, as he let go the dogs and sprang upon the sledge. the team struggled and strained violently for a few seconds in their efforts to overcome the _vis inertiae_ of the sledge, and it seemed as if the traces would part, but they were made of tough walrus hide, and held on bravely, while the heavy vehicle gradually fetched way, and at length flew over the floes at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour. travelling, however, was not now quite as agreeable as it had been when they set out from the ship, for the floes were swept bare in some places by the gale, while in other places large drifts had collected, so that the sledge was either swaying to and fro on the smooth ice, and swinging the dogs almost off their feet, or it was plunging heavily through banks of soft snow. as the wind was still blowing fresh, and would have been dead against them had they attempted to return by a direct route to the ship, they made for the shore, intending to avail themselves of the shelter afforded by the ice-belt. meanwhile the carcass of the walrus, at least as much of it as could not be packed on the sledge, was buried in the hut, and a spear planted above it to mark the spot. "hah! an' it's cowld," said o'riley, wrapping himself more closely in his fur jumper as they sped along. "i wish we wos out o' the wind, i do." "you'll have your wish soon, then," answered west, "for that row of icebergs we're coming to will shelter us nearly all the way to the land." "surely you are taking us too much off to the right, meetuck," said fred; "we are getting farther away from the ship." "no fee. be win' too 'trong. we turn hup 'long shore very quick, soon--ha!" meetuck accompanied each word with a violent nod of his head, at the same time opening and shutting his mouth and winking with both eyes, being apparently impressed with the conviction that such contortions of visage rendered his meaning more apparent. "look! look! ho! nannook, nannook!" (a bear, a bear!) whispered the esquimaux with sudden animation, just as they gained the lee of the first iceberg. the words were unnecessary, however, for the whole party were looking ahead with the most intense eagerness at a bear which their sudden advent had aroused from a nap in the crevice of the iceberg. a little cub was discerned a moment after, standing by her side, and gazing at the intruders with infantine astonishment. while the muskets were being loosened and drawn out, meetuck let slip all the dogs, and in a few seconds they were engaged in active warfare with the enemy. "oh! musha! dumps is gone intirely!" the quadruped referred to was tossed to a height of about thirty feet, and alighted senseless upon the ice. the bear seized him with her teeth and tossed him with an incredibly slight effort. the other dogs, nothing daunted by the fate of their comrade, attacked the couple in the rear, biting their heels, and so distracting their attention that they could not make an energetic attack in any direction. another of the dogs, however, a young one, waxing reckless, ventured too near the old bear, and was seized by the back, and hurled high into the air, through which it wriggled violently, and descended with a sounding whack upon the ice. at the same moment a volley from the hunters sent several balls into the carcass of both mother and cub; but, although badly wounded, neither of them evinced any sign of pain and exhaustion as they continued to battle with the remaining dogs. the dogs that had already fallen in the fray had not been used to bear-hunting--hence their signal defeat; but this was not the case with the others, all of which were old campaigners; and poker especially, although not old in years, was a practical fighter, having been trained not to attack but to harass. the systematic and steady way in which they advanced before the bear, and retired, right and left, leading her into a profitless pursuit, was very interesting to witness. another volley from the hunters caused them to make off more rapidly, and wounded the cub severely, so much so that in a few minutes it began to flag. seeing this, the mother placed it in front of her, and urged it forward with her snout so quickly that it was with the utmost difficulty the men could keep up with them. a well-directed shot, however, from fred ellice brought the old bear to the ground; but she rose instantly, and again advanced, pushing her cub before her, while the dogs continued to embarrass her. they now began to fear that, in spite of dogs and men, the wounded bears would escape, when an opportune crack in the ice presented itself, into which they both tumbled, followed by the yelping, and, we may add, limping, dogs. before they could scramble up on the other side, meetuck and fred, being light of foot, gained upon them sufficiently to make sure shots. "there they go," cried fred, as the she-bear bounced out of the crack with poker hanging to her heels. poker's audacity had at last outstripped his sagacity, and the next moment he was performing a tremendous somersault. before he reached the ice, meetuck and fred fired simultaneously, and when the smoke cleared away, the old bear was stretched out in death. hitherto the cub had acted exclusively on the defensive, and entrusted itself entirely to the protection of its dam, but now it seemed to change its character entirely. it sprang upon its mother's body, and, assuming an attitude of extreme ferocity, kept the dogs at bay, snapping and snarling right and left until the hunters came up. for the first time since the chase began, a feeling of intense pity touched fred's heart, and he would have rejoiced at that moment had the mother risen up, and made her escape with her cub. he steeled his heart, however, by reflecting that fresh provisions were much wanted on board the _dolphin_; still, neither he nor his shipmates could bring themselves to shoot the gallant little animal, and it is possible that they might have made up their minds to allow it to escape after all, had not meetuck quietly ended their difficulty by putting a ball through its heart. "ah, then, meetuck!" said o'riley, shaking his head as they examined their prize, "ye're a hard-hearted spalpeen, ye are, to kill a poor little baby like that in cowld blood. well, it's yer natur', an' yer trade, so i s'pose it's all right." the weight of this bear, which was not of the largest size, was afterwards found to be above five hundred pounds, and her length was eight feet nine inches. the cub weighed upwards of a hundred pounds, and was larger than a newfoundland dog. the operation of cutting out the entrails, preparatory to packing on the sledge, was now commenced by meetuck, whose practised hand applied the knife with the skill, though not with the delicacy, of a surgeon. "she has been a hungry bear, it seems," remarked fred, as he watched the progress of the work, "if we may judge from the emptiness of her stomach." "och, but she's had a choice morsel, if it was a small wan!" exclaimed o'riley in surprise, as he picked up a plug of tobacco. on further examination being made, it was found that this bear had dined on raisins, tobacco, pork, and adhesive plaster! such an extraordinary mixture of articles, of course, led the party to conclude that either she had helped herself to the stores of the _dolphin_ placed on store island, or that she had fallen in with those of some other vessel. this subject afforded food for thought and conversation during the next hour or two, as they drove towards the ship along the ice-belt of the shore. the ice-belt referred to is a zone of ice which extends along the shore from the unknown regions of the north. to the south it breaks up in summer and disappears altogether, but, in the latitude which our travellers had now reached, it was a permanent feature of the scenery all the year round, following the curvatures and indentations of bays and rivers, and increasing in winter or diminishing in summer, but never melting entirely away. the surface of this ice-belt was covered with immense masses of rock many tons in weight, which had fallen from the cliffs above. pointing to one of these, as they drove along, west remarked to fred: "there is a mystery explained, sir; i have often wondered how huge solitary stones, that no machinery of man's making could lift, have come to be placed on sandy shores where there were no other rocks of any kind within many miles of them. the ice must have done it, i see." "true, west, the ice, if it could speak, would explain many things that now seem to us mysterious, and yonder goes a big rock on a journey that may perhaps terminate at a thousand miles to the south of this." the rock referred to was a large mass that became detached from the cliffs and fell, as he spoke, with a tremendous crash upon the ice-belt, along which it rolled for fifty yards. there it would lie all winter, and in spring the mass of ice to which it was attached would probably break off and float away with it to the south, gradually melting until it allowed the rock to sink to the bottom of the sea, or depositing it, perchance, on some distant shore, where such rocks are not wont to lie-- there to remain an object of speculation and wonderment to the unlearned of all future ages. some of the bergs close to which they passed on the journey were very fantastically formed, and many of them were more than a mile long, with clear, blue, glassy surfaces, indicating that they had been but recently thrown off from the great glacier of the north. between two of these they drove for some time before they found that they were going into a sort of blind alley. "sure the road's gittin' narrower," observed o'riley, as he glanced up at the blue walls, which rose perpendicularly to a height of sixty feet on either hand. "have a care, meetuck, or ye'll jam us up, ye will." "'tis a pity we left the ice-belt," remarked fred, "for this rough work among the bergs is bad for man and dog. how say you, meetuck, shall we take to it again when we get through this place?" "faix, then, well niver git through," said o'riley, pointing to the end of the chasm, where a third iceberg had entirely closed the opening. the esquimaux pulled up, and, after advancing on foot a short way to examine, returned with a rueful expression on his countenance. "ha! no passage, i suppose?" said fred. "bad luck to ye," cried o'riley, "won't ye spaake?" "no rod--muss go back," replied meetuck, turning the dogs in the direction whence they had come, and resuming his place on the sledge. the party had to retrace their steps half a mile in consequence of this unfortunate interruption, and return to the level track of the ice-belt, which they had left for a time and taken to the sea-ice, in order to avoid the sinuosities of the land. to add to their misfortunes, the dogs began to flag, so that they were obliged to walk behind the sledge at a slow pace, and snow began to fall heavily. but they pressed forward manfully, and, having regained the shore-ice, continued to make their way northward towards the ship, which was now spoken of by the endearing name of home. chapter fourteen. departure of the sun--effects of darkness on dogs--winter arrangements in the interior of the dolphin. it is sad to part with an old friend, especially if he be one of the oldest and best friends we ever had. when the day of departure arrives, it is of no avail that he tells us kindly he will come back again. that assurance is indeed a comfort after he is gone, and a sweet star of hope that shines brighter and brighter each day until he comes back; but it is poor consolation to us at the time of parting, when we are squeezing his hand for the last time, and trying to crush back the drops that _will_ overflow. the crew of the _dolphin_ had, in the course of that winter, to part with one of their best friends; one whom they regarded with the most devoted attachment; one who was not expected to return again till the following spring, and one, therefore, whom some of them might perhaps, never see again. mivins became quite low-spirited about it, and said "as 'ow 'e'd 'ave a 'eavy 'eart for hever and hever, hamen," after he was gone. o'riley remarked, in reference to his departure, that every man in the ship was about to lose a "_son_!" yes, indeed he did; he perpetrated that atrocious pun, and wasn't a bit ashamed of it. o'riley had perpetrated many a worse pun than that before; it's to be hoped that for the credit of his country he has perpetrated a few better ones since! yes, the period at length arrived when the great source of light and heat was about to withdraw his face from these arctic navigators for a long, long time, and leave them in unvarying night. it was a good while, however, before he went away altogether, and for many weeks after winter set in in all its intensity, he paid them a daily visit which grew gradually shorter and shorter, until that sad evening in which he finally bade them farewell. about the middle of october the dark months overspread the bay of mercy, and the reign of perpetual night began. there was something terribly depressing at first in this uninterrupted gloom, and for some time after the sun ceased to show his disc above the horizon the men of the _dolphin_ used to come on deck at noon, and look out for the faint streak of light that indicated the presence of the life-giving luminary with all the earnestness and longing of eastern fire-worshippers. the dogs, too, became sensibly affected by the continued absence of light, and seemed to draw more sympathetically than ever to their human companions in banishment. a curious and touching instance of this feeling was exhibited when the pack were sent to sleep on store island. a warm kennel had been erected for them there, partly in order that the ship might be kept more thoroughly clean, and partly that the dogs might act as a guard over the stores, in case bears or wolves should take a fancy to examine them. but nothing would induce the poor animals to keep away from the ship, and remain beyond the sound of human voices. they deserted their comfortable abode, with one consent, the first time they were sent to it, preferring to spend the night by the side of the ship upon the bare snow. coaxing them was of no use. o'riley tried it in vain. "at, then," said he to dumps with a wheedling air and expression of intense affection that would have taken by storm the heart of any civilised dog, "_won't_ ye come now an' lay in yar own kennel? sure it's a beautiful wan, an' as warm as the heart of an iceberg. doo come now, avic, an' i'll show ye the way." but dumps's heart was marble. he wouldn't budge. by means of a piece of walrus, however, he was at length induced to go with the irishman to the kennel, and was followed by the entire pack. here o'riley endeavoured to make them comfortable, and prevailed on them to lie down and go to sleep, but whenever he attempted to leave them they were up and at his heels in a moment. "och, but ye're too fond o' me entirely! doo lie down agin, and i'll sing ye a ditty!" true to his word, o'riley sat down by the dog-kennel, and gave vent to a howl which his "owld grandmother," he said, "used to sing to the pig," and whether it was the effects of this lullaby, or of the cold, it is impossible to say, but o'riley at length succeeded in slipping away and regaining the ship, unobserved by his canine friends. half an hour later he went on deck to take a mouthful of fresh air before supper, and on looking over the side he saw the whole pack of dogs lying in a circle close to the ship, with dumps comfortably asleep in the middle, and using poker's back for a pillow. "faix, but ye must be fond of the cowld, to lie there all night when ye've got a palace on store island." "fond of society, rather," observed captain guy, who came on deck at the moment, "the poor creatures cannot bear to be left alone. it is a strange quality in dogs which i have often observed before." "have ye, capting? sure i thought it was all owin' to the bad manners o' that baste dumps, which is for iver leadin' the other dogs into mischief." "supper's ready, sir," said mivins, coming up the hatchway and touching his cap. "look here, mivins," said o'riley, as the captain went below, "can ye point out the mornin' star to me, lad?" "the morning star?" said mivins slowly, as he thrust his hands into the breast of his jumper, and gazed upwards into the dark sky, where the starry host blazed in arctic majesty. "no, of course i can't. why, don't you know that there hain't no _morning_ star when it's _night_ all round?" "faix ye're right. i niver thought o' that." mivins was evidently a little puffed up with a feeling of satisfaction at the clever way in which he had got out of the difficulty without displaying his ignorance of astronomy, and was even venturing, in the pride of his heart, to make some speculative and startling assertions in regard to the "'eavenly bodies" generally, when buzzby put his head up the hatchway. "hallo! messmates, wot's ado now? here's the supper awaitin', and the tea bilin' like blazes!" mivins instantly dived down below, as the sailors express it; and we may remark, in passing, that the expression, in this particular case, was not inappropriate, for mivins, as we have elsewhere said, was remarkably agile and supple, and gave beholders a sort of impression that he went head-foremost at everything. o'riley followed at a more reasonable rate, and in a few minutes the crew of the _dolphin_ were seated at supper in the cabin, eating with as much zest, and laughing and chatting as blithely as if they were floating calmly on their ocean home in temperate climes. sailors are proverbially lighthearted, and in their moments of comfort and social enjoyment they easily forget their troubles. the depression of spirits that followed the first disappearance of the sun soon wore off, and they went about their various avocations cheerfully by the light of the aurora borealis and the stars. the cabin, in which they now all lived together, had undergone considerable alterations. after the return of fred ellice and the hunting-party, whom we left on the ice-belt in the last chapter, the bulk-head, or partition, which separated the cabin from the hold, had been taken down, and the whole was thrown into one large apartment, in order to secure a freer circulation of air and warmth. all round the walls inside of this apartment moss was piled to the depth of twelve inches to exclude the cold, and this object was further gained by the spreading of a layer of moss on the deck above. the cabin hatchway was closed, and the only entrance was at the farther end, through the hold, by means of a small doorway in the bulkhead, to which was attached a sort of porch, with a curtain of deer-skins hung in front of it. in the centre of the floor stood an iron cooking-stove, which served at once the purpose of preparing food and warming the cabin, which was lighted by several small oil-lamps. these were kept burning perpetually, for there was no distinction between day and night in midwinter, either in the cabin or out-of-doors. in this snug-looking place the officers and men of the ship messed, and dwelt, and slept together; but, notwithstanding the _apparent_ snugness, it was with the greatest difficulty they could keep themselves in a sufficient degree of warmth to maintain health and comfort. whenever the fire was allowed to get low, the beams overhead became coated with hoar-frost; and even when the temperature was raised to the utmost possible pitch it was cold enough, at the extreme ends of the apartment, to freeze a jug of water solid. a large table occupied the upper end of the cabin, between the stove and the stern, and round this the officers and crew were seated, when o'riley entered and took his place among them. each individual had his appointed place at the mess-table, and with unvarying regularity these places were filled at the appointed hours. "the dogs seem to be disobedient," remarked amos parr, as his comrade sat down; "they'd be the better of a taste o' meetuck's cat i think." "it's truth ye're sayin'," replied o'riley, commencing a violent assault on a walrus steak; "they don't obey orders at all, at all. an' dumps, the blaggard, is as cross-grained as me grandmother's owld pig--" a general laugh here interrupted the speaker, for o'riley could seldom institute a disparaging comparison without making emphatic allusion to the pig that once shared with him the hospitalities of his grandmother's cabin. "why, everything you speak of seems to be like that wonderful pig, messmate," said peter grim. "ye're wrong there intirely," retorted o'riley. "i niver seed nothing like it in all me thravels except yerself, and that only in regard to its muzzle, which was black and all kivered over with bristles, it wos. i'll throuble for another steak, messmate; that walrus is great livin'. we owe ye thanks for killin' it, mister ellice." "you're fishing for compliments, but i'm afraid i have none to give you. your first harpoon, you know, was a little wide of the mark, if i recollect right, wasn't it?" "yis, it wos--about as wide as the first bullet. i misremember exactly who fired it; wos it you, meetuck?" meetuck, being deeply engaged with a junk of fat meat at that moment expressed all he had to say in a convulsive gasp, without interrupting his supper. "try a bit of the bear," said fred to tom singleton; "it's better than the walrus to my taste." "i'd rather not," answered tom, with a dubious shake of the head. "it's a most unconscionable thing to eat a beast o' that sort," remarked saunders gravely. "especially one who has been in the habit of living on raisins and sticking-plaster," said bolton with a grin. "i have been thinking about that," said captain guy, who had been for some time listening in silence to the conversation, "and i cannot help thinking that esquimaux must have found a wreck somewhere in this neighbourhood, and carried away her stores, which bruin had managed to steal from them." "may they not have got some of the stores of the brig we saw nipped some months ago?" suggested singleton. "possibly they may." "i dinna think that's likely," said saunders, shaking his head. "yon brig had been deserted long ago, and her stores must have been consumed, if they were taken out of her at all, before we thought o' comin' here." for some time the party in the cabin ate in silence. "we must wait patiently," resumed the captain, as if he were tired of following up a fruitless train of thought. "what of your theatricals, fred? we must get them set a-going as soon as possible." the captain spoke animatedly, for he felt that, with the prospect of a long dark winter before them, it was of the greatest importance that the spirits of the men should be kept up. "i find it difficult to beat up recruits," answered fred, laughing; "peter grim has flatly refused to act, and o'riley says he could no more learn a part off by heart than--" "his grandmother's pig could," interrupted david mizzle, who, having concluded supper, now felt himself free to indulge in conversation. "och! ye spalpeen," whispered the irishman. "i have written out the half of a play which i hope to produce in a few days on the boards of our arctic theatre with a talented company, but i must have one or two more men--one to act the part of a lady. will you take that part, buzzby?" "wot! _me_?" cried the individual referred to with a stare of amazement. "oh yes! _do_, buzzby," cried several of the men with great delight. "you're just cut out for it." "blue eyes," said one. "fair hair," cried another. "and plump," said a third. "wid cheeks like the hide of a walrus," cried o'riley; "but, sure, it won't show wid a veil on." "come, now, you won't refuse." but buzzby did refuse; not, however, so determinedly but that he was induced at last to allow his name to be entered in fred's note-book as a supernumerary. "hark!" cried the captain; "surely the dogs must have smelt a bear." there was instantly a dead silence in the cabin, and a long, loud wail from the dogs was heard outside. "it's not like their usual cry when game is near," said the second mate. "hand me my rifle, mivins," said the captain, springing up and pulling forward the hood of his jumper, as he hurried on deck followed by the crew. it was a bright, still, frosty night, and the air felt intensely sharp, as if needles were pricking the skin, while the men's breath issued from their lips in white clouds, and settled in hoar-frost on the edges of their hoods. the dogs were seen galloping about the ice hummocks as if in agitation, darting off to a considerable distance at times, and returning with low whines to the ship. "it is very strange," remarked the captain. "jump down on the ice, boys, and search for footprints. extend as far as store island and see that all is right there." in a few seconds the men scattered themselves right and left, and were lost in the gloom, while the vessel was left in charge of mivins and four men. a strict search was made in all directions, but no traces of animals could be found; the stores on the island were found undisturbed, and gradually the dogs ceased their agitated gyrations and seemed inclined to resume their slumbers on the ice. seeing this, and supposing that they were merely restless, captain guy recalled his men, and, not long after, every man in the cabin of the _dolphin_ was buried in profound slumber. chapter fifteen. strangers appear on the scene--the esquimaux are hospitably entertained by the sailors--a spirited traffic--thieving propensities and summary justice. dumps sat on the top of a hummock, about quarter of a mile from the ship, with an expression of subdued melancholy on his countenance, and thinking, evidently, about nothing at all. poker sat in front of him, gazing earnestly and solemnly right into his eyes with a look that said, as plain as if he had spoken: "what a tremendously stupid old fellow you are, to be sure!" having sat thus for full five minutes dumps wagged his tail. poker, observing the action, returned the compliment with his stump. then poker sprang up and barked savagely, as much as to say: "play, won't you!" but dumps wouldn't; so poker endeavoured to relieve his mind by gambolling violently round him. we would not have drawn your attention, reader, to the antics of our canine friends, were it not for the fact that these antics attracted the notice of a personage who merits particular description. this was no other than one of the esquimaux inhabitants of the land--a woman, and _such_ a woman! most people would have pronounced her a man, for she wore precisely the same dress--fur jumper and long boots--that was worn by the men of the _dolphin_. her lips were thick and her nose was blunt; she wore her hair turned up, and twisted into a knot on the top of her head; her hood was thrown back, and inside of this hood there was a baby--a small and a very fat baby! it was, so to speak, a conglomerate of dumplings. its cheeks were two dumplings, and its arms were four dumplings--one above each elbow and one below. its hands, also, were two smaller dumplings, with ten extremely little dumplings at the end of them. this baby had a nose, of course, but it was so small that it might as well have had none; and it had a mouth, too, but that was so capacious that the half of it would have been more than enough for a baby double the size. as for its eyes, they were large and black--black as two coals--and devoid of all expression save that of astonishment. such were the pair that stood on the edge of the ice-belt gazing down upon dumps and poker. and no sooner did dumps and poker catch sight of them than they sprang hastily towards them, wagging their tails--or, more correctly speaking, their tail and a quarter. but on a nearer approach those sagacious animals discovered that the woman and her child were strangers, whereupon they set up a dismal howl, and fled towards the ship as fast as they could run. now it so happened that, at this very time, the howl of the dogs fell upon the ears of two separate parties of travellers--the one was a band of esquimaux who were moving about in search of seals and walrus, to which band this woman and her baby belonged; the other was a party of men under command of buzzby, who were returning to the ship after an unsuccessful hunt. neither party saw the other, for one approached from the east, the other from the west, and the ice-belt, on the point of which the woman stood, rose up between them. "hallo! what's yon," exclaimed peter grim, who was first to observe the woman. "dunno," said buzzby, halting; "it looks like a bear." "faix an it is, then, it's got a young wan on its back," cried o'riley. "we had better advance and find out," remarked west, as he led the way, while several of the men threw up their arms in token of their friendly intentions. o'riley capered somewhat extravagantly as he drew near, partly with the intention of expressing his feelings of good-will towards the unknown, and partly in order to relieve the excitement caused by the unexpected apparition. these demonstrations, however, had the effect of terrifying the woman, who wheeled suddenly round and made off. "och! it _is_ a man. hooray, boys! give chase." "men don't usually carry babies on their backs and tie their hair up into top-knots," remarked grim, as he darted past in pursuit. a few seconds sufficed to enable grim to overtake the woman, who fell on her knees the instant she felt the sailor's heavy hand on her shoulder. "don't be afeard; we won't hurt ye," said buzzby in a soothing tone, patting the woman on the head and raising her up. "no, avic, we's yer frinds; we'll not harm a hair o' yer beautiful head, we won't. ah, then, it's a swate child, it is, bless its fat face!" said o'riley, stroking the baby's head tenderly with his big hand. it was with difficulty that the poor creature's fears were calmed at first, but the genuine tenderness displayed by the men towards the baby, and the perfect complacency with which that conglomerate of dumplings received their caresses, soon relieved her mind, and she began to regard her captors with much curiosity, while they endeavoured by signs and words to converse with her. unfortunately meetuck was not with the party, he having been left on board ship to assist in a general cleaning of the cabin that had been instituted that day. "sure, now, ye don't know how to talk with a girl at all, ye don't; let _me_ try," cried o'riley, after several of the party had made numerous ineffectual attempts to convey their meaning. "listen to _me_, darlint, and don't mind them stupid grampusses. where have ye comed from, now; tell me, dear, _doo_ now?" o'riley accompanied the question with a smile of ineffable sweetness and a great deal of energetic pantomime, which, doubtless, explained much of his meaning to himself, but certainly to no one else. "ah, then, ye don't onderstand me? well, well, now, isn't that strange? look you, avic, have ye seen a brig or a brig's crew anywhere betune this and the north pole--try, now, an' remimber." he illustrated this question by holding up both arms straight above his head to represent the masts of a brig, and sticking his right leg straight out in front of him, to represent the bowsprit; but the woman gazed at him with an air of obtuse gravity that might have damped the hopes even of an irishman. o'riley prided himself, however, on not being easily beat, and despite his repeated failure, and the laughter of his messmates, was proceeding to make a third effort, when a loud shout from the cliffs caused the whole party to start and turn their eyes in that direction. the cry had been uttered by a figure whose costume bore so close a resemblance to that which they themselves wore that they thought for a moment it was one of their own shipmates, but a second glance proved that they were mistaken, for the individual in question carried a spear which he brandished with exceedingly fierce and warlike intentions. "faix, it must be her husband," said o'riley. "hallo, lads, there's more on 'em!" cried grim, as ten or twelve esquimaux emerged from the rents and caverns of the ice-belt, and, scrambling to the top of surrounding hummocks and eminences, gazed towards the party of white men, while they threw about their arms and legs, and accompanied their uncouth and violent gesticulations with loud, excited cries. "i've a notion," he added, "that it was the scent o' them chaps set the dogs off after yon strange fashion t'other _night_." it was evident that the esquimaux were not only filled with unbounded astonishment at this unexpected meeting with strangers, but were also greatly alarmed to see one of their own women in their power. "let's send the woman over to them," suggested one of the men. "no, no; keep her as a hostage," said another. "look out, lads," cried buzzby, hastily examining the priming of his musket, as additional numbers of the wild inhabitants of the north appeared on the scene, and crowned the ice-belt and the hummocks around them. "let's show a bold front. draw up in single line and hold on to the woman. west, put her in front." the men instantly drew up in battle array, and threw forward their muskets; but as there was only a dozen of them, they presented a very insignificant group compared with the crowds of esquimaux who appeared on the ice in front of them. "now, then, stand fast, men, and i'll show ye wot's the way to manage them chaps. keep yer weather-eyes open, and don't let them git in rear o' ye." so saying, buzzby took the woman by the arm and led her out a few yards in front of his party, while the esquimaux drew closer together, to prepare either to receive or make an attack, as the case might be. he then laid his musket down on the ice, and, still holding the woman by the arm, advanced boldly towards the natives unarmed. on approaching to within about twenty yards of them he halted, and raised both arms above his head as a sign of friendship. the signal was instantly understood, and one big fellow leaped boldly from his elevated position on a lump of ice, threw down his spear, and ran to meet the stranger. in a few minutes buzzby and the esquimaux leader came to a mutual understanding as to the friendly disposition of their respective parties, and the woman was delivered up to this big fellow, who turned out to be her husband after all, as o'riley had correctly guessed. the other esquimaux, seeing the amicable terms on which the leaders met, crowded in and surrounded them. "leave the half o' ye to guard the arms, and come on the rest of ye without 'em," shouted buzzby. the men obeyed, and in a few minutes the two parties mingled together with the utmost confidence. the sailors, however, deemed it prudent to get possession of their arms again as soon as possible, and, after explaining as well as they could by signs that their home was only at a short distance, the whole band started off for the ship. the natives were in a most uproarious state of hilarity, and danced and yelled as they ambled along in their hairy dresses, evidently filled with delight at the prospect of forming a friendship with the white strangers, as they afterwards termed the crew of the _dolphin_, although some of the said crew were, from exposure, only a few shades lighter than themselves. captain guy was busily engaged with fred ellice and tom singleton in measuring and registering the state of the tide when this riotous band turned the point of the ice-belt to the northward, and came suddenly into view. "jump down below, fred, and fetch my rifle and sword; there are the natives," cried the captain, seizing his telescope. "call all hands, mivins, and let them arm; look alive!" "all 'ands, _ahoy_!" shouted the steward, looking down the hatchway; "tumble up there, tumble up, 'ere come the heskimows. bring your harms with ye. look alive!" "ay, ay," shouted the men from below; and in a few minutes they crowded up the hatchway, pulling up their hoods and hauling on their mittens, for it was intensely cold. "why, captain, there are some of our men with them," exclaimed tom singleton, as he looked through his pocket-glass at them. "so there are--i see buzzby and grim; come, that's fortunate, for they must have made friends with them, which it is not always easy to do. hide your muskets, men, but keep on your cutlasses; it's as well to be prepared, though i don't expect to find those people troublesome. is the soup in the coppers, david mizzle?" "yes, sir, it is." "then put in an extra junk of pork, and fill it up to the brim." while the cook went below to obey this order, the captain and half of the crew descended to the ice, and advanced unarmed to meet the natives. the remainder of the men stayed behind to guard the ship, and be ready to afford succour if need be; but the precaution was unnecessary, for the esquimaux met the sailors in the most frank and confiding manner, and seemed quite to understand captain guy when he drew a line round the ship, and stationed sentries along it to prevent them from crossing. the natives had their dogs and sledges with them, and the former they picketed to the ice, while a few of their number, and the woman, whose name was aninga, were taken on board and hospitably entertained. it was exceedingly interesting and amusing to observe the feelings of amazement and delight expressed by those barbarous but good-humoured and intelligent people at everything they saw. while food was preparing for them, they were taken round the ship, on deck and below, and the sailors explained, in pantomime, the uses of everything. they laughed, and exclaimed, and shouted, and even roared with delight, and touched everything with their fingers, just as monkeys are wont to do when let loose. captain guy took aninga and her tall husband, awatok, to the cabin, where, through the medium of meetuck, he explained the object of their expedition, and questioned the chief as to his knowledge of the country. unfortunately awatok and his band had travelled from the interior to the coast, and, never having been more than twenty or thirty miles to the north of the bay of mercy, could give no information either in regard to the formation of the coast or the possibility of europeans having wintered there. in fact, neither he nor his countrymen had ever seen europeans before; and they were so much excited that it was difficult to obtain coherent answers to questions. the captain, therefore, postponed further enquiries until they had become somewhat accustomed to the novelty of their position. meanwhile, david mizzle furnished them with a large supply of pea-soup, which they seemed to relish amazingly. not so, however, the salt pork with which it had been made. they did, indeed, condescend to eat it, but they infinitely preferred a portion of raw walrus flesh, which had been reserved as food for the dogs, and which they would speedily have consumed had it not been removed out of their reach. having finished this, they were ordered to return to their camp on the ice beside the ship, and a vigorous barter was speedily begun. first of all, however, a number of presents were made to them, and it would really have done your heart good, reader, to have witnessed the extravagant joy displayed by them on receiving such trifles as bits of hoop--iron, beads, knives, scissors, needles, etcetera. iron is as precious among them as gold is among civilised people. the small quantities they possessed of it had been obtained from the few portions of wrecks that had drifted ashore in their ice-bound land. they used it for pointing their spear-heads and harpoons, which, in default of iron, were ingeniously made of ivory from the tusks of the walrus and the horn of the narwal. a bit of iron, therefore, was received with immense glee, and a penny looking-glass with shouts of delight. but the present which drew forth the most uproarious applause was a union jack, which the captain gave to their chief, awatok. he was in the cabin when it was presented to him. on seeing its gaudy colours unrolled, and being told that it was a gift to himself and his wife, he caught his breath, and stared, as if in doubt, alternately at the flag and the captain, then he gave vent to a tremendous shout, seized the flag, hugged it in his arms, and darted up on deck literally _roaring_ with delight. the sympathetic hearts of the natives on the ice echoed the cry before they knew the cause of it; but when they beheld the prize, they yelled, and screamed, and danced, and tossed their arms in the air in the most violent manner. "they're all mad, ivery mother's son o' them," exclaimed o'riley, who for some time had been endeavouring to barter an old, rusty knife for a pair of sealskin boots. "they looks like it," said grim, who stood looking on with his legs apart and his arms crossed, and grinning from ear to ear. to add to the confusion, the dogs became affected with the spirit of excitement that filled their masters, and gave vent to their feelings in loud and continuous howling, which nothing could check. the imitative propensity of these singular people was brought rather oddly into play during the progress of traffic. busby had produced a large roll of tobacco--which they knew the use of, having already been shown how to use a pipe--and cut off portions of it, which he gave in exchange for fox-skins, and deer-skins, and seal-skin boots. observing this, a very sly old esquimaux began to slice up a deer-skin into little pieces, which he intended to offer for the small pieces of tobacco! he was checked, however, before doing much harm to the skin, and the principles of exchange were more perfectly explained to him. the skins and boots, besides walrus and seals' flesh, which the crew were enabled to barter at this time, were of the utmost importance, for their fresh provisions had begun to get low, and their boots were almost worn out, so that the scene of barter was exceedingly animated. davie summers and his master, mivins, shone conspicuous as bargain-makers, and carried to their respective bunks a large assortment of native articles. fred and tom singleton, too, were extremely successful, and in a few hours a sufficient amount of skins were bartered to provide them with clothing for the winter. the quantity of fresh meat obtained, however, was not enough to last them a week, for the esquimaux lived from hand to mouth, and the crew felt that they must depend on their own exertions in the hunt for this indispensable article of food, without which they could not hope to escape the assaults of the sailors' dread enemy, scurvy. meetuck's duties were not light upon this occasion, as you may suppose. "arrah, then, _don't_ ye onderstand me?" cried o'riley in an excited tone to a particularly obtuse and remarkably fat esquimaux, who was about as sharp at a bargain as himself. "hallo! meetuck, come here, do, and tell this pork-faced spalpeen what i'm sayin'. sure i couldn't spake it plainer av i was to try." "i'll never get this fellow to understand," said fred. "meetuck, my boy, come here and explain to him." "ho, meetuck!" shouted peter grim, "give this old blockhead a taste o' your lingo. i never met his match for stupidity." "i do believe that this rascal wants the 'ole of this ball o' twine for the tusk of a sea-'oss. meetuck! w'ere's meetuck! i say, give us a 'and 'ere like a good fellow," cried mivins; but mivins cried in vain, for at that moment saunders had violently collared the interpreter, and dragged him towards an old esquimaux woman, whose knowledge of scotch had not proved sufficient to enable her to understand the energetically-expressed words of the second mate. during all this time the stars had been twinkling brightly in the sky, and the aurora shed a clear light upon the scene, while the air was still calm and cold; but a cloud or two now began to darken the horizon to the north-east, and a puff of wind blew occasionally over the icy plain, and struck with such chilling influence on the frames of the traffickers that with one consent they closed their business for that day, and the esquimaux prepared to return to their snow village, which was about ten miles to the southward, and which village had been erected by them only three days previous to their discovery of the ship. "i'm sorry to find," remarked the captain to those who were standing near him, "that these poor creatures have stolen a few trifling articles from below. i don't like to break the harmonious feeling which now exists between us for the sake of a few worthless things, but i know that it does more harm than good to pass over an offence with the natives of these regions, for they attribute our forbearance to fear." "perhaps you had better tax them with the theft," suggested the surgeon; "they may confess it, if we don't look very angry." a few more remarks were made by several of those who stood on the quarter-deck, suggesting a treatment of the esquimaux which was not of the gentlest nature, for they felt indignant that their hospitality had been abused. "no, no," replied the captain to such suggestions, "we must exercise forbearance. these poor fellows do not regard theft in the same light that we do; besides, it would be foolish to risk losing their friendship. go down, meetuck, and invite awatok and his wife, and half a dozen of the chief men, into the cabin. say i wish to have a talk with them." the interpreter obeyed, and in a few minutes the officers of the ship and the chiefs of the esquimaux were assembled in solemn conclave round the cabin table. "tell them, meetuck," said the captain, "that i know they have stolen two pieces of hoop iron and a tin kettle, and ask them why they were so ungrateful as to do it." the esquimaux, who were becoming rather alarmed at the stern looks of those around them, protested earnestly that they knew nothing about it, and that they had not taken the things referred to. "say that i do not believe them," answered the captain sternly. "it is an exceedingly wicked thing to steal and to tell lies. white men think those who are guilty of such conduct to be very bad." "ah, ye villain!" cried saunders, seizing one of the esquimaux named oosuck by the shoulder, and drawing forth an iron spoon which he observed projecting from the end of his boot. an exclamation of surprise and displeasure burst from the officers, but the esquimaux gave vent to a loud laugh. they evidently thought stealing to be no sin, and were not the least ashamed of being detected. awatok, however, was an exception. he looked grave and annoyed, but whether this was at being found out, or at the ingratitude of his people, they could not decide. "tell them," said the captain, "that i am much displeased. if they promise to return the stolen goods immediately, i will pass over their offence this time, and we will trade together, and live like brothers, and do each other good; but if not, and if any more articles are taken, i will punish them." having had this translated to them, the chiefs were dismissed, but the expression of indifference on some of their faces proved that no impression had been made upon them. in a quarter of an hour the articles that had been mentioned as missing were returned; and, in order to restore harmony, several plugs of tobacco and a few additional trinkets were returned by the messenger. soon after, the dogs were harnessed, the sledges packed, and, with many protestations of good-will on both sides, the parties separated. a few cracks of their long whips--a few answering howls from the dogs--and the esquimaux were off and out of sight, leaving the _dolphin_ in her former solitude under the shadow of the frowning cliffs. "fetch me the telescope, mivins," said the captain, calling down the hatchway. "ay, ay, sir," answered the steward. "where's my hatchet?" cried peter grim, striding about the deck, and looking into every corner in search of his missing implement. "it's my best one, and i can't get on without it, nohow." the captain bit his lip for he knew full well the cause of its absence. "please, sir," said the steward, coming on deck with a very perturbed expression of countenance, "the--the--a--" "speak out, man; what's the matter with you?" "the glass ain't nowhere to be seen, sir." "turn up all hands!" shouted the captain, jumping down the hatchway, "arm the men, mr bolton, and order the largest sledge to be got ready instantly. this will never do. harness the whole team." instantly the _dolphin's_ deck was a scene of bustling activity. muskets were loaded, jumpers and mittens put on, dogs caught and harnessed, and every preparation made for a sudden chase. "there, that will do," cried the captain, hurrying on deck with a brace of pistols and a cutlass in his belt, "six men are enough; let twelve of the remainder follow on foot. jump on the sledge, grim and buzzby; o'riley, you go too. have a care, fred; not too near the front! now, meetuck--" one crack of the long whip terminated the sentence as if with a full stop, and in another moment the sledge was bounding over the snow like a feather at the tails of twelve dogs. it was a long chase, for it was a "stern" one, but the esquimaux never dreamed of pursuit, and, as their dogs were not too well fed, they had progressed rather slowly. in less than two hours they were distinguished on the horizon, far off to the southward, winding their way among the hummocks. "now, meetuck," said the captain, "drive like the wind, and lay me alongside of awatok's sledge, and be ready, men, to act." "ay, ay, sir!" was the prompt reply, as the heavy whip fell on the flanks of the leaders. a few minutes brought them up with awatok's sledge, and captain guy, leaping upon it with a clasp-knife in his hand, cut the traces in a twinkling, set the dogs free, and, turning round, seized the esquimaux by the collar. the big chief at first showed a disposition to resent this unceremonious treatment, but before he could move, grim seized his elbows in his iron grasp, and tied them adroitly together behind his back with a cord. at the same time poor aninga and her baby were swiftly transferred to the sailors' sledge. seeing this, the whole band of natives turned back, and rushed in a body to the rescue, flourishing their lances and yelling fiercely. "form line!" shouted the captain, handing awatok and aninga over to the care of o'riley. "three of you on the right fire over their heads, and let the rest reserve their fire. i will kill one of their dogs, for it won't do to let them fancy that nothing but noise comes out of our muskets. ready--present!" a rattling volley followed, and at the same moment one of the dogs fell with a death-yell on the ice and dyed it with its blood. "forward!" shouted the captain. the men advanced in a body at a smart run, but the terrified esquimaux, who had never heard the report of firearms before, did not wait for them; they turned and fled precipitately, but not before grim captured oosuck and dragged him forcibly to the rear, where he was pinioned and placed on the sledge with the others. "now then, lads, that will do; get upon the sledge again. away with you, meetuck. look after awatok, grim; o'riley will see that aninga does not jump off." "that he will, darlint," said the irishman, patting the woman on the back. "and i shall look after the baby," said fred, chucking that series of dumplings under the chin--an act of familiarity that seemed to afford it immense satisfaction, for, notwithstanding the melancholy position of its father and mother as prisoners, it smiled on fred benignly. in five minutes the party were far on their way back to the ship; and in less than five hours after the esquimaux had closed their barter, and left for their village, four of their number, including the baby, were close prisoners in the _dolphin's_ hold. it was not captain guy's intention, however, to use unnecessarily harsh means for the recovery of the missing articles. his object was to impress the esquimaux with a salutary sense of the power, promptitude, and courage of europeans, and to check at the outset their propensity for thieving. having succeeded in making two of their chief men prisoners, he felt assured that the lost telescope and hatchet would soon make their appearance; and in this he was not mistaken. going to the hold, where the prisoners sat with downcast looks, he addressed to them a lengthened speech as to the sin and meanness of stealing in general, and of stealing from those who had been kind to them in particular. he explained to them the utter hopelessness of their attempting to deceive or impose upon the white men in any way whatever, and assured them that if they tried that sort of thing again he would punish them severely; but that if they behaved well, and brought plenty of walrus flesh to the ship, he would give them hoop-iron, beads, looking-glasses, etcetera. these remarks seemed to make a considerable impression on his uncouth hearers. "and now," said the captain in conclusion, "i shall keep awatok and his wife and child prisoners here until my telescope and hatchet are returned (awatok's visage fell, and his wife looked stolid), and i shall send oosuck to his tribe (oosuck's face lit up amazingly) to tell them what i have said." in accordance with this resolve oosuck was set free, and, making use of his opportunity, with prompt alacrity he sped away on foot over the ice to the southward, and was quickly lost to view. chapter sixteen. the arctic theatre enlarged upon--great success of the first play--the esquimaux submit and become fast friends. the st of december was a great day on board the _dolphin_, for on that day it was announced to the crew that "the arctic theatre" would be opened, under the able management of mr f. ellice, with the play of "blunderbore; or, the arctic giant". the bill, of which two copies were issued gratis to the crew, announced that the celebrated peter grim, esquire, who had so long trodden the boards of the _dolphin_ with unparalleled success, had kindly consented to appear in the character of _blunderbore_ for one winter only. the other parts were as follows:--_whackinta_, a beautiful esquimaux widow, who had been captured by two polar bears, both of which were deeply in love with her, by frederick ellice, esquire. _first bear_, a big one, by terence o'riley, esquire. _second bear_, a little one, by david summers, esquire. _ben bolt_, a brave british seaman, who had been wrecked in blunderbore's desolate dominions, all the crew having perished except himself, by john buzzby, esquire. these constituted the various characters of the piece, the name of which had been kept a profound secret from the crew, until the morning of the day, on which it was acted. fred's duties as manager and author upon this occasion were by no means light, for his troop, being unaccustomed to study, found the utmost difficulty in committing the simplest sentences to memory. o'riley turned out to be the sharpest among them, but having agreed to impersonate the first bear, and having to act his part in dumb show-- bears not being supposed capable of speech--his powers of memory had not to be exerted. grim was also pretty good, but davie summers could not be got to remember even the general arrangements of the piece; and as for buzzby, he no sooner mastered a line than he forgot the one before it, and almost gave it up in despair; but by dint of much study and many rehearsals in secret, under the superintendence of fred and tom singleton, who undertook to assist, they succeeded at last in going through with it, with only a few mistakes. on the morning of the st december, while the most of the crew were away at red snow valley cutting moss, fred collected his _corps dramatique_ for a last rehearsal in the forecastle, where they were secure from interruption, the place being so cold that no one would willingly go into it except under the force of necessity. a dim lantern lit up the apartment faintly. "we must do it without a mistake this time," said fred ellice, opening his book and calling upon grim to begin. "'tis cold," began grim. "stop, you're wrong." "oh, so i am!" cried grim, slapping his thigh; "i'll begin again." it may be remarked here that although blunderbore was supposed to be an esquimaux monarch, he was compelled to speak english, being unfortunately ignorant--if we may so speak--of his native tongue! "oh! 'tis a dismal thing," began grim again, "to dwell in solitude and cold! 'tis very cold," (grim shuddered here tremendously) "and--and-- what's next?" "hunger," said fred. "hunger gnaws my vitals. my name is blunderbore. 'twere better had i been born a blunderbuss, 'cause then i have _gone off_ and dwelt in climes more shootable to my tender constitoosion. ha! is that a bear i sees before me?" "it's not _sees_," interrupted fred. at this moment a tremendous roar was heard, and o'riley bounded from behind a top-sail which represented an iceberg, dressed from head to foot in the skin of a white bear which had been killed a few days before. "stop, o'riley," cried fred, "you're too soon, man. _i_ have to come on first as an esquimaux woman, and when grim says to the woman he wishes he could see a bear, _then_ you are to come." "och! whirra, but me brains is confuged intirely wid it all," said o'riley, rising on his hind-legs and walking off with his tail, literally as well as figuratively, between his legs. "now, buzzby, now; it's _your_ time--when you hear the word `misery' come on and fight like a trojan with the bears. the doctor will remind you." fred was remarkably patient and painstaking, and his pupils, though not apt scholars, were willing, so that the morning rehearsal was gone through with fewer mistakes than might have been expected, and when the crew came back to dinner about mid-day, which, however, was as dark as midnight, their parts were sufficiently well got up, and nothing remained to be done but to arrange the stage and scenery for the evening's entertainment--it having been resolved that the performance should commence after supper. the stage was at the after part of the cabin, and raised about a foot above the deck, and its management had been intrusted to the doctor, who, assisted by peter grim, transformed that portion of the ship into a scene so romantically beautiful that the first sight of it petrified the crew with surprise. but until the curtain should rise all arrangements were carefully concealed from everyone except the _dramatis personae_. even the captain and officers were forbidden to peep behind the sail that formed a curtain to the stage, and this secrecy, besides being necessary, was extremely useful, inasmuch as it excited the curiosity of the men and afforded them food for converse and speculation, for a week before the great day arrived. the longed-for hour came at last. the cabin tables having been removed, and rows of seats placed in front of the stage, the men were admitted from the deck, to which they had been expelled an hour previous in order not to impede preliminary arrangements. there was great joking, of course, as they took their seats and criticised the fittings up. david mizzle was of opinion that the foot-lights "wos oncommon grand", which was an unquestionable fact, for they consisted of six tin lamps filled with seal-oil, from the wicks of which rose a compound of yellow flame and smoke that had a singularly luminous effect. amos parr guessed that the curtain would be certain sure to get jammed at the first haul, and several of the others were convinced that o'riley would stick his part in one way or another. however, an end was put to all remarks, and expectation raised on tiptoe by the ringing of a small hand-bell, and immediately thereafter a violent pulling at the curtain which concealed the stage; but the curtain remained immovable (they always do on such occasions), and a loud whispering was heard behind the scenes. "clap on extra tackle and call all hands to hoist away," suggested one of the audience. the laugh with which this advice was received was checked in the bud by the sudden rising of the curtain with such violence that the whole framework of the theatre shook again. for a few seconds a dead silence reigned, for the men were stricken dumb with genuine amazement at the scene before them. the stage was covered with white sheets arranged in such a manner as to represent snow, and the more effectually to carry out the idea, several huge blocks of real ice and a few patches of snow were introduced here and there, the cold in the after-part of the cabin being too great to permit of their melting. a top-gallant sail, on which were painted several blue cracks and some strong white lights, did duty for an iceberg, and filled up the whole back of the scene. in front of this, in the centre of the stage, on an extemporised hummock, sat peter grim as the giant blunderbore. his colossal proportions were enhanced by the addition of an entire white bearskin to his ordinary hairy dress, and which was thrown round his broad shoulders in the form of a tippet. a broad scarlet sash was tied round his waist, and a crown of brown paper, painted in alternate diamonds of blue, red, and yellow, sat upon his brow. grim was in truth a magnificent-looking fellow, with his black beard and moustache; and the mock-heroic frown with which he gazed up (as one of the audience suggested) at the aurora borealis, while he grasped an enormous club in his right hand, became him well. the first few seconds of dead silence, with which this was received, were succeeded by a long and loud burst of applause, the heartiness of which plainly showed that the scene far exceeded the expectations of the men. "bravo!" cried the captain, "excellent! nothing could be better." "it beats natur, quite," said one. "all to sticks," cried another. "and wot a tree-mendous giant he makes. three cheers for peter grim, lads!" three cheers were promptly given, with right good-will, but the giant did not move a muscle. he was far too deeply impressed with the importance of playing his part well to acknowledge the compliment. having gazed long enough to enable the men to get rid of their first flow of enthusiasm, blunderbore rose majestically, and, coming forward to the foot-lights, looked straight over the heads of the men, and addressed himself to the opposite bulkhead. "oh! 'tis a dismal thing," he began, and continued to spout his part with flashing eyes and considerable energy until he came to the word blunderbuss, when, either from a mistaken notion as to when it was his time to go on, or nervous forgetfulness of the plan of the piece, the little bear sprang over the edge of the iceberg and alighted on the middle of the stage. "oh! bad luck to yees intirely," said the big bear from behind the scenes in an angry whisper, which was distinctly heard by the audience, "ye've gone and spoiled it all, ye have. come off, will ye, and take yer turn at the right time, won't ye?" in the midst of the shout of delight caused by this mistake, o'riley, forgetting that he was a bear, rushed on the stage on his hind-legs, seized the little bear by the fore-leg, and dragged him off at the other side amid loud applause. blunderbore, with admirable self-possession, resumed his part the instant there was a calm, and carried it successfully to a close. just as he ended, fred waddled on, in the guise of an esquimaux woman, and so well was he got up that the crew looked round to see if aninga (who, with her husband, had been allowed to witness the play) was in her place. fred had intentionally taken aninga as his model, and had been very successful in imitating the top-knot of hair. the baby, too, was hit off to perfection, having been made by mivins, who proved himself a genius in such matters. its head was a ball of rags covered with brown leather, and two white bone buttons with black spots in the centre did duty for its eyes. the first thing whackinta did on coming forward was to deposit the baby on the snow with its head downwards by mistake, whereat it began to scream vociferously. this scream was accomplished by davie summers creeping below the stage, and putting his mouth to a hole in the flooring, close to which the baby's head lay. davie's falsetto was uncommonly like to a child's voice, and the effect was quite startling. of course whackinta tried to soothe it, and, failing in this she whipped it, which caused it to yell with tenfold violence. thereafter, losing all patience, she covered its face and stuffed its mouth with a quantity of snow, and, laying it down on its back, placed a large block of ice on its head. this, as might be expected, had the desired effect, and the baby was silenced,--not, however, until whackinta had twice called down the hole in a hoarse whisper: "that'll do, davie; stop, man, stop!" then, sitting down on the hummock which blunderbore had just left--and from behind which he was now eagerly watching her,--she began to weep. having given full vent to her feelings in a series of convulsive sobs, whackinta addressed a lengthened harangue, in a melancholy tone of voice, to the audience, the gist of which was that she was an unfortunate widow; that two bears had fallen in love with her, and stolen her away from her happy home in nova zembla; and, although they allowed her to walk about as much as she chose, they watched her closely and prevented her escaping to her own country. worst of all, they had told her that she must agree to become the wife of one or other of them, and if she did not make up her mind, and give them an answer that very day, she was to be killed and eaten by both of them. in order the more strongly to impress the audience with her forlorn condition, whackinta sang a tender and touching ditty, composed by herself expressly for the occasion, and sang it so well that it was encored twice. to all this blunderbore listened with apparent rapture, and at length ventured to advance and discover himself, but the instant whackinta saw him she fell on her knees and trembled violently. "spare me, good king," she said; "do not slay me. i am a poor widow, and have been brought here by two bears against my will." "woman," said the giant, "my name is blunderbore. i am, as you perceive by my crown, a king, and i am a lonely man. if i kill the two bears you speak of, will you marry me?" "oh, do not ask me, good blunderbore, i cannot! it is impossible. i cannot love you; you are--forgive me for saying it--too big, and fierce, and ugly to love." blunderbore frowned angrily, and the audience applauded vociferously at this. "you cannot love me! hah!" exclaimed the giant, glaring round with clenched teeth. at this moment the big bear uttered an awful roar, whackinta gave a piercing scream and fled, and blunderbore hid himself hastily behind the hummock. the next moment the two bears bounded on the stage and began to gambol round it, tossing up their hind-legs and roaring and leaping in a manner that drew forth repeated plaudits. at length the little bear discovered the baby, and, uttering a frantic roar of delight, took it in its fore-paws and held it up. the big bear roared also of course, and, rushing forward, caught the baby by the leg, and endeavoured to tear it away from the little bear, at which treatment the poor baby again commenced to cry passionately. in the struggle the baby's head came off, upon which the little bear put the head into its mouth and swallowed it. the big bear immediately did the same with the body; but its mouth was too small, and the body stuck fast and could not be finally disposed of until the little bear came to the rescue and pushed it forcibly down its throat. having finished this delicate little morsel, the two bears rose on their hind-legs and danced a hornpipe together--tom singleton playing the tune for them on a flute behind the scenes. when this was done they danced off the stage, and immediately, as if in the distance, was heard the voice of a man singing. it came gradually nearer, and at last buzzby, in the character of ben bolt, swaggered up to the foot-lights with his hands in his breeches pockets. "i'm a jolly, jolly tar, wot has comed from afar, an' it's all for to seek my fortin," sang buzzby. "but i've not found it yit," he continued, breaking into prose, "and there don't seem much prospect o' findin' it here anyhow. wot an 'orrible cold place it is, ugh!" buzzby was received with enthusiastic cheers, for he was dressed in the old familiar blue jacket, white ducks, pumps, and straw hat set jauntily on one side of his head--a costume which had not been seen for so many months by the crew of the _dolphin_ that their hearts warmed to it as if it were an old friend. buzzby acted with great spirit and was evidently a prime favourite. he could scarcely recollect a word of his part, but he remembered the general drift of it, and had ready wit enough to extemporise. having explained that he was the only survivor of a shipwrecked crew, he proceeded to tell some of his adventures in foreign lands, and afterwards described part of his experiences in a song, to which the doctor played an accompaniment behind the scenes. the words were composed by himself, sung to the well-known scotch air, "corn riggs", and ran as follows:-- "the jolly tar. "my comrades, you must know it was many years ago i left my daddy's cottage in the green wood o! and i jined a man-o'-war an' became a jolly tar, an' fought for king and country on the high seas o! pull, boys, cheerily, our home is on the sea. pull, boys, merrily and lightly o! pull, boys, cheerily, the wind is passing free an' whirling up the foam and water sky-high o! "there's been many a noble fight, but trafalgar was the sight that beat the greeks and romans in their glory o! for britain's jolly sons worked the thunder-blazing guns, and nelson stood the bravest in the fore-front o! pull, boys, etcetera. "a roaring cannon shot came an' hit the very spot where my leg goes click-an'-jumble in the socket o! and swept it overboard with the precious little hoard of pipe, an' tin, an' baccy in the pocket o! pull, boys, etcetera. "they took me down below, an' they laid me with a row of killed and wounded messmates on a table o! then up comes dr keg, an' says, here's a livin' leg i'll sew upon the stump if i am able o! pull, boys, etcetera. "this good and sturdy limb had belonged to fightin' tim, an' scarcely had they sewed it on the socket o! when up the hatch i flew, an' dashed among the crew, an' sprang on board the frenchman like a rocket o! pull, boys, etcetera. "'twas this that gained the day, for that leg it cleared the way-- and the battle raged like fury while it lasted o! then ceased the shot and shell to fall upon the swell, and the union-jack went bravely to the mast-head o! pull, boys, etcetera." we need scarcely say that this song was enthusiastically encored, and that the chorus was done full justice to by the audience, who picked it up at once and zang it with lusty vehemence. at the last word ben bolt nodded familiarly, thrust his hands into his pockets, and swaggered off whistling "yankee doodle". it was a matter of uncertainty where he had swaggered off to, but it was conjectured that he had gone on his journey to anywhere that might turn up. meanwhile blunderbore had been bobbing his head up and down behind the hummock in amazement at what he heard and saw, and when ben bolt made his exit he came forward. this was the signal for the two bears to discover him and rush on with a terrific roar. blunderbore instantly fetched them each a sounding whack on their skulls, leaped over both their backs, and bounded up the side of the iceberg, where he took refuge, and turned at bay on a little ice pinnacle constructed expressly for that purpose. an awful fight now ensued between the giant and the two bears. the pinnacle on which blunderbore stood was so low that the big bear, by standing up on its hind-legs, could just scratch his toes, which caused the giant to jump about continually, but the sides of the iceberg were so smooth that the bears could not climb up it. this difficulty, indeed, constituted the great and amusing feature of the fight, for no sooner did the little bear creep up to the edge of the pinnacle than the giant's tremendous club came violently down on his snout (which had been made of hard wood on purpose to resist the blows) and sent it sprawling back on the stage, where the big bear invariably chanced to be in the way, and always fell over it. then they both rose, and, roaring fearfully, renewed the attack, while blunderbore laid about him with the club ferociously. fortune, however, did not on this occasion favour the brave. the big bear at last caught the giant by the heel and pulled him to the ground; the little bear instantly seized him by the throat, and, notwithstanding his awful yells and struggles, it would have gone ill with blunderbore had not ben bolt opportunely arrived at that identical spot at that identical moment in the course of his travels. oh! it was a glorious thing to see the fear-nothing, dare-anything fashion in which, when he saw how matters stood, ben bolt threw down his stick and bundle, drew his cutlass, and attacked the two bears at once, single-handed, crying "come on," in a voice of thunder. and it was a satisfactory thing, to behold the way, in which he cut and slashed at their heads (the heads having been previously prepared for such treatment), and the agility he displayed in leaping over their backs and under their legs, and holding on by their tails, while they vainly endeavoured to catch him. the applause was frequent and prolonged, and the two esquimaux prisoners rolled about their burly figures and laughed till the tears ran down their fat cheeks. but when ben bolt suddenly caught the two bears by their tails, tied them together in a double knot, and fled behind a hummock, which the big bear passed on one side and the little bear on the other, and so, as a matter of course, stuck hard and fast, the laughter was excessive; and when the gallant british seaman again rushed forward, massacred the big bear with two terrific cuts, slew the little bear with one tremendous back-hander, and then sank down on one knee and pressed his hand to his brow as if he were exhausted, a cheer ran from stem to stern of the _dolphin_, the like of which had not filled the hull of that good ship, since she was launched upon her ocean home! it was just at this moment that whackinta chanced, curiously enough, to return to this spot in the course of _her_ wanderings. she screamed in horror at the sight of the dead bears, which was quite proper and natural, and then she started at the sight of the exhausted bolt, and smiled sweetly--which was also natural--as she hastened to assist and sympathise with him. ben bolt fell in love with her at once, and told her so off-hand, to the unutterable rage of blunderbore, who recovered from his wounds at that moment and, seizing the sailor by the throat, vowed he would kill, and quarter, and stew, and boil, and roast, and eat him in one minute if he didn't take care what he was about. the audience felt some fears for ben bolt at this point, but their delight knew no bounds when, shaking the giant off, and springing backwards, he buttoned up his coat and roared, rather than said, that though he were all the blunderbores and blunderbusses in the world rolled together, and changed into one immortal blunder-cannon, he didn't care a pinch of bad snuff for him, and would knock all the teeth in his head down his throat. this valorous threat he followed up by shaking his fist close under the giant's nose, and crying out: "come on!" but the giant did not come on; he fortunately recollected that he owed his life to the brave sailor, so he smiled, and, saying he would be his friend through life, insisted on seizing him by the hand and shaking it violently. thereafter he took ben bolt and whackinta by their right hands, and, leading them forward to the foot-lights, made them a long speech to the effect that he owed a debt of gratitude to the former for saving his life which he could never repay, and that he loved the latter too sincerely to stand in the way of her happiness. then he joined their right hands, and they went down on one knee, and he placed his hands on their heads, and looked up at the audience with a benignant smile, and the curtain fell amid rapturous cheers. in this play it seemed somewhat curious and unaccountable that whackinta forgot to enquire for her demolished baby, and appeared to feel no anxiety whatever about it; it was also left a matter of uncertainty whether ben bolt and his esquimaux bride returned to live happily during the remainder of their lives in england, or took up their permanent abode with blunderbore; but it is not our province to criticise--we merely chronicle events as they occurred. the entertainments were to conclude with a hornpipe from mivins, but just as that elastic individual had completed the first of a series of complicated evolutions, and was about to commence the second, a vociferous barking of the dogs was heard outside, accompanied by the sound of human voices. the benches were deserted in a moment and the men rushed upon deck, catching up muskets and cutlasses, which always stood in readiness, as they went. the sounds proceeded from a party of about twenty esquimaux, who had been sent from the camp with the stolen property, and with a humble request that the offence might be forgiven, and their chief and his wife returned to them. they were all unarmed, and the sincerity of their repentance was further attested by the fact that they brought back, not only the hatchet and telescope, but a large assortment of minor articles that had not been missed. of course the apology was accepted; and after speeches were delivered, and protestations of undying friendship made on both sides, the party were presented with a few trinkets and a plug of tobacco each, and sent back in a state of supreme happiness to their village, where for a week awatok kept the men of his tribe, and aninga the women, in a state of intense amazement by their minute descriptions of the remarkable doings of the white strangers. the friendship thus begun between the esquimaux and the _dolphin's_ crew was never once interrupted by any unpleasant collision during the months that they afterwards travelled and hunted in company. strength of muscle and promptitude in action are qualities which all nations in a savage state understand and respect; and the sailors proved that they possessed these qualities in a higher degree than themselves during the hardships and dangers incident to arctic life, while at the same time their seemingly endless resources and contrivances impressed the simple natives with the belief that white men could accomplish anything they chose to attempt. chapter seventeen. expeditions on foot--effects of darkness on dogs and men--the first death--caught in a trap--the esquimaux camp. "don't know how it is, an' i can't tell wot it is, but so it is," remarked buzzby to grim, a week after the first night of the theatricals, "that that 'ere actin' has done us all a sight o' good. here we are as merry as crickets every one, although we're short of fresh meat, and symptoms o' scurvy are beginnin' to show on some of us." "it's the mind havin' occupation, an' bein' prewented from broodin' over its misfortins," replied grim with the air of a philosopher. grim did not put this remark in turned commas, although he ought to have done so, seeing that it was quoted from a speech made by the captain to singleton the day before. "you see," continued grim, "we've been actin' every night for a week past; well, if we hadn't been actin', we should ha' been thinkin' an' sleepin'--too much of which, you see, ain't good for us, buzzby, and would never pay." buzzby was not quite sure of this, but contented himself by saying: "well, mayhap ye're right. i'm sorry it's to come to an end so soon, but there is no doubt that fresh meat is ondispensable--an' that reminds me, messmate, that i've not cleaned my musket for two days, an' it wouldn't do to go on a hunt with a foul piece, nohow. we start at o'clock a.m., don't we?" grim admitted that they did--remarking that it might just as well be p.m., for all the difference the _sun_ would make in it--and went below with buzzby. in the cabin active preparations were making for an extended hunting expedition, which the empty state of the larder rendered absolutely necessary. for a week past the only fresh provisions they had procured were a white fox and a rabbit, notwithstanding the exertions of meetuck, fred, and the doctor, who with three separate parties had scoured the country for miles round the ship. scurvy was now beginning to appear among them, and captain guy felt that although they had enough of salt provisions to last them the greater part of the winter, if used with economy, they could not possibly subsist on these alone. an extended expedition in search of seals and walrus was therefore projected. it was determined that this should consist of two parties, the one to proceed north, the other to travel south in the tracks of the esquimaux, who had left their temporary village in search of walrus--they also being reduced almost to a state of starvation. the plan of the expedition was as follows:-- one party, consisting of ten men, under bolton, the first mate, was to take the largest sledge, and the whole team of dogs, on which, with twelve days' provisions and their sleeping-bags, they were to proceed northward along the coast as far as possible; and, in the event of being unsuccessful, they were to turn homeward on the eighth day, and make the best of their way back on short allowance. the other party, consisting of fifteen men under saunders, the second mate, was to set off to the southward on foot, dragging a smaller sledge behind them, and endeavour to find the esquimaux, who, it was supposed, could not be far off, and would probably have fresh meat in their camp. it was a clear, cold, and beautiful starlight day, when the two parties started simultaneously on their separate journeys. the coruscations of the aurora were more than usually vivid, and the snow gave forth that sharp, dry, _crunching_ sound, under the heels of the men as they moved about, that denotes intense frost. "mind that you hug the land, mr bolton," said the captain at parting, "don't get farther out on the floes than you can help. to meet with a gale on the ice is no joke in these latitudes." the first mate promised obedience, and the second mate having been also cautioned to hug the land, and not to use their small supply of spirits for any other purpose than that of lighting the lamp, except in cases of the most urgent need, they set off with three hearty cheers, which were returned by captain guy and those who remained with him in the ship. all the able and effective men were sent on these expeditions; those who remained behind were all more or less affected with scurvy, except the captain himself, whose energetic nature seemed invulnerable, and whose flow of spirits never failed. indeed it is probable that to this hearty and vigorous temperament, under god, he owed his immunity from disease, for, since provisions began to fail, he, along with all his officers, had fared precisely like the men--the few delicacies they possessed having been reserved for the sick. unfortunately their stock of lime-juice was now getting low, and the crew had to be put on short allowance. as this acid is an excellent anti-scorbutic, or preventive of scurvy, as well as a cure, its rapid diminution was viewed with much concern by all on board. the long-continued absence of the sun, too, now began to tell more severely than ever on men and dogs. on the very day the expeditions took their departure, one of the latter, which had been left behind on account of illness, was attacked with a strange disease, of which several of the team eventually died before the winter came to an end. it was seized with spasms, and, after a few wild paroxysms, lapsed into a lethargic state. in this condition the animal functions went on apparently as well as usual, the appetite continued not only good but voracious. the disease was clearly mental. it barked furiously at nothing, and walked in straight or curved lines perseveringly; or at other times it remained for hours in moody silence, and then started off howling as if pursued. in thirty-six hours after the first attack the poor animal died, and was buried in the snow on store island. this was the first death that had occurred on board, and although it was only a dog, and not one of the favourites, its loss cast a gloom over the crew for several days. it was the first blow of the fell destroyer in the midst of their little community, which could ill spare the life even of one of the lower animals, and they felt as if the point of the wedge had now been entered, and might be driven farther home ere long. the expressive delight of the poor dogs on being admitted to the light of the cabin showed how ardently they longed for the return of the sun. it was now the beginning of december, and the darkness was complete. not the faintest vestige of twilight appeared, even at noon. midnight and noonday were alike. except when the stars and aurora were bright, there was not light enough to distinguish a man's form at ten paces distant, and a blacker mass than the surrounding darkness alone indicated where the high cliffs encompassed the bay of mercy. when, therefore, anyone came on deck, the first thing he felt on groping his way about was the cold noses of the dogs pushed against his hands, as they frisked and gambolled round him. they howled at the appearance of an accidental light, as if they hoped the sun, or at least the moon, were going to rise once more, and they rejoiced on being taken below, and leaped up in the men's faces for sympathy, and whined, and all but spoke, with excess of satisfaction. the effect of the monotony of long-continued darkness, and the absence of novelty, had much to do also with the indifferent health of many of the men. after the two expeditions were sent out, those who remained behind became much more low-spirited, and the symptoms of scurvy increased. in these circumstances captain guy taxed his inventive genius to the utmost to keep up their spirits and engage their minds. he assumed an air of bustling activity, and attached a degree of importance to the regular performance of the light duties of the ship that they did not in reality possess, apart from their influence as discipline. the cabin was swept and aired, the stove cleaned, the fittings dusted, the beds made, the tides, thermometers, and barometers registered; the logs posted up, clothes mended, food cooked, traps visited, etcetera, with the regularity of clockwork, and every possible plan adopted to occupy every waking hour, and to prevent the men from brooding over their position. when the labours of the day were over, plans were proposed for getting up a concert, or a new play, in order to surprise the absentees on their return. stories were told over and over again, and enjoyed if good, or valued far beyond their worth if bad. when old stories failed, and old books were read, new stories were invented, and here the genius of some was drawn out, while the varied information of others became of great importance. tom singleton, in particular, entertained the men with songs and lively tunes on the flute, and told stories, as one of them remarked, "like a book". joseph west, too, was an invaluable comrade in this respect. he had been a studious boy at school, and a lover of books of all kinds, especially books of travel and adventure. his memory was good, and his inventive powers excellent, so that he recalled wonderful and endless anecdotes from the unfathomable stores of his memory, strung them together into a sort of story, and told them in a soft, pleasant voice that captivated the ears of his audience; but poor west was in delicate health, and could not speak so long as his messmates would have wished. the rough life they led, and the frequent exposure to intense cold, had considerably weakened a frame which had never been robust, and an occasional cough, when he told a long story, sometimes warned him to desist. games, too, were got up. "hide-and-seek" was revived with all the enthusiasm of boyhood, and "fox-chase" was got up with tremendous energy. in all this the captain was the most earnest and vigorous, and in doing good to others he unconsciously did the greatest possible amount of good to himself; for his forgetfulness of self, and the activity of his mind in catering for the wants and amusements of his men, had the effect of imparting a cheerfulness to his manner, and a healthy tone to his mind, that tended powerfully to sustain and invigorate his body. but despite all this, the men grew worse, and a few of them showed such alarming symptoms that the doctor began to fear there would soon be a breach in their numbers. meanwhile saunders and his fifteen men trudged steadily to the southward, dragging their sledge behind them. the ice-floes, however, turned out to be very rugged and hummocky, and retarded them so much that they made but slow progress until they passed the red snow valley, and doubled the point beyond it. here they left the floes, and took to the natural highway afforded by the ice-belt, along which they sped more rapidly, and arrived at the esquimaux village in the course of about five hours. here all was deserted and silent. bits of seal and walrus, hide, and bones and tusks were scattered about in all directions, but no voices issued from the dome-shaped huts of snow. "they're the likest things to bee-skeps i ever saw," remarked saunders, as he and his party stood contemplating the little group of huts. "and they don't seem to care much for big doors." saunders referred here to the low tunnels, varying from three to twelve feet, that formed the entrance to each hut. "mayhap there's some o' them asleep inside," suggested tom green, the carpenter's mate; "suppose we go in and see?" "i dare say ye're no far wrong," replied the second mate, to whom the idea seemed to be a new one. "go in, davie summers, ye're a wee chap, and can bend your back better than the most o' us." davie laughed as he went down on his hands and knees, and, creeping in at the mouth of one of the tunnels, which barely permitted him to enter in that position, disappeared. several of the party at the same time paid similar visits to the other huts, but they all returned with the same remark, "empty". the interiors were begrimed with lamp-black and filth, and, from their appearance, seemed to have been deserted only a short time before. buzzby, who formed one of the party, rubbed his nose for some time in great perplexity, until he drew from davie summers the remark that his proboscis was red enough by nature and didn't need rubbing. "it's odd," he remarked, "they seems to ha' bin here for some time, and yit they've niver looked near the ship but once. wot's become on 'em _i_ don't know." "don't you?" said davie in a tone of surprise; "now that _is_ odd. one would have thought that a fellow who keeps his weather-eye so constantly open should know everything." "don't chaff; boy, but lend a hand to undo the sled-lashings. i see that mr saunders is agoin' to anchor here for the night." the second mate, who had been taking a hasty glance at the various huts of the village, selected two of the largest as a lodging for his men, and, having divided them into two gangs, ordered them to turn in and sleep as hard as possible. "'spose we may sup first," said summers in a whining tone of mock humility. "in coorse you may," answered tom green, giving the lad a push that upset him in the snow. "come here, buzzby, i want to speak to 'ee," said saunders, leading him aside. "it seems to me that the esquimaux canna be very far off, and i observe their tracks are quite fresh in the snow leadin' to the southward, so i mean to have a night march after them, but as the men seem pretty weel tired i'll only take two o' the strongest. who d'ye think might go?" "i'll go myself, sir." "very good, and who else, think 'ee? amos parr seems freshest." "i think tom green's the man wot can do it. i seed him capsize davie summers jist now in the snow, an' when a man can skylark, i always know he's got lots o' wind in 'im." "very good. then go, buzzby, and order him to get ready, and look sharp about it." "ay, ay, sir," cried buzzby, as he turned to prepare green for the march. in pursuance of this plan, an hour afterwards saunders and his two followers left the camp with their sleeping-bags and a day's provisions on their shoulders, having instructed the men to follow with the sledge at the end of five hours, which period was deemed sufficient time for rest and refreshment. for two hours the trio plodded silently onward over the icebelt by the light of a clear, starry sky. at the end of that time clouds began to gather to the westward, rendering the way less distinct, but still leaving sufficient light to render travelling tolerably easy. then they came to a part of the coast where the ice-belt clung close to a line of perpendicular cliffs of about three miles in extent. the ice-belt here was about twenty feet broad. on the left the cliffs referred to rose sheer up several hundred feet; on the right the ice-belt descended only about three feet to the floes. here our three adventurous travellers were unexpectedly caught in a trap. the tide rose so high that it raised the sea ice to a level with the ice-belt and, welling up between the two, completely overflowed the latter. the travellers pushed on as quickly as possible, for the precipices on their left forbade all hope of escape in that direction, while the gap between the ice-belt and the floes, which was filled with a gurgling mixture of ice and water, equally hemmed them in on the right. worse than all, the tide continued to rise, and when it reached half-way to their knees, they found it dangerous to advance for fear of stepping into rents and fissures which were no longer visible. "what's to be done noo?" enquired saunders, coming to a full stop, and turning to buzzby with a look of blank despair. "dunno," replied buzzby, with an equally blank look of despair, as he stood with his legs apart and his arms hanging down by his side--the very personification of imbecility. "if i wos a fly i'd know wot to do. i'd walk up the side o' that cliff till i got to a dry bit, and then i'd stick on. but, not bein' a fly, in coorse i can't." buzzby said this in a recklessly facetious tone, and tom green followed it up with a remark to the effect that "he'd be blowed if he ever wos in sich a fix in his life;" intimating his belief, at the same time, that his "toes wos freezin'." "no fear o' that," said the second mate, "they'll no' freeze as lang as they're in the water. we'll just have to stand here till the tide goes doon." saunders said this in a dogged tone, and immediately put his plan in force by crossing his arms and planting his feet firmly on the submerged ice and wide apart. buzzby and green, however, adopted the wiser plan of moving constantly about within a small circle, and after saunders had argued for half an hour as to the advantages of this plan, he followed their example. the tide rose above their knees, but they had fortunately on boots, made by the esquimaux, which were perfectly waterproof; their feet, therefore, although very cold, were quite dry. in an hour and three-quarters the ice-belt was again uncovered, and the half-frozen travellers resumed their march with the utmost energy. two hours later and they came to a wide expanse of level ground at the foot of the high cliffs, where a group of esquimaux huts, similar to those they had left, was descried. "they're all deserted too," remarked buzzby. but buzzby was wrong, for at that moment a very small and particularly fat little boy in a fox-skin dress appeared at the mouth of one of the low tunnels that formed the entrance to the nearest hut. this boy looked exactly like a lady's muff with a hairy head above it and a pair of feet below. the instant he observed the strangers he threw up his arms, uttered a shrill cry of amazement, and disappeared in the tunnel. next instant a legion of dogs rushed out of the huts, barking furiously, and on their heels came the entire population, creeping on their hands and knees out of the tunnel mouths like dark hairy monsters issuing from their holes. they had spears and knives of ivory with them, but a glance showed the two parties that they were friends, and in a few moments awatok and his comrades were chattering vociferously round the sailors, and endeavouring by word and sign to make themselves understood. the esquimaux received the three visitors and the rest of the sledge-party, who came up a few hours later, with the utmost hospitality. but we have not space to tell of how they dragged them into their smoky huts of snow, and how they offered them raw seals' flesh to eat; and how, on the sailors expressing disgust they laughed, and added moss mixed with oil to their lamps to enable them to cook their food; and how they managed, by signs and otherwise, to understand that the strangers had come in search of food, at which they (the esquimaux) were not surprised; and how they assured their visitors (also by means of signs) that they would go a-hunting with them on the following day, whereat they (the sailors) were delighted, and shook hands all round. neither have we space to tell of how the visitors were obliged to conform to custom, and sleep in the same huts with men, women, children, and dogs, and how they felt thankful to be able to sleep anywhere and anyhow, without being frozen. all this, and a great deal more, we are compelled to skip over here, and leave it unwillingly, to the vivid imagination of our reader. chapter eighteen. the hunting party--reckless driving--a desperate encounter with a walrus, etcetera. late in the day, by the bright light of the stars, the sailors and the esquimaux left the snow-huts of the village, and, travelling out to seaward on the floes, with dogs and sledges, lances and spears, advanced to do battle with the walrus. the northern lights were more vivid than usual, making the sky quite luminous, and there was a sharp freshness in the air, which, while it induced the hunters to pull their hoods more tightly round their faces, also sent their blood careering more briskly through their veins, as they drove swiftly over the ice in the esquimaux sledges. "did ye ever see walrusses a'fore, davie!" enquired buzzby who sat beside summers on the leading sledge. "none but what i've seed on this voyage." "they're remarkable creeturs," rejoined buzzby, slapping his hand on his thigh. "i've seed many a one in my time, an i can tell ye, lad, they're ugly customers. they fight like good 'uns, and give the esquimaux a deal o' trouble to kill them--they do." "tell me a story about 'em, buzzby--do, like a good chap," said davie summers, burying his nose in the skirts of his hairy garment to keep it warm. "you're a capital hand at a yarn, now, fire away." "a story, lad; i don't know as how i can exactly tell ye a story, but i'll give ye wot they calls a hanecdote. it wos about five years ago, more or less, i wos out in baffin's bay, becalmed off one o' the eskimo settlements, when we wos lookin' over the side at the lumps of ice floatin' past, up got a walrus not very far offshore, and out went half a dozen kayaks, as they call the eskimo men's boats, and they all sot on the beast at once. well, it wos one o' the brown walrusses, which is always the fiercest; and the moment he got the first harpoon he went slap at the man that threw it; but the fellow backed out, and then a cry was raised to let it alone, as it wos a brown walrus. one young eskimo, howsiver, would have another slap at it and went so close that the brute charged, upset the kayak, and ripped the man up with his tusks. seein' this, the other eskimos made a dash at it, and wounded it badly; but the upshot wos that the walrus put them all to flight and made off, clear away, with six harpoons fast in its hide." "buzzby's tellin' ye gammon," roared tom green, who rode on the second sledge in rear of that on which davie summers sat. "what is't all about?" "about gammon, of coorse," retorted davie. "keep yer mouth shut for fear your teeth freeze." "can't ye lead us a better road?" shouted saunders, who rode on the third sledge; "my bones are rattlin' about inside a' me like a bag o' ninepins." "give the dogs a cut, old fellow," said buzzby, with a chuckle and a motion of his arm to the esquimaux who drove his sledge. the esquimaux did not understand the words, but he quite understood the sly chuckle and the motion of the arm, so he sent the lash of the heavy whip with a loud crack over the backs of the team. "hold on for life!" cried davie, as the dogs sprang forward with a bound. the part they were about to pass over was exceedingly rough and broken, and buzzby resolved to give his shipmates a shake. the pace was tremendous. the powerful dogs drew their loads after them with successive bounds, which caused a succession of crashes as the sledges sprang from lump to lump of ice, and the men's teeth snapped in a truly savage manner. "ba-a-ck ye-e-r to-o-psails, will ye?" shouted amos parr. but the delighted esquimaux leader, who entered quite into the joke, had no intention whatever of backing his top-sails; he administered another crack to the team, which yelled madly, and, bounding over a wide chasm in the ice, came down with a crash which snapped the line of the leading dog and set it free. here buzzby caused the driver to pull up. "stop, ye varmint! come to an anchor!" said he. "is that a way to drive the poor dogs!" "ye might have stopped him sooner, i think," cried the second mate in wrath. "hai!" shouted the band of esquimaux, pointing to a hummock of ice, a few hundred yards in advance of the spot, on which they stood. instantly all were silent, and gazing intently ahead at a dark object that burst upwards through the ice. "a walrus!" whispered buzzby. "so it is," answered amos parr. "i've my doobts on that point," remarked saunders. before the doubts of the second mate could be resolved, the esquimaux uttered another exclamation and pointed to another dark object a quarter of a mile to the right. it was soon found that there were several of these ocean elephants sporting about in the neighbourhood, and bursting up the young ice that had formed on several holes, by using their huge heads as battering-rams. it was quickly arranged that the party should divide into three, and while a few remained behind to watch and restrain the dogs the remainder were to advance on foot to the attack. saunders, buzzby, amos parr, davie summers, and awatok formed one party, and advanced with two muskets and several spears towards the walrus that had been first seen, the sailors taking care to keep in rear of awatok in order to follow his lead, for they were as yet ignorant of the proper mode of attack. awatok led the party stealthily towards a hummock, behind which he caused them to crouch until the walrus should dive. this it did in a few minutes, and then they all rushed from their place of concealment towards another hummock that lay about fifty yards from the hole. just as they reached it, and crouched, the walrus rose, snorting the brine from its shaggy muzzle, and lashing the water into foam with its flippers. "losh, what a big 'un!" exclaimed saunders in amazement; and well he might, for this was an unusually large animal, more like an elephant in size than anything else. it had two enormous ivory tusks, with which it tore and pounded large fragments from the ice-tables, while it barked like a gigantic dog, and rolled its heavy form about in sport. awatok now whispered to his comrades, and attempted to get them to understand that they must follow him as fast as possible at the next run. suddenly the walrus dived. awatok rushed forward, and in another instant stood at the edge of the hole with his spear in readiness in his right hand, and the coil of line in his left. the others joined him instantly, and they had scarcely come up when the huge monster again rose to the surface. saunders and buzzby fired at his head the moment it appeared above water, and awatok at the same time planted a spear in his breast, and ran back with the coil. the others danced about in an excited state, throwing their spears and missing their mark, although it was a big one, frequently. "give him a lance-thrust, amos," cried saunders, reloading his piece. but amos could not manage it, for the creature lashed about so furiously that, although he made repeated attempts, he failed to do more than prick its tough sides, and render it still more savage. buzzby, too, made several daring efforts to lance it, but failed, and nearly slipped into the hole in his recklessness. it was a wild scene of confusion-- the spray was dashed over the ice round the hole, and the men, as they ran about in extreme excitement, slipped and occasionally tumbled in their haste, while the maddened brute glared at them like a fiend, and bellowed in its anger and pain. suddenly it dived, leaving the men staring at each other. the sudden cessation of noise and turmoil had a very strange effect. "is't away?" enquired saunders with a look of chagrin. he was answered almost instantly by the walrus reappearing, and making furious efforts by means of its flippers and tusks to draw itself out upon the ice, while it roared with redoubled energy. the shot that was instantly fired seemed to have no effect, and the well-directed harpoon of awatok was utterly disregarded by it. amos parr, however, gave it a lance-thrust that caused it to howl vehemently, and dyed the foam with its blood. "hand me a spear, buzzby," cried saunders, "the musket-balls seem to hurt him as little as peas. oot o' my gait." the second mate made a rush so tremendous that something awful would infallibly have resulted had he not struck his foot against a bit of ice and fallen violently on his breast. the impetus with which he had started shot him forward till his head was within a foot of the walrus's grim muzzle. for one moment the animal looked at the man as if it were surprised at his audacity, and then it recommenced its frantic struggles, snorting blood, and foam, and water into saunders's face as he scrambled out of its way. immediately after, awatok fixed another harpoon in its side, and it dived again. the struggle that ensued was tremendous, and the result seemed for a long time to be doubtful. again and again shots were fired and spear-thrusts made with effect, but the huge creature seemed invulnerable. its ferocity and strength remained unabated, while the men--sailors and esquimaux alike--were nearly exhausted. the battle had now lasted three hours; the men were panting from exertion; the walrus, still bellowing, was clinging to the edge of the ice, which for several yards round the hole was covered with blood and foam. "wot a brute it is!" said buzzby, sitting down on a lump of ice and looking at it in despair. "we might have killed it lang ago had i not wet my gun," growled saunders, regarding his weapon, which was completely drenched, with a look of contempt. "give it another poke, awatok," cried amos parr; "you'll know best whereabouts its life lies; i can make nothin' o't." awatok obeyed, and gave it a thrust under the left flipper that seemed to reach its heart, for it fell back into the water and struggled violently. at the same moment davie summers mounted to the top of a hummock, part of which overhung the pool, and launched a harpoon down upon its back. this latter blow seemed to revive its ferocity, for it again essayed to clamber out on the ice, and looked up at davie with a glance of seeming indignation, while buzzby, who had approached, fell backward as he retreated from before it. at the same time saunders succeeded in getting his musket to go off. the ball struck it in the eye, and, entering the brain, caused instant death, a result which was greeted with three enthusiastic cheers. the getting of this enormous creature out of the water would have been a matter of no small difficulty had there not been such a large party present. even as it was, it took them a considerable time to accomplish this feat, and to cut it up and pack it on the sledges. while the battle above described was going on, two smaller walrus had been killed and secured, and the esquimaux were in a state of great glee, for previous to the arrival of the sailors they had been unsuccessful in their hunts, and had been living on short allowance. on returning home there was a general feasting and merry-making, and saunders felt that if he remained there long they would not only eat up their own meat, but his also. he therefore resolved to return immediately to the ship with his prize, and leave part of his men behind to continue the hunt until he should return with the sledge. but he was prevented from putting this intention into practice by a hurricane which burst over the arctic regions with inconceivable bitterness, and for two days kept all the inhabitants of the snow-village confined to their huts. this hurricane was the fiercest that had swept over these bleak regions of ice since the arrival of the _dolphin_. the wind shrieked, as it swept round the cliffs, and down the ravines, and out upon the frozen sea, as if a legion of evil spirits were embodied and concentrated in each succeeding blast. the snow-drift rose in solid masses, whirled madly round for a few seconds, and then was caught by the blast, and swept away like sheets of white flame. the thermometer stood at degrees below zero, a temperature that was mild compared with what it usually had been of late, but the fierce wind abstracted heat from everything exposed to it so rapidly that neither man nor beast could face it for a moment. buzzby got a little bit of his chin frozen while he merely put his head out at the door of the hut to see how the weather looked, and davie summers had one of his fingers slightly frozen while in the act of carrying in one of the muskets that had been left outside by mistake. as for the esquimaux, they recked not of the weather. their snow-huts were warm, and their mouths were full, so like wise men and women they waited patiently within-doors till the storm should blow itself out. the doings of these poor people were very curious. they ate voraciously, and evidently preferred their meat raw. but when the sailors showed disgust at this, they at once made a small fire of moss, mingled with blubber, over which they half-cooked their food. their mode of procuring fire was curious. two small stones were taken, one a piece of white quartz, the other a piece of iron-stone, and struck together smartly; the few sparks that flew out were thrown upon a kind of white down, found on the willows, under which was placed a lump of dried moss. it was usually a considerable time before they succeeded in catching a spark, but once caught they had no difficulty in blowing it into a flame. they had also an ingenious contrivance for melting snow. this was a flat stone, supported by two other stones, and inclined slightly at one end; upon this flat stone a lump of snow was placed, and below it was kindled a small fire of moss and blubber. when the stone became heated, the snow melted and flowed down the incline into a small seal-skin cup placed there to catch it. during the continuance of the storm the sailors shared the food and lodging of these esquimaux. they were a fat, oily, hospitable, dirty race, and vied with each other in showing kindness to those who had been thus thrown into their society. as davie summers expressed it, "they were regular trumps"; and, according to buzzby's opinion, "they wos the jolliest set o' human walrusses wot he had ever comed across in all his travels, and he ought to know, for he had always kep' his weather-eye open, he had, and wouldn't give in on that p'int, he wouldn't, to no man livin'." chapter nineteen. the northern party--a narrow escape, and a great discovery--esquimaux again, and a joyful surprise. it is interesting to meditate, sometimes, on the deviousness of the paths by which men are led in earthly affairs--even when the starting-point and object of pursuit are the same. the two parties which left the _dolphin_ had for their object the procuring of fresh food. the one went south and the other north, but their field was the same--the surface of the frozen sea and the margin of the ice-girt shore. yet how different their experiences and results were the sequel will show. as we have already said, the northern party was in command of bolton, the first mate, and consisted of ten men, among whom were our hero fred, peter grim, o'riley, and meetuck, with the whole team of dogs, and the large sledge. being fine weather when they set out, they travelled rapidly, making twenty miles, as near as they could calculate, in the first six hours. the dogs pulled famously, and the men stepped out well at first, being cheered and invigorated mentally by the prospect of an adventurous excursion and fresh meat. at the end of the second day they buried part of their stock of provisions at the foot of a conspicuous cliff, intending to pick it up on their return, and, thus lightened, they advanced more rapidly, keeping farther out on the floes, in hopes of falling in with walrus or seals. their hopes, however, were doomed to disappointment. they got only one seal, and that was a small one--scarcely sufficient to afford a couple of meals to the dogs. they were "misfortunate entirely", as o'riley remarked, and, to add to their misfortunes, the floe-ice became so rugged that they could scarcely advance at all. "things grow worse and worse," remarked grim, as the sledge, for the twentieth time that day, plunged into a crack in the ice, and had to be unloaded ere it could be got out. "the sledge won't stand much o' sich work, and if it breaks--good-bye to it, for it won't mend without wood, and there's none here." "no fear of it," cried bolton encouragingly; "it's made of material as tough as your own sinews, grim, and won't give way easily, as the thumps it has withstood already prove. has it never struck you, fred," he continued, turning to our hero, who was plodding forward in silence,--"has it never struck you that when things in this world get very bad, and we begin to feel inclined to give up, they somehow or other begin to get better." "why, yes, i have noticed that; but i have a vague sort of feeling just now that things are not going to get better. i don't know whether it's this long-continued darkness, or the want of good food, but i feel more downcast than i ever was in my life before." bolton's remark had been intended to cheer, but fred's answer proved that a discussion of the merits of the question was not likely to have a good effect on the men, whose spirits were evidently very much cast down, so he changed the subject. fortunately at that time an incident occurred which effected the mate's purpose better than any efforts man could have made. it has frequently happened that when arctic voyagers have, from sickness and long confinement during a monotonous winter, become so depressed in spirits that games and amusements of every kind failed to rouse them from their lethargic despondency, sudden danger has given to their minds the needful impulse, and effected a salutary change, for a time at least, in their spirits. such was the case at the present time. the men were so worn with hard travel and the want of fresh food, and depressed by disappointment and long-continued darkness, that they failed in their attempts to cheer each other, and at length relapsed into moody silence. fred's thoughts turned constantly to his father, and he ceased to remark cheerfully, as was his wont, on passing objects. even o'riley's jests became few and far between, and at last ceased altogether. bolton alone kept up his spirits, and sought to cheer his men, the feeling of responsibility being, probably, the secret of his superiority over them in this respect. but even bolton's spirits began to sink at last. while they were thus groping sadly along among the hummocks, a large fragment of ice was observed to break off from a berg just over their heads. "look out! follow me, quick!" shouted the first mate in a loud, sharp voice of alarm, at the same time darting in towards the side of the berg. the startled men obeyed the order just in time, for they had barely reached the side of the berg when the enormous pinnacle fell, and was shattered into a thousand fragments on the spot they had just left. a rebounding emotion sent the blood in a crimson flood to fred's forehead, and this was followed by a feeling of gratitude to the almighty for the preservation of himself and the party. leaving the dangerous vicinity of the bergs, they afterwards kept more inshore. "what can yonder mound be?" said fred, pointing to an object that was faintly seen at a short distance off upon the bleak shore. "an esquimaux hut, maybe," replied grim. "what think'ee, meetuck?" meetuck shook his head and looked grave, but made no reply. "why don't you answer?" said bolton; "but come along, we'll soon see." meetuck now made various ineffectual attempts to dissuade the party from examining the mound, which turned out to be composed of stones heaped upon each other; but, as all the conversation of which he was capable, failed to enlighten his companions, as to what the pile was, they instantly set to work to open a passage into the interior, believing that it might contain fresh provisions, as the esquimaux were in the habit of thus preserving their superabundant food from bears and wolves. in half an hour a hole large enough for a man to creep through was formed, and fred entered, but started back with an exclamation of horror on finding himself in the presence of a human skeleton, which was seated on the ground in the centre of this strange tomb with its head and arms resting on the knees. "it must be an esquimaux grave," said fred, as he retreated hastily; "that must be the reason why meetuck tried to hinder us." "i should like to see it," said grim, stooping and thrusting his head and shoulders into the hole. "what have you got there?" asked bolton, as grim drew back and held up something in his hand. "don't know exactly. it's like a bit o' cloth." on examination the article was found to be a shred of coarse cloth, of a blue or black colour, and, being an unexpected substance to meet with in such a place, bolton turned round with it to meetuck in the hope of obtaining some information. but meetuck was gone. while the sailors were breaking into the grave, meetuck had stood aloof with a displeased expression of countenance, as if he were angry at the rude desecration of a countryman's tomb; but the moment his eye fell on the shred of cloth an expression of mingled surprise and curiosity crossed his countenance, and without uttering a word he slipped noiselessly into the hole, from which he almost immediately issued bearing several articles in his hand. these he held up to view, and with animated words and gesticulations explained that this was the grave of a white man, not of a native. the articles he brought out were a pewter plate and a silver table-spoon. "there's a name of some kind written here," said bolton, as he carefully scrutinised the spoon. "look here, fred, your eyes are better than mine; see if you can make it out." fred took it with a trembling hand, for a strange feeling of dread had seized possession of his heart, and he could scarcely bring himself to look upon it. he summoned up courage, however, but at the first glance his hand fell down by his side, and a dimness came over his eyes, for the word "_pole star_" was engraven on the handle. he would have fallen to the ground had not bolton caught him. "don't give way, lad, the ship may be all right. perhaps this is one o' the crew that died." fred did not answer, but, recovering himself with a strong effort, he said: "pull down the stones, men." the men obeyed in silence, and the poor boy sat down on a rock to await the result in trembling anxiety. a few minutes sufficed to disentomb the skeleton, for the men sympathised with their young comrade, and worked with all their energies. "cheer up, fred," said bolton, coming and laying his hand on the youth's shoulder, "it's _not_ your father. there is a bit of _black_ hair sticking to the scalp." with a fervent expression of thankfulness fred rose and examined the skeleton, which had been placed in a sort of sack of skin, but was destitute of clothing. it was quite dry, and must have been there a long time. nothing else was found, but from the appearance of the skull, and the presence of the plate and spoon, there could be no doubt that it was that of one of the _pole star's_ crew. it was now resolved that they should proceed along the coast and examine every creek and bay for traces of the lost vessel. "oh, bolton, my heart misgives me!" said fred, as they drove along; "i fear that they have all perished." "niver a bit sir," said o'riley in a sympathising tone, "yon chap must have died and been buried here be the crew as they wint past." "you forget that sailors don't bury men under mounds of stone, with pewter plates and spoons beside them." o'riley was silenced, for the remark was unanswerable. "he may ha' bin left or lost on the shore, and been found by the esquimaux," suggested peter grim. "is that not another tomb?" enquired one of the men, pointing towards an object which stood on the end of a point or cape towards which they were approaching. ere anyone could reply, their ears were saluted by the well-known bark of a pack of esquimaux dogs. in another moment they dashed into the midst of a snow village, and were immediately surrounded by the excited natives. for some time no information could be gleaned from their interpreter, who was too excited to make use of his meagre amount of english. they observed, however, that the natives, although much excited, did not seem to be so much surprised at the appearance of white men amongst them as those were whom they had first met with near the ship. in a short time meetuck apparently had expended all he had to say to his friends, and turned to make explanations to bolton in a very excited tone; but little more could be made out than that what he said had some reference to white men. at length, in desperation, he pointed to a large hut which seemed to be the principal one of the village, and, dragging the mate towards it, made signs to him to enter. bolton hesitated an instant. "he wants you to see the chief of the tribe, no doubt," said fred; "you'd better go in at once." a loud voice shouted something in the esquimaux language from within the hut. at the sound fred's heart beat violently, and pushing past the mate he crept through the tunnelled entrance and stood within. there was little furniture in this rude dwelling. a dull flame flickered in a stone lamp which hung from the roof, and revealed the figure of a large esquimaux reclining on a couch of skins at the raised side of the hut. the man looked up hastily as fred entered, and uttered a few unintelligible words. "father!" cried fred, gasping for breath, and springing forward. captain ellice, for it was indeed he, started with apparent difficulty and pain into a sitting posture, and, throwing back his hood, revealed a face whose open, hearty, benignant expression shone through a coat of dark brown which long months of toil and exposure had imprinted on it. it was thin, however, and careworn, and wore an expression that seemed to be the result of long-continued suffering. "father!" he exclaimed in an earnest tone; "who calls me father?" "don't you know me, father?--don't you remember fred?--look at--" fred checked himself, for the wild look of his father frightened him. "ah! these dreams," murmured the old man, "i wish they did not come so--" placing his hand on his forehead he fell backwards in a state of insensibility into the arms of his son. chapter twenty. keeping it down--mutual explanations--death--new-year's day. it need scarcely be said that the sailors outside did not remain long in ignorance of the unexpected and happy discovery related in the last chapter. bolton, who had crept in after fred, with proper delicacy of feeling retired the moment he found how matters stood, and left father and son to expend, in the privacy of that chamber of snow, those feelings and emotions which can be better imagined than described. the first impulse of the men was to give three cheers, but bolton checked them in the bud. "no, no, lads. we must hold on," he said in an eager but subdued voice. "doubtless it would be pleasant to vent our feelings in a hearty cheer, but it would startle the old gentleman inside. get along with you, and let us get ready a good supper." "oh morther!" exclaimed o'riley, holding on to his sides as if he believed what he said, "me biler'll bust av ye don't let me screech." "squeeze down the safety-valve a bit longer, then," cried bolton, as they hurried along with the whole population to the outskirts of the village. "now, then, ye may fire away; they won't hear ye--huzza!" a long enthusiastic cheer distantly burst from the sailors, and was immediately followed by a howl of delight from the esquimaux, who capered round their visitors with uncouth gestures and grinning faces. entering one of the largest huts, preparations for supper were promptly begun. the esquimaux happened to be well supplied with walrus flesh, so the lamps were replenished, and the hiss of the frying steaks and dropping fat speedily rose above all other sounds. meanwhile fred and his father, having mutually recovered somewhat of their wonted composure, began to tell each other the details of their adventures since they last met, while the former prepared a cup of coffee and a steak for their mutual comfort. "but, father," said fred, busying himself at the lamp, "you have not yet told me how you came here, and what has become of the _pole star_, and how it was that one of your men came to be buried in the esquimaux fashion, and how you got your leg broken?" "truly, fred, i have not told you all that; and to give it you all in detail will afford us many a long hour of converse hereafter, if it please god, whose tenderness and watchful care of me has never failed. but i can give you a brief outline of it thus:-- "i got into baffin's bay and made a good fishing of it the first year, but was beset in the ice and compelled to spend two winters in these regions. the third year we were liberated, and had almost got fairly on our homeward voyage, when a storm blew us to the north, and carried us up here. then our good brig was nipped and went to the bottom, and all the crew were lost except myself and one man. we succeeded in leaping from one piece of loose ice to another until we reached the solid floe and gained the land, where we were kindly received by the esquimaux. but poor wilson did not survive long. his constitution had never been robust, and he died of consumption a week after we landed. the esquimaux buried him after their own fashion, and, as i afterwards found, had buried a plate and a spoon along with him. these, with several other articles, had been washed ashore from the wreck. since then i have been living the life of an esquimaux, awaiting an opportunity of escape, either by a ship making its appearance or a tribe of natives travelling south. i soon picked up their language, and was living in comparative comfort when, during a sharp fight i chanced to have with a polar bear, i fell and broke my leg. i have lain here for many months and have suffered much, fred; but, thank god, i am now almost well, and can walk a little, though not yet without pain." "dear father," said fred, "_how_ terribly you must have felt the want of kind hands to nurse you during those dreary months, and how lonely you must have been!" it were impossible here to enter minutely into the details of all that captain ellice related to fred during the next few days, while they remained together in the esquimaux village. to tell of the dangers, the adventures, and the hairbreadth escapes that the crew of the _pole star_ went through before the vessel finally went down would require a whole volume. we must pass it all over, and also the account of the few days that followed, during which sundry walrus were captured, and return to the _dolphin_, to which captain ellice had been conveyed on the sledge, carefully wrapped up in deer-skins and tended by fred. a party of the esquimaux accompanied them, and as a number of the natives from the other village had returned with saunders and his men to the ship, the scene she presented, when all parties were united, was exceedingly curious and animated. the esquimaux soon built quite a little town of snow-huts all round the _dolphin_, and the noise of traffic and intercourse was peculiarly refreshing to the ears of those who had long been accustomed to the death-like stillness of an arctic winter. the beneficial effect of the change on men and dogs was instantaneous. their spirits rose at once, and this, with the ample supply of fresh meat that had been procured, soon began to drive scurvy away. there was one dark spot, however, in this otherwise pleasant scene--one impending event that cast a gloom over all. in his narrow berth in the cabin joseph west lay dying. scurvy had acted more rapidly on his delicate frame than had been expected. despite tom singleton's utmost efforts and skill the fell disease gained the mastery, and it soon became evident that this hearty and excellent man was to be taken away from them. during the last days of his illness captain ellice was his greatest comfort and his constant companion. it was on christmas-day that west died. next day the body of joseph west was put in a plain deal coffin and conveyed to store island, where it was placed on the ground. they had no instruments that could penetrate the hard rock, so were obliged to construct a tomb of stones, after the manner of the esquimaux, under which the coffin was laid and left in solitude. new-year's day came, and preparations were made to celebrate the day with the usual festivities. but the recent death had affected the crew too deeply to allow them to indulge in the unrestrained hilarity of that season. prayers were read in the morning, and both captain guy and captain ellice addressed the men feelingly in allusion to their late shipmate's death and their own present position. a good dinner was also prepared, and several luxuries served out, among which were the materials for the construction of a large plum-pudding. but no grog was allowed, and they needed it not. as the afternoon advanced, stories were told, and even songs were sung, but these were of a quiet kind, and the men seemed, from an innate feeling of propriety, to suit them to the occasion. old friends were recalled, and old familiar scenes described. the hearths of home were spoken of with a depth of feeling that showed how intense was the longing to be seated round them again, and future prospects were canvassed with keen interest and with hopeful voices. new year's day came and went, and when it was gone the men of the _dolphin_ did not say, "what a jolly day it was!" they _said_ little or nothing, but, long after, they _thought_ of it as a bright spot in their dreary winter in the bay of mercy--as a day in which they had enjoyed earnest, glad, and sober communings of heart. chapter twenty one. first gleam of light--trip to welcome the sun--bears and strange discoveries--o'riley is reckless--first view of the sun. the wisest of men has told us that, "it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun," but only those who spend a winter in the arctic regions can fully appreciate the import of that inspired saying. it is absolutely essential to existence that the bright beams of the great luminary should fall on animal as well as plant. most of the poor dogs died for want of this blessed light, and had it been much longer withheld, doubtless our navigators would have sunk also. about the th of january a faint gleam of light on the horizon told of the coming day. it was hailed with rapture, and, long before the bright sun himself appeared on the southern horizon, the most of the men made daily excursions to the neighbouring hill-tops to catch sight of as much as possible of his faint rays. day by day those rays expanded, and at last a sort of _dawn_ enlightened a distant portion of their earth, which, faint though it was at first, had much the appearance in their eyes of a bright day. but time wore on, and _real_ day appeared! the red sun rose in all its glory, showed a rim of its glowing disc above the frozen sea, and then sank, leaving a long gladsome smile of twilight behind. this great event happened on the th of february, and would have occurred sooner but for the high cliffs to the southward, which intervened between the ship and the horizon. on the day referred to a large party was formed to go to the top of the cliffs at red snow valley to welcome back the sun. "there's scarce a man left behind," remarked captain guy, as they started on this truly joyous expedition. "only mizzle, sir," said buzzby, slapping his hands together, for the cold was intense; "he said as how he'd stop and have dinner ready agin our return." there was a general laugh from the men, who knew that the worthy cook had other reasons for not going--namely, his shortness of wind and his inveterate dislike to ascend hills. "come, fred," cried captain ellice, who had completely recovered from his accident, "i shall be quite jealous of your friend singleton if you bestow so much of your company on him. walk with me, sirrah, i command you, as i wish to have a chat." "you are unjust to me," replied fred, taking his father's arm, and falling with him a little to the rear of the party; "tom complains that i have quite given him up of late." "och! isn't it a purty sight," remarked o'riley to mivins, "to see us all goin' out like good little childers to see the sun rise of a beautiful mornin' like this?" "so it _h_is," answered mivins, "but i wish it wasn't quite so cold." it was indeed cold--so cold that the men had to beat their hands together, and stamp their feet, and rush about like real children, in order to keep their bodies warm. this month of february was the coldest they had yet experienced. several times the thermometer fell to the unexampled temperature of degrees below zero, or degrees below the freezing-point of water. when we remind our young readers that the thermometer in england seldom falls so low as zero, except in what we term weather of the utmost severity, they may imagine--or, rather, they may try to imagine--what degrees _below_ zero must have been. it was not quite so cold as that upon this occasion, otherwise the men could not have shown face to it. "let's have leap-frog," shouted davie; "we can jump along as well as walk along. hooray! _hup_!" the "hup" was rather an exclamation of necessity than of delight inasmuch as that it was caused by davie coming suddenly down flat on the ice in the act of vainly attempting to go leap-frog over mivins's head. "that's your sort," cried amos parr; "down with you, buzzby." buzzby obeyed, and amos, being heavy and past the agile time of life, leaped upon, instead of over, his back, and there stuck. "not so high, lads," cried captain guy. "come, mr saunders, give us a back." "faix, he'd better go on his hands an' knees." "that's it! over you go; hurrah, lads!" in five minutes nearly the whole crew were panting from their violent exertions, and those who did not, or could not, join, panted as much from laughter. the desired result, however, was speedily gained. they were all soon in a glow of heat, and bade defiance to the frost. an hour's sharp climb brought the party almost to the brow of the hill, from which they hoped to see the sun rise for the first time for nearly five months. just as they were about to pass over a ridge in the cliffs, captain guy, who had pushed on in advance with tom singleton, was observed to pause abruptly and make signals for the men to advance with caution. he evidently saw something unusual, for he crouched behind a rock and peeped over it. hastening up as silently as possible, they discovered that a group of polar bears were amusing themselves on the other side of the cliffs, within long gunshot. unfortunately not one of the party had brought firearms. intent only on catching a sight of the sun, they had hurried off, unmindful of the possibility of their catching sight of anything else. they had not even a spear, and the few oak cudgels that some carried, however effectual they might have proved at donnybrook, were utterly worthless there. there were four large bears and a young one, and the gambols they performed were of the most startling as well as amusing kind. but that which interested and surprised the crew most was the fact that these bears were playing with barrels, and casks, and tent-poles, and sails! they were engaged in a regular frolic with these articles, tossing them up in the air, pawing them about, and leaping over them like kittens. in these movements they displayed their enormous strength several times. their leaps, although performed with the utmost ease, were so great as to prove the iron nature of their muscles. they tossed the heavy casks, too, high in the air like tennis-balls; and in two instances, while the crew were watching them, dashed a cask in pieces with a slight blow of their paws. the tough canvas yielded before them like sheets of paper, and the havoc they committed was wonderful to behold. "most extraordinary!" exclaimed captain guy, after watching them for some time in silence. "i cannot imagine where these creatures can have got hold of such things. were not the goods at store island all right this morning, mr bolton?" "yes, sir, they were." "nothing missing from the ship!" "no, sir, nothing." "it's most unaccountable." "captain guy," said o'riley, addressing his commander with a solemn face, "haven't ye more nor wance towld me the queer thing in the deserts they calls the _mirage_?" "i have," answered the captain with a puzzled look. "an' didn't ye say there was something like it in the polar seas, that made ye see flags, an' ships, an' things o' that sort when there was no sich things there at all?" "true, o'riley, i did." "faix, then, it's my opinion that yon bears is a mirage, an' the sooner we git out o' their way the better." a smothered laugh greeted this solution of the difficulty. "i think i can give a better explanation--begging your pardon, o'riley," said captain ellice, who had hitherto looked on with a sly smile. "more than a year ago, when i was driven past this place to the northward, i took advantage of a calm to land a supply of food, and a few stores and medicines, to be a stand-by in case my ship should be wrecked to the northward. ever since the wreck actually took place i have looked forward to this _cache_ of provisions as a point of refuge on my way south. as i have already told you, i have never been able to commence the southward journey, and now i don't require these things, which is lucky, for the bears seem to have appropriated them entirely." "had i known of them sooner, captain," said captain guy, "the bears should not have had a chance." "that accounts for the supply of tobacco and sticking-plaster we found in the bear's stomach," remarked fred, laughing. "true, boy, yet it surprises me that they succeeded in breaking into my _cache_, for it was made of heavy masses of stone, many of which required two and three men to lift them, even with the aid of handspikes." "what's wrong with o'riley?" said fred, pointing to that eccentric individual, who was gazing intently at the bears, muttering between his teeth, and clenching his cudgel nervously. "shure, it's a cryin' shame," he soliloquised in an undertone, quite unconscious that he was observed, "that ye should escape, ye villains; av' i only had a musket now--but i han't. arrah, av' it was only a spear! be the mortial! i think i could crack the skull o' the small wan! faix, then; i'll try!" at the last word, before anyone was aware of his intentions, this son of erin, whose blood was now up, sprang down the cliffs towards the bears, flourishing his stick, and shouting wildly as he went. the bears instantly paused in their game, but showed no disposition to retreat. "come back, you madman!" shouted the captain; but the captain shouted in vain. "stop! halt! come back!" chorused the crew. but o'riley was deaf; he had advanced to within a few yards of the bears, and was rushing forward to make a vigorous attack on the little one. "he'll be killed!" exclaimed fred in dismay. "follow me, men," shouted the captain, as he leaped the ridge; "make all the noise you can." in a moment the surrounding cliffs were reverberating with the loud halloos and frantic yells of the men, as they burst suddenly over the ridge, and poured down upon the bears like a torrent of maniacs! bold though they were they couldn't stand this. they turned tail and fled, followed by the disappointed howls of o'riley, and also by his cudgel, which he hurled violently after them as he pulled up. having thus triumphantly put the enemy to flight the party continued their ascent of the hill and soon gained the summit. "there it is!" shouted fred, who, in company with mivins, first crossed the ridge and tossed his arms in the air. the men cheered loudly as they hurried up, and one by one emerged into a red glow of sunshine. it could not be termed _warm_, for it had no power in that frosty atmosphere, and only a small portion of the sun's disc was visible. but his _light_ was on every crag and peak around; and as the men sat down in groups, and, as it were, bathed in the sunshine, winking at the bright gleam of light with half-closed eyes, they declared that it _felt_ warm, and wouldn't hear anything to the contrary, although saunders, true to his nature, endeavoured to prove to them that the infinitely small degree of heat imparted by such feeble rays could not by any possibility be _felt_ except in imagination. but saunders was outvoted. indeed, under the circumstances, he had not a chance of proving his point; for the more warm the dispute became the greater was the amount of animal heat that was created, to be placed, falsely, to the credit of the sun. patience, however, is a virtue which is sure to meet with a reward. the point which saunders failed to prove by argument was pretty well proved to everyone (though not admitted) by the agency of john frost. that remarkably bitter individual nestled round the men as they sat sunning themselves, and soon compelled them to leap up and apply to other sources for heat. they danced about vigorously, and again took to leap-frog. then they tried their powers at the old familiar games of home. hop-step-and-jump raised the animal thermometer considerably; and the standing leap, running leap, and high leap sent it up many degrees. but a general race brought them almost to a summer temperature, and at the same time, most unexpectedly, secured to them a hare. this little creature, of which very few had yet been procured, darted in an evil hour out from behind a rock right in front of the men, who having begun the race for sport now continued it energetically for profit. a dozen sticks were hurled at the luckless hare, and one of these felled it to the ground. after this they returned home in triumph, keeping up all the way an animated dispute as to the amount of heat shed upon them by the sun, and upon that knotty question: "who killed the hare?" neither point was settled when they reached the _dolphin_, and, we may add, for the sake of the curious reader, neither point is settled yet. chapter twenty two. "the arctic sun"--rats! rats! rats!--a hunting-party--out on the floes--hardships. among the many schemes that were planned and carried out for lightening the long hours of confinement to their wooden home in the arctic regions, was the newspaper started by fred ellice, and named, as we have already mentioned, _the arctic sun_. it was so named because, as fred stated in his first leading article, it was intended to throw light on many things at a time when there was no other sun to cheer them. we cannot help regretting that it is not in our power to present a copy of this well-thumbed periodical to our readers; but being of opinion that _something_ is better than _nothing_, we transcribe the following extract as a specimen of the contributions from the forecastle. it was entitled-- "john buzzby's oppinyuns o' things in gin'ral." "mr editer,--as you was so good as to ax from me a contribootion to your waluable peeryoddical, i beg heer to stait that this heer article is intended as a gin'ral summery o' the noos wots agoin'. your reeders will be glad to no that of late the wether's bin gittin' colder, but they'll be better pleased to no that before the middle o' nixt sumer it's likely to git a long chawk warmer. there's a gin'ral complaint heer that mivins has bin eatin' the shuger in the pantry, an' that's wot's makin' it needfull to put us on short allowance. davie summers sais he seed him at it, and it's a dooty the guvermint owes to the publik to have the matter investigated. it's gin'rally expected, howsever, that the guvermint won't trubble its hed with the matter. there's bin an onusual swarmin' o' rats in the ship of late, an' davie summers has had a riglar hunt after them. the lad has becum more than ornar expert with his bow an' arrow, for he niver misses now--exceptin' always, when he dusn't hit--an' for the most part takes them on the pint on the snowt with his blunt-heded arow, which he drives in--the snowt, not the arow. there's a gin'ral wish among the crew to no whether the north pole _is_ a pole or a dot. mizzle sais it's a dot and o'riley swears (no, he don't do that, for we've gin up swearin' in the fog-sail); but he sais that it's a real post 'bout as thick again as the main-mast, an' nine or ten times as hy. grim sais it's nother wun thing nor anuther, but a hydeear that _is_ sumhow or other a fact, but yit don't exist at all. tom green wants to no if there's any conexshun between it an' the pole that's connected with elections. in fact, we're all at sea, in a riglar muz abut this, an' as dr singleton's a syentiffick man, praps he'll give us a leadin' article in your nixt--so no more at present from-- "yours to command, john buzzby." this contribution was accompanied with an outline illustration of mivins eating sugar with a ladle in the pantry, and davie summers peeping in at the door--both likenesses being excellent. some of the articles in the _arctic sun_ were grave, and some were gay, but all of them were profitable, for fred took care that they should be charged either with matter of interest or matter provocative of mirth. and, assuredly, no newspaper of similar calibre was ever looked forward to with such expectation, or read and reread with such avidity. it was one of the expedients that lasted longest in keeping up the spirits of the men. the rat-hunting referred to in the foregoing "summery" was not a mere fiction of buzzby's brain. it was a veritable fact. notwithstanding the extreme cold of this inhospitable climate, the rats in the ship increased to such a degree that at last they became a perfect nuisance. nothing was safe from their attacks; whether substances were edible or not, they were gnawed through and ruined, and their impudence, which seemed to increase with their numbers, at last exceeded all belief. they swarmed everywhere--under the stove, about the beds, in the lockers, between the sofa-cushions, amongst the moss round the walls, and inside the boots and mittens (when empty) of the men. and they became so accustomed to having missiles thrown at them that they acquired to perfection that art which buzzby described as "keeping one's weather-eye open." you couldn't hit one if you tried. if your hand moved towards an object with which you intended to deal swift destruction, the intruder paused and turned his sharp eyes towards you as if to say: "what! going to try it again?--come, then, here's a chance for you." but when you threw, at best you could only hit the empty space it had occupied the moment before. or if you seized a stick, and rushed at the enemy in wrath, it grinned fiercely, showed its long white teeth, and then vanished with a fling of its tail that could be construed into nothing but an expression of contempt. at last an expedient was hit upon for destroying these disagreeable inmates. small bows and arrows were made, the latter having heavy, blunt heads, and with these the men slaughtered hundreds. whenever anyone was inclined for a little sport he took up his bow and arrows, and, retiring to a dark corner of the cabin, watched for a shot. davie summers acquired the title of nimrod, in consequence of his success in this peculiar field. at first the rats proved a capital addition to the dogs' meals, but at length some of the men were glad to eat them, especially when fresh meat failed altogether, and scurvy began its assaults. white or arctic foxes, too, came about the ship, sometimes in great numbers, and proved an acceptable addition to their fresh provisions; but at one period all these sources failed, and the crew were reduced to the utmost extremity, having nothing to eat except salt provisions. notwithstanding the cheering influence of the sun, the spirits of the men fell as their bodily energies failed. nearly two-thirds of the ship's company were confined to their berths. the officers retained much of their wonted health and vigour, partly in consequence, no doubt, of their unwearied exertions in behalf of others. they changed places with the men at last, owing to the force of circumstances--ministering to their wants, drawing water, fetching fuel, and cooking their food,--carrying out, in short, the divine command, "by love serve one another." during the worst period of their distress a party was formed to go out upon the floes in search of walrus. "if we don't get speedy relief," remarked captain guy to tom singleton in reference to this party, "some of us will die. i feel certain of that. poor buzzby seems on his last legs, and mivins is reduced to a shadow." the doctor was silent, for the captain's remark was too true. "you must get up your party at once, and set off after breakfast, mr bolton," he added, turning to the first mate. "who can accompany you?" "there's peter grim, sir, he's tough yet, and not much affected by scurvy, and mr saunders, i think, may--" "no," interrupted the doctor, "saunders must not go. he does not look very ill, and i hope is not, but i don't like some of his symptoms." "well, doctor, we can do without him. there's tom green and o'riley. nothing seems able to bring down o'riley. then there's--" "there's fred ellice," cried fred himself, joining the group; "i'll go with you if you'll take me." "most happy to have you, sir; our healthy hands are very short, but we can muster sufficient, i think." the captain suggested amos parr and two or three more men, and then dismissed his first mate to get ready for an immediate start. "i don't half like your going, fred," said his father. "you've not been well lately, and hunting on the floes, i know from experience, is hard work." "don't fear for me, father; i've quite recovered from my recent attack, which was but slight after all, and i know full well that those who are well must work as long as they can stand." "ho, lads, look alive there! are you ready?" shouted the first mate down the hatchway. "ay, ay, sir!" replied grim, and in a few minutes the party were assembled on the ice beside the small sledge, with their shoulder-belts on, for most of the dogs were either dead or dying of that strange complaint to which allusion has been made in a previous chapter. they set out silently, but ere they had got a dozen yards from the ship captain guy felt the impropriety of permitting them thus to depart. "up, lads, and give them three cheers," he cried, mounting the ship's side and setting the example. a hearty, generous spirit, when vigorously displayed, always finds a ready response from human hearts. the few sailors who were on deck at the time, and one or two of the sick men who chanced to put their heads up the hatchway, rushed to the side, waved their mittens--in default of caps--and gave vent to three hearty british cheers. the effect on the drooping spirits of the hunting-party was electrical. they pricked up like chargers that had felt the spur, wheeled round, and returned the cheer with interest. it was an apparently trifling incident, but it served to lighten the way, and make it seem less dreary for many a long mile. "i'm tired of it entirely," cried o'riley, sitting down on a hummock, on the evening of the second day after setting out on the hunt; "here we is, two days out, and not a sign o' life nowhere." "come, don't give in," said bolton cheerfully, "we're sure to fall in with a walrus to-day." "i think so," cried fred; "we have come so far out upon the floes that there must be open water near." "come on, then," cried peter grim; "don't waste time talking." thus urged, o'riley rose, and, throwing his sledge-strap over his shoulder, plodded on wearily with the rest. their provisions were getting low now, and it was felt that if they did not soon fall in with walrus or bears they must return as quickly as possible to the ship in order to avoid starving. it was, therefore, a matter of no small satisfaction that, on turning the edge of an iceberg, they discovered a large bear walking leisurely towards them. to drop their sledge-lines and seize their muskets was the work of a moment. but unfortunately, long travelling had filled the pans with snow, and it required some time to pick the touch-holes clear. in this extremity peter grim seized a hatchet and ran towards it, while o'riley charged it with a spear. grim delivered a tremendous blow at its head with his weapon, but his intention was better than his aim, for he missed the bear and smashed the corner of a hummock of ice. o'riley was more successful. he thrust the spear into the animal's shoulder, but the shoulder-blade turned the head of the weapon, and caused it to run along at least three feet, just under the skin. the wound, although not fatal, was so painful that bruin uttered a loud roar of disapproval, wheeled round, and ran away!--an act of cowardice so unusual on the part of a polar bear that the whole party were taken by surprise. several shots were fired after him, but he soon disappeared among the ice-hummocks, having fairly made off with o'riley's spear. the disappointment caused by this was great; but they had little time to think of it, for, soon after, a stiff breeze of wind sprang up, which freshened into a gale, compelling them to seek the shelter of a cluster of icebergs, in the midst of which they built a snow-hut. before night a terrific storm was raging, with the thermometer degrees below zero. the sky became black as ink; drift whirled round them in horrid turmoil; and the wild blast came direct from the north, over the frozen sea, shrieking and howling in its strength and fury. all that night and the next day it continued. then it ceased; and for the first time that winter a thaw set in, so that ere morning their sleeping-bags and socks were thoroughly wetted. this was of short duration, however. in a few hours the frost set in again as intense as ever, converting all their wet garments and bedding into hard cakes of ice. to add to their misfortunes their provisions ran out, and they were obliged to abandon the hut and push forward towards the ship with the utmost speed. night came on them while they were slowly toiling through the deep drifts that the late gale had raised, and to their horror they found they had wandered out of their way, and were still but a short distance from their snow-hut. in despair they returned to pass the night in it, and, spreading their frozen sleeping-bags on the snow, they lay down, silent and supperless, to rest till morning. chapter twenty three. unexpected arrivals--the rescue-party--lost and found--return to the ship. the sixth night after the hunting-party had left the ship, grim and fred ellice suddenly made their appearance on board. it was quite dark, and the few of the ship's company who were able to quit their berths were seated round the cabin at their meagre evening meal. "hallo, fred!" exclaimed captain ellice, as his son staggered rather than walked in, and sank down on a locker. "what's wrong, boy? where are the rest of you?" fred could not answer; neither he nor grim were able to utter a word at first. it was evident that they laboured under extreme exhaustion and hunger. a mouthful of hot soup administered by tom singleton rallied them a little, however. "our comrades are lost, i fear." "lost!" exclaimed captain guy. "how so? speak, my boy; but hold, take another mouthful before you speak. where did you leave them, say you?" fred looked at the captain with a vacant stare. "out upon the ice to the north; but, i say, what a comical dream i've had!" here he burst into a loud laugh. poor fred's head was evidently affected, so his father and tom carried him to his berth. all this time grim had remained seated on a locker, swaying to and fro like a drunken man, and paying no attention to the numerous questions that were put to him by saunders and his comrades. "this is bad!" exclaimed captain guy, pressing his hand on his forehead. "a search must be made," suggested captain ellice. "it's evident that the party have broken down out on the floes, and fred and grim have been sent to let us know." "i know it," answered captain guy; "a search must be made, and that instantly, if it is to be of any use; but in which direction are we to go is the question. these poor fellows cannot tell us. `out on the ice to the north' is a wide word. fred, fred, can you not tell us in which direction we ought to go to search for them?" "yes, far out on the floes--among hummocks--far out," murmured fred half-unconsciously. "we must be satisfied with that. now, mr saunders, assist me to get the small sledge fitted out. i'll go to look after them myself." "an' i'll go with 'ee, sir," said the second mate promptly. "i fear you are hardly able." "no fear o' me, sir. i'm better than 'ee think." "i must go too," added captain ellice; "it is quite evident that you cannot muster a party without me." "that's impossible," interrupted the doctor; "your leg is not strong enough, nearly, for such a trip; besides, my dear sir, you must stay behind to perform my duties, for the ship can't do without a doctor, and i shall go with captain guy, if he will allow me." "that he won't," cried the captain. "you say truly the ship cannot be left without a doctor. neither you nor my friend ellice shall leave the ship with my permission. but don't let us waste time talking. come, summers and mizzle, you are well enough to join, and meetuck, you must be our guide; look alive and get yourselves ready." in less than half an hour the rescue party were equipped and on their way over the floes. they were six in all--one of the freshest among the crew having volunteered to join those already mentioned. it was a very dark night, and bitterly cold, but they took nothing with them except the clothes on their backs, a supply of provisions for their lost comrades, their sleeping-bags, and a small leather tent. the captain also took care to carry with them a flask of brandy. the colossal bergs, which stretched like well-known landmarks over the sea, were their guides at first, but, after travelling ten hours without halting, they had passed the greater number of those, with which they were familiar, and entered upon an unknown region. here it became necessary to use the utmost caution. they knew that the lost men must be within twenty miles of them, but they had no means of knowing the exact spot, and any footprints that had been made were now obliterated. in these circumstances captain guy had to depend very much on his own sagacity. clambering to the top of a hummock he observed a long stretch of level floe to the northward. "i think it likely," he remarked to saunders, who had accompanied him, "that they may have gone in that direction. it seems an attractive road among the chaos of ice-heaps." "i'm no sure o' that," objected saunders; "yonder's a pretty clear road away to the west, maybe they took that." "perhaps they did, but as fred said they had gone far out on the ice _to the north_, i think it likely they've gone in _that_ direction." "maybe yer right sir, and maybe yer wrang," answered saunders, as they returned to the party. as this was the second mate's method of intimating that he _felt_ that he ought to give in (though he didn't give in, and never would give in, _absolutely_), the captain felt more confidence in his own opinion. "now, meetuck, keep your eyes open," he added, as they resumed their rapid march. after journeying on for a considerable distance, the men were ordered to spread out over the neighbouring ice-fields, in order to multiply the chances of discovering tracks; but there seemed to be some irresistible power of attraction which drew them gradually together again, however earnestly they might try to keep separate. in fact, they were beginning to be affected by the long-continued march and the extremity of the cold. this last was so great that constant motion was absolutely necessary in order to prevent them from freezing. there was no time allowed for rest--life and death were in the scale. their only hope lay in a continuous and rapid advance, so as to reach the lost men ere they should freeze or die of starvation. "holo! look 'eer!" shouted meetuck, as he halted and went down on his knees to examine some marks on the snow. "these are tracks," cried captain guy eagerly. "what think you, saunders?" "they look like it." "follow them up, meetuck. go in advance, my lad, and let the rest of you scatter again." in a few minutes there was a cry heard, and as the party hastened towards the spot whence it came, they found davie summers pointing eagerly to a little snow-hut in the midst of a group of bergs. with hasty steps they advanced towards it and the captain, with a terrible misgiving at heart, crept in. "ah, then, is it yerself, darlint?" were the first words that greeted him. a loud cheer from those without told that they heard and recognised the words. immediately two of them crept in, and, striking a light, kindled a lamp, which revealed the careworn forms of their lost comrades stretched on the ground in their sleeping-bags. they were almost exhausted for want of food, but otherwise they were uninjured. the first congratulations over, the rescue party immediately proceeded to make arrangements for passing the night. they were themselves little better than those whom they had come to save, having performed an uninterrupted march of eighteen hours without food or drink. it was touching to see the tears of joy and gratitude that filled the eyes of the poor fellows, who had given themselves up for lost as they watched the movements of their comrades while they prepared food for them; and the broken, fitful conversation was mingled strangely with alternate touches of fun and deep feeling, indicating the conflicting emotions that struggled in their breasts. "i knowed ye would come, captain; bless you, sir," said amos parr in an unsteady voice. "come! av coorse ye knowed it," cried o'riley energetically. "och, but don't be long wid the mate, darlints, me stummik's shut up intirely." "there won't be room for us all here, i'm afraid," remarked bolton. this was true. the hut was constructed to hold six, and it was impossible that ten could _sleep_ in it, although they managed to squeeze in. "never mind that," cried the captain. "here, take a drop of soup; gently, not too much at a time." "ah, then, it's cruel of ye, it is, to give me sich a small taste!" it was necessary, however, to give men in their condition a "small taste" at first, so o'riley had to rest content. meanwhile the rescue party supped heartily, and, after a little more food had been administered to the half-starved men, preparations were made for spending the night. the tent was pitched, and the sleeping-bags spread out on the snow, then captain guy offered up fervent thanks to god for his protection thus far, and prayed shortly but earnestly for deliverance from their dangerous situation, after which they all lay down and slept soundly till morning--or at least as soundly as could be expected with a temperature at degrees below zero. next morning they prepared to set out on their return to the ship. but this was no easy task. the exhausted men had to be wrapped up carefully in their blankets, which were sewed closely round their limbs, then packed in their sleeping-bags and covered completely up, only a small hole being left opposite their mouths to breathe through, and after that they were lashed side by side on the small sledge. the larger sledge, with the muskets, ammunition, and spare blankets, had to be abandoned. then the rescue party put their shoulders to the tracking-belts, and away they went briskly over the floes. but the drag was a fearfully heavy one for men who, besides having walked so long and so far on the previous day, were, most of them, much weakened by illness and very unfit for such laborious work. the floes, too, were so rugged that they had frequently to lift the heavy sledge and its living load over deep rents and chasms which, in circumstances less desperate, they would have scarcely ventured to do. work as they would, however, they could not make more than a mile an hour, and night overtook them ere they reached the level floes. but it was of the utmost importance that they should continue to advance, so they pushed forward until a breeze sprang up that pierced them through and through. fortunately there was a bright moon in the sky, which enabled them to pick their way among the hummocks. suddenly, without warning, the whole party felt an alarming failure of their energies. captain guy, who was aware of the imminent danger of giving way to this feeling, cheered the men to greater exertion by word and voice, but failed to rouse them. they seemed like men walking in their sleep. "come, saunders, cheer up, man," cried the captain, shaking the mate by the arm; but saunders stood still, swaying to and fro like a drunken man. mizzle begged to be allowed to sleep, if it were only for two minutes, and poor davie summers deliberately threw himself down on the snow, from which, had he been left, he would never more have risen. the case was now desperate. in vain the captain shook and buffeted the men. they protested that they did not feel cold--"they were quite warm, and only wanted a little sleep." he saw that it was useless to contend with them, so there was nothing left for it but to pitch the tent. this was done as quickly as possible, though with much difficulty, and the men were unlashed from the sledge and placed within it. the others then crowded in, and, falling down beside each other, were asleep in an instant. the excessive crowding of the little tent was an advantage at this time, as it tended to increase their animal heat. captain guy allowed them to sleep only two hours, and then roused them in order to continue the journey; but short though the period of rest was, it proved sufficient to enable the men to pursue their journey with some degree of spirit. still, it was evident that their energies had been overtaxed, for when they neared the ship next day, tom singleton, who had been on the lookout, and advanced to meet them, found that they were almost in a state of stupor, and talked incoherently; sometimes giving utterance to sentiments of the most absurd nature, with expressions of the utmost gravity. meanwhile good news was brought them from the ship. two bears and a walrus had been purchased from the esquimaux, a party of whom--sleek, fat, oily, good-humoured, and hairy--were encamped on the lee side of the _dolphin_, and busily engaged in their principal and favourite occupation--eating! chapter twenty four. winter ends--the first insect--preparations for departure--narrow escape--cutting out--once more afloat--ship on fire--crew take to the boats. winter passed away, with its darkness and its frost, and, happily, with its sorrows; and summer--bright, glowing summer--came at last to gladden the heart of man and beast in the polar regions. we have purposely omitted to make mention of spring, for there is no such season, properly so called, within the arctic circle. winter usually terminates with a gushing thaw, and summer then begins with a blaze of fervent heat. not that the heat is really so intense as compared with that of southern climes, but the contrast is so great that it _seems_ as though the torrid zones had rushed towards the pole. about the beginning of june there were indications of the coming heat. fresh water began to trickle from the rocks, and streamlets commenced to run down the icebergs. soon everything became moist, and a marked change took place in the appearance of the ice-belt, owing to the pools that collected on it everywhere and overflowed. seals now became more numerous in the neighbourhood, and were frequently killed near the _atluks_, or holes; so that fresh meat was secured in abundance, and the scurvy received a decided check. reindeer, rabbits, and ptarmigan, too, began to frequent the bay, so that the larder was constantly full, and the mess-table presented a pleasing variety--rats being no longer the solitary dish of fresh meat at every meal. a few small birds made their appearance from the southward, and these were hailed as harbingers of the coming summer. one day o'riley sat on the taffrail, basking in the warm sun, and drinking in health and gladness from its beams. he had been ill, and was now convalescent. buzzby stood beside him. "i've bin thinkin'," said buzzby, "that we don't half know the blessin's that are given to us in this here world till we've had 'em taken away. look, now, how we're enjoyin' the sun an' the heat just as if it wos so much gold!" "goold!" echoed o'riley in a tone of contempt; "faix, i niver thought so little o' goold before, let me tell ye. goold can buy many a thing, it can, but it can't buy sunshine. hallo! what's this!" o'riley accompanied the question with a sudden snatch of his hand. "look here, buzzby! have a care, now! jist watch the opening o' my fist." "wot is it?" enquired buzzby, approaching, and looking earnestly at his comrade's clenched hand with some curiosity. "there he comes! now, then; not so fast, ye spalpeen!" as he spoke, a small fly, which had been captured, crept out from between his fingers, and sought to escape. it was the first that had visited these frozen regions for many, many months, and the whole crew were summoned on deck to meet it, as if it were an old and valued friend. "let it go, poor thing?" cried half a dozen of the men, gazing at the little prisoner with a degree of interest that cannot be thoroughly understood by those who have not passed through experiences similar to those of our arctic voyagers. "ay, don't hurt it, poor thing! you're squeezin' it too hard!" cried amos parr. "squaazing it! no, then, i'm not. go, avic, an' me blessin' go wid ye." the big, rough hand opened, and the tiny insect, spreading its gossamer wings, buzzed away into the bright atmosphere, where it was soon lost to view. "rig up the ice-saws, mr bolton, set all hands at them, and get out the powder-canisters," cried captain guy, coming hastily on deck. "ay, ay, sir," responded the mate. "all hands to the ice-saws! look alive, boys! ho! mr saunders! where's mr saunders?" "here i am," answered the worthy second mate in a quiet voice. "oh, you're there? get up some powder, mr saunders, and a few canisters." there was a heartiness in the tone and action with which these orders were given and obeyed that proved they were possessed of more than ordinary interest; as, indeed, they were, for the time had now come for making preparations for cutting the ship out of winter-quarters, and getting ready to take advantage of any favourable opening in the ice that might occur. "do you hope to effect much?" enquired captain ellice of captain guy, who stood at the gangway watching the men as they leaped over the side, and began to cut holes with ice chisels preparatory to fixing the saws and powder-canisters. "not much," replied the captain; "but a _little_ in these latitudes is worth fighting hard for, as you are well aware. many a time have i seen a ship's crew strain and heave on warps and cables for hours together, and only gain a yard by all their efforts; but many a time, also, have i seen a single yard of headway save a ship from destruction." "true," rejoined captain ellice; "i have seen a little of it myself. there is no spot on earth, i think, equal to the polar regions for bringing out into bold relief two great and _apparently_ antagonistic truths--namely, man's urgent need of all his powers to accomplish the work of his own deliverance, and man's utter helplessness and entire dependence on the sovereign will of god." "when shall we sink the canisters, sir?" asked bolton, coming up and touching his hat. "in an hour, mr bolton; the tide will be full then, and we shall try what effect a blast will have." "my opeenion is," remarked saunders, who passed at the moment with two large bags of gunpowder under his arms, "that it'll have no effect at a'. it'll just loosen the ice roond the ship." the captain smiled as he said: "_that_ is all the effect i hope for, mr saunders. should the outward ice give way soon, we shall then be in a better position to avail ourselves of it." as saunders predicted, the effect of powder and saws was merely to loosen and rend the ice-tables, in which the _dolphin_ was imbedded; but deliverance was coming sooner than any of those on board expected. that night a storm arose, which, for intensity of violence, equalled, if it did not surpass, the severest gales they had yet experienced. it set the great bergs of the polar seas in motion, and these moving mountains of ice slowly and majestically began their voyage to southern climes, crashing through the floes, overturning the hummocks, and ripping up the ice-tables with quiet, but irresistible momentum. for two days the war of ice continued to rage, and sometimes the contending forces, in the shape of huge tongues and corners of bergs, were forced into the bay of mercy, and threatening swift destruction to the little craft, which was a mere atom that might have been crushed and sunk and scarcely missed in such a wild scene. at one time a table of ice was forced out of the water and reared up, like a sloping wall of glass, close to the stern of the _dolphin_, where all the crew were assembled with ice-poles ready to do their utmost; but their feeble efforts could have availed them nothing had the slowly-moving mass continued its onward progress. "lower away the quarter-boat," cried the captain, as the sheet of ice six feet thick came grinding down towards the starboard quarter. buzzby, grim, and several others sprang to obey, but, before they could let go the fall-tackles, the mass of ice rose suddenly high above the deck, over which it projected several feet, and caught the boat. in another moment the timbers yielded; the thwarts sprang out or were broken across, and slowly, yet forcibly, as a strong hand might crush an egg-shell, the boat was squeezed flat against the ship's side. "shove, lads; if it comes on we're lost," cried the captain, seizing one of the long poles with which the men were vainly straining every nerve and muscle. they might as well have tried to arrest the progress of a berg. on it came, and crushed in the starboard quarter bulwarks. providentially at that moment it grounded and remained fast; but the projecting point that overhung them broke off and fell on the deck with a crash that shook the good ship from stem to stern. several of the men were thrown violently down, but none were seriously hurt in this catastrophe. when the storm ceased, the ice out in the strait was all in motion, and that round the ship had loosened so much that it seemed as if the _dolphin_ might soon get out into open water and once more float upon its natural element. every preparation, therefore, was made; the stores were reshipped from store island; the sails were shaken out, and those of them that had been taken down were bent on to the yards. tackle was overhauled, and, in short, everything was done that was possible under the circumstances. but a week passed away ere they succeeded in finally warping out of the bay into the open sea beyond. it was a lovely morning when this happy event was accomplished. before the tide was quite full, and while they were waiting until the command to heave on the warps should be given, captain guy assembled the crew for morning prayers in the cabin. having concluded, he said: "my lads, through the great mercy of heaven we have been all, except one, spared through the trials and anxieties of a long and dreary winter, and are now, i trust, about to make our escape from the ice that has held us fast so long. it becomes me at such a time to tell you that, if i am spared to return home, i shall be able to report that every man in this ship has done his duty. you have never flinched in the hour of danger, and never grumbled in the hour of trial. only one man--our late brave and warm-hearted comrade, joseph west--has fallen in the struggle. for the mercies that have never failed us, and for our success in rescuing my gallant friend, captain ellice, we ought to feel the deepest gratitude. we have need, however, to pray for a blessing on the labours that are yet before us, for you are well aware that we shall probably have many a struggle with the ice before we are once more afloat on blue water. and now, lads, away with you on deck, and man the capstan, for the tide is about full." the capstan was manned, and the hawsers were hove taut. inch by inch the tide rose, and the _dolphin_ floated. then a lusty cheer was given, and amos parr struck up one of those hearty songs intermingled with "ho!" and "yo heave ho!" that seem to be the life and marrow of all nautical exertion. at last the good ship forged ahead, and, _boring_ through the loose ice, passed slowly out of the bay of mercy. "do you know i feel quite sad at quitting this dreary spot?" said fred to his father, as they stood gazing backward over the taffrail. "i could not have believed that i should have become so much attached to it." "we become attached to any spot, fred, in which incidents have occurred to call forth, frequently, our deeper feelings. these rocks and stones are intimately associated with many events that have caused you joy and sorrow, hope and fear, pain and happiness. men cherish the memory of such feelings, and love the spots of earth with which they are associated." "ah, father, yonder stands one stone, at least, that calls forth feelings of sorrow." fred pointed, as he spoke, to store island, which was just passing out of view. on this lonely spot the men had raised a large stone over the grave of joseph west. o'riley, whose enthusiastic temperament had caused him to mourn over his comrade more, perhaps, than any other man in the ship, had carved the name and date of his death in rude characters on the stone. it was a conspicuous object on the low island, and every eye in the _dolphin_ was fixed on it as they passed. soon the point of rock, that had sheltered them so long from many a westerly gale, intervened and shut it out from view for ever. a week of uninterrupted fair wind and weather had carried the _dolphin_ far to the south of their dreary wintering-ground, and all was going well, when the worst of all disasters befell the ship--she caught fire! how it happened no one could tell. the smoke was first seen rising suddenly from the hold. instantly the alarm was spread. "firemen to your posts!" shouted the captain. "man the water-buckets; steady, men, no hurry. keep order." "ay, ay, sir," was the short, prompt response, and the most perfect order _was_ kept. every command was obeyed instantly, with a degree of vigour that is seldom exhibited save in cases of life and death. buzzby was at the starboard, and peter grim at the larboard gangway, while the men stood in two rows, extending from each to the main hatch, up which ever-thickening clouds of dark smoke were rolling. bucket after bucket of water was passed along and dashed into the hold, and everything that could be done was done, but without effect. the fire increased. suddenly a long tongue of flame issued from the smoking cavern, and lapped round the mast and rigging with greedy eagerness. "there's no hope," said captain ellice in a low voice, laying his hand gently on captain guy's shoulder. the captain did not reply, but gazed with an expression of the deepest regret, for one moment, at the work of destruction. next instant he sprang to the falls of the larboard quarterboat. "now, lads," he cried energetically, "get out the boats. bring up provisions, mr bolton, and a couple of spare sails. mr saunders, see to the ammunition and muskets. quick, men. the cabin will soon be too hot to hold you." setting the example, the captain sprang below, followed by fred and tom singleton, who secured the charts, a compass, chronometer, and quadrant; also the log-book and the various journals and records of the voyage. captain ellice also did active service, and, being cool and self-possessed, he recollected and secured several articles which were afterwards of the greatest use, and which, but for him, would in such a trying moment have probably been forgotten. meanwhile the two largest boats in the ship were lowered. provisions, masts, sails, and oars, etcetera, were thrown in. the few remaining dogs, among whom were dumps and poker, were also embarked, and the crew, hastily leaping in, pushed off. they were not a moment too soon. the fire had reached the place where the gunpowder was kept and, although there was not a great quantity of it, there was enough, when it exploded, to burst open the deck. the wind, having free ingress, fanned the fire into a furious blaze, and in a few moments the _dolphin_ was wrapped in flames from stem to stern. it was a little after sunset when the fire was discovered; in two hours later the good ship was burned to the water's edge; then the waves swept in, and, while they extinguished the fire, they sank the blackened hull, leaving the two crowded boats floating in darkness on the bosom of the ice-laden sea. chapter twenty five. escape to uppernavik--letter from home--meetuck's grandmother--dumps and poker again. for three long weeks the shipwrecked mariners were buffeted by winds and waves in open boats, but at last they were guided in safety through all their dangers and vicissitudes to the colony of uppernavik. here they found several vessels on the point of setting out for europe, one of which was bound for england; and in this vessel the crew of the _dolphin_ resolved to ship. nothing of particular interest occurred at this solitary settlement except _one_ thing, but that one thing was a great event, and deserves very special notice. it was nothing less than the receipt of a letter by fred from his cousin isobel! fred and isobel, having been brought up for several years together, felt towards each other like brother and sister. fred received the letter from the pastor of the settlement shortly after landing, while his father and the captain were on board the english brig making arrangements for their passage home. he could scarcely believe his eyes when he beheld the well-known hand, but, having at last come to realise the fact that he actually held a real letter in his hand, he darted behind one of the curious, primitive cottages to read it. here he was met by a squad of inquisitive natives; so, with a gesture of impatience, he rushed to another spot; but he was observed and followed by half a dozen esquimaux boys, and in despair he sought refuge in the small church near which he chanced to be. he had not been there a second, however, when two old women came in, and, approaching him, began to scan him with critical eyes. this was too much, so fred thrust the letter into his bosom, darted out, and was instantly surrounded by a band of natives, who began to question him in an unknown tongue. seeing that there was no other resource, fred turned him round and fled towards the mountains at a pace that defied pursuit, and, coming to a halt in the midst of a rocky gorge that might have served as an illustration of what chaos was, he sat him down behind a big rock to peruse isobel's letter. having read it, he re-read it; having re-read it, he read it over again. having read it over again, he meditated a little, exclaiming several times emphatically: "my _darling_ isobel," and then he read bits of it here and there; having done which, he read the _other_ bits, and so got through it again. as the letter was a pretty long one it took him a considerable time to do all this; then it suddenly occurred to him that he had been thus selfishly keeping it all to himself instead of sharing it with his father, so he started up and hastened back to the village, where he found old mr ellice in earnest confabulation with the pastor of the place. seizing his parent by the arm, fred led him into a room in the pastor's house, and, looking round to make sure that it was empty, he sought to bolt the door, but the door was a primitive one and had no bolt, so fred placed a huge old-fashioned chair against it, and, sitting down therein, while his father took a seat opposite, he unfolded the letter, and, yet once again, read it through. the letter was about twelve months old, and ran thus:-- "grayton, th july. "my darling fred, "it is now two months since you left us, and it seems to me two years. oh, how i _do_ wish that you were back! when i think of the terrible dangers that you may be exposed to amongst the ice my heart sinks, and i sometimes fear that we shall never see you or your dear father again. but you are in the hands of our father in heaven, dear fred, and i never cease to pray that you may be successful and return to us in safety. dear, good old mr singleton told me yesterday that he had an opportunity of sending to the danish settlements in greenland, so i resolved to write, though i very much doubt whether this will ever find you in such a wild far-off land. "oh, when i think of where you are, all the romantic stories i have ever read of polar regions spring up before me, and _you_ seem to be the hero of them all. but i must not waste my paper thus. i know you will be anxious for news. i have very little to give you, however. good old mr singleton has been _very_ kind to us since you went away. he comes constantly to see us, and comforts dear mamma very much. your friend, dr singleton, will be glad to hear that he is well and strong. tell my friend buzzby that his wife sends her `compliments'. i laugh while i write the word! yes, she actually sends er `compliments' to her husband. she is a very stern but a really excellent woman. mamma and i visit her frequently when we chance to be in the village. her two boys are the finest little fellows i ever saw. they are both so like each other that we cannot tell which is which when they are apart, and both are so like their father that we can almost fancy we see him, when looking at either of them. "the last day we were there, however, they were in disgrace, for johnny had pushed freddy into the washing-tub, and freddy, in revenge, had poured a jug of treacle over johnny's head! i am quite sure that mrs buzzby is tired of being a widow--as she calls herself--and will be very glad when her husband comes back. but i must reserve chit-chat to the end of my letter, and first give you a minute account of all your friends." here followed six pages of closely-written quarto, which, however interesting they might be to those concerned, cannot be expected to afford much entertainment to our readers, so we will cut isobel's letter short at this point. "cap'n's ready to go aboord, sir," said o'riley, touching his cap to captain ellice while he was yet engaged in discussing the letter with his son. "very good." "an', plaaze sir, av ye'll take the throuble to look in at mrs meetuck in passin', it'll do yer heart good, it will." "very well, we'll look in," replied the captain as he quitted the house of the worthy pastor. the personage whom o'riley chose to style mrs meetuck was meetuck's grandmother. that old lady was an esquimaux whose age might be algebraically expressed as an _unknown quantity_. she lived in a boat turned upside down, with a small window in the bottom of it, and a hole in the side for a door. when captain ellice and fred looked in, the old woman, who was a mere mass of bones and wrinkles, was seated on a heap of moss beside a fire, the only chimney to which was a hole in the bottom of the boat. in front of her sat her grandson, meetuck, and on a cloth spread out at her feet were displayed all the presents with which that good hunter had been loaded by his comrades of the _dolphin_. meetuck's mother had died many years before, and all the affection in his naturally warm heart was transferred to, and centred upon, his old grandmother. meetuck's chief delight in the gifts he received was in sharing them, as far as possible, with the old woman. we say _as far as possible_, because some things could not be shared with her, such as a splendid new rifle, and a silver-mounted hunting-knife and powder-horn, all of which had been presented to him by captain guy over and above his wages, as a reward for his valuable services. but the trinkets of every kind which had been given to him by the men were laid at the feet of the old woman, who looked at everything in blank amazement yet with a smile on her wrinkled visage that betokened much satisfaction. meetuck's oily countenance beamed with delight as he sat puffing his pipe in his grandmother's face. this little attention, we may remark, was paid designedly, for the old woman liked it, and the youth knew that. "they have enough to make them happy for the winter," said captain ellice, as he turned to leave the hut. "faix, they have. there's only two things wantin' to make it complate." "what are they?" enquired fred. "murphies and a pig, sure. that's all they need." "wots come o' dumps and poker?" enquired buzzby, as they reached the boat. "oh, i quite forgot them!" cried fred; "stay a minute, i'll run up and find them. they can't be far off." for some time fred searched in vain. at last he bethought him of meetuck's hut, as being a likely spot, in which to find them. on entering he found the couple as he had left them, the only difference being that the poor old woman seemed to be growing sleepy over her joys. "have you seen dumps or poker anywhere?" enquired fred. meetuck nodded and pointed to a corner where, comfortably rolled up on a mound of dry moss, lay dumps; poker, as usual, making use of him as a pillow. "thems is go bed," said meetuck. "thems must get up then and come aboard," cried fred, whistling. at first the dogs, being sleepy, seemed indisposed to move, but at last they consented, and, following fred to the beach, were soon conveyed aboard the ship. next day captain guy and his men bade meetuck and the kind, hospitable people of uppernavik farewell, and, spreading their canvas to a fair breeze, set sail for england. chapter twenty six. the return--the surprise--buzzby's sayings and doings--the narrative-- fighting battles o'er again--conclusion. once again we are on the end of the quay at grayton. as fred stands there, all that has occurred during the past year seems to him but a vivid dream. captain guy is there, and captain ellice, and buzzby, and mrs buzzby too, and the two little buzzbys also, and mrs bright, and isobel, and tom singleton, and old mr singleton, and the crew of the wrecked _dolphin_, and, in short, the "whole world"--of that part of the country. it was a great day for grayton, that. it was a wonderful day--quite an indescribable day; but there were also some things about it that made captain ellice feel somehow that it was a mysterious day, for, while there were hearty congratulations, and much sobbing for joy on the part of mrs bright, there were also whisperings which puzzled him a good deal. "come with me, brother," said mrs bright at length, taking him by the arm, "i have to tell you something." isobel, who was on the watch, joined them, and fred also went with them towards the cottage. "dear brother," said mrs bright, "i--i--oh, isobel, tell him! _i_ cannot." "what means all this mystery?" said the captain in an earnest tone, for he felt that they had something serious to communicate. "dear uncle," said isobel, "you remember the time when the pirates attacked--" she paused, for her uncle's look frightened her. "go on, isobel," he said quickly. "your dear wife, uncle, _was not lost at that time_--" captain ellice turned pale. "what mean you, girl? how came you to know this?" then a thought flashed across him. seizing isobel by the shoulder he gasped, rather than said: "speak quick--is--is she alive?" "yes, dear uncle, she--" the captain heard no more. he would have fallen to the ground had not fred, who was almost as much overpowered as his father, supported him. in a few minutes he recovered, and he was told that alice was alive--in england--_in the cottage_. this was said as they approached the door. alice was aware of her husband's arrival. in another moment husband, and wife, and son were reunited. scenes of intense joy cannot be adequately described, and there are meetings in this world which ought not to be too closely touched upon. such was the present. we will therefore leave captain ellice and his wife and son to pour out the deep feelings of their hearts to each other, and follow the footsteps of honest john buzzby, as he sailed down the village with his wife and children, and a host of admiring friends in tow. buzzby's feelings had been rather powerfully stirred up by the joy of all around, and a tear _would_ occasionally tumble over his weather-beaten cheek, and hang at the point of his sunburnt, and oft frost-bitten nose, despite his utmost efforts to subdue such outrageous demonstrations. "sit down, john, dear," said mrs buzzby in kind but commanding tones, when she got her husband fairly into his cottage, the little parlour of which was instantly crowded to excess. "sit down, john, dear, and tell us all about it." "wot! begin to spin the whole yarn o' the voyage afore i've had time to say `how d'ye do?'" exclaimed buzzby, at the same time grasping his two uproarious sons, who had, the instant he sat down, rushed at his legs like two miniature midshipmen, climbed up them as if they had been two masts, and settled on his knees as if they had been their own favourite cross-trees! "no, john, not the yarn of the voyage," replied his wife, while she spread the board before him with bread and cheese and beer, "but tell us how you found old captain ellice, and where, and what's comed of the crew." "werry good, then here goes!" buzzby was a man of action. he screwed up his weather-eye (the one next his wife, _of course_, that being the quarter from which squalls might be expected) and began a yarn which lasted the better part of two hours. it is not to be supposed that buzzby spun it off without interruption. besides the questions that broke in upon him from all quarters, the two buzzbys junior scrambled, as far as was possible, into his pockets, pulled his whiskers as if they had been hoisting a main-sail therewith, and, generally, behaved in such an obstreperous manner as to render coherent discourse all but impracticable. he got through with it, however, and then mrs buzzby intimated her wish, pretty strongly, that the neighbours should vacate the premises; which they did, laughingly, pronouncing buzzby to be a "trump", and his better half a "true blue." "good-day, old chap," said the last who made his exit; "tiller's fixed agin--nailed amidships? eh!" "hard and fast," replied buzzby with a broad grin, as he shut the door and returned to the bosom of his family. two days later a grand feast was given at mrs bright's cottage, to which all the friends of the family were invited to meet with captain ellice and those who had returned from their long and perilous voyage. it was a joyful gathering, that, and glad and grateful hearts were there. two days later still, and another feast was given. on this occasion buzzby was the host, and buzzby's cottage was the scene. it was a joyful meeting, too, and a jolly one to boot, for o'riley was there, and peter grim, and amos parr, and david mizzle, and mivins--in short the entire crew of the lost _dolphin_,--captain, mates, surgeon, and all. fred and his father were also there, and old mr singleton, and a number of other friends, so that all the rooms in the house had to be thrown open, and even then mrs buzzby had barely room to move. it was on this occasion that buzzby related to his shipmates how mrs ellice had escaped from drowning on the night they were attacked by pirates on board the indiaman. he took occasion to relate the circumstances just before the "people from the house" arrived, and as the reader may perhaps prefer buzzby's account to ours, we give it as it was delivered. "you see, it happened this way," began buzzby. "hand us a coal, buzzby, to light my pipe, before ye begin," said peter grim. "ah, then, howld yer tongue, blunderbore!" cried o'riley, handing the glowing coal demanded, with as much nonchalance as if his fingers were made of cast-iron. "well, ye see," resumed buzzby, "when poor mrs ellice wos pitched overboard, as i seed her with my own two eyes--" "stop, buzzby," said mivins, "'ow was 'er 'ead at the time?" "shut up!" cried several of the men; "go on, buzzby." "well, i think her _'ead_ was sou'-west, if it warn't nor'-east. anyhow it was pintin' somewhere or other round the compass. but, as i wos sayin', when mrs ellice struck the water (an' she told me all about it herself, ye must know) she sank, and then she comed up, and didn't know how it wos, but she caught hold of an oar that wos floatin' close beside her, and screamed for help, but no help came, for it was dark, and the ship had disappeared, so she gave herself up for lost, but in a little the oar struck agin a big piece o' the wreck o' the pirate's boat, and she managed to clamber upon it, and lay there, a'most dead with cold, till mornin'. the first thing she saw when day broke forth wos a big ship, bearin' right down on her, and she wos just about run down when one o' the men observed her from the bow. "`hard a-port!' roared the man. "`port it is,' cried the man at the wheel, an' round went the ship like a duck, jist missin' the bit of wreck as she passed. a boat wos lowered, and mrs ellice wos took aboard. well, she found that the ship wos bound for the sandwich islands, and as they didn't mean to touch at any port in passin', mrs ellice had to go on with her. misfortins don't come single, howsiver. the ship was wrecked on a coral reef, and the crew had to take to their boats, w'ich they did, an' got safe to land, but the land they got to wos an out-o'-the-way island among the feejees, and a spot where ships never come, so they had to make up their minds to stop there." "i thought," said amos parr, "that the feejees were cannibals, and that whoever was wrecked or cast ashore on their coasts was killed and roasted, and eat up at once." "so ye're right," rejoined buzzby; "but providence sent the crew to one o' the islands that had bin visited by a native christian missionary from one o' the other islands, and the people had gin up some o' their worst practices, and wos thinkin' o' turnin' over a new leaf altogether. so the crew wos spared, and took to livin' among the natives, quite comfortable like. but they soon got tired and took to their boats agin, and left. mrs ellice, however, determined to remain and help the native christians, till a ship should pass that way. for three years nothin' but canoes hove in sight o' that lonesome island; then, at last a brig came, and cast anchor offshore. it wos an australian trader that had been blown out o' her course on her way to england, so they took poor mrs ellice aboard, and brought her home--and that's how it wos." buzzby's outline, although meagre, is so comprehensive that we do not think it necessary to add a word. soon after he had concluded, the guests of the evening came in, and the conversation became general. "buzzby's jollification", as it was called in the village, was long remembered as one of the most interesting events that had occurred for many years. one of the chief amusements of the evening was the spinning of long yarns about the incidents of the late voyage, by men who could spin them well. their battles in the polar seas were all fought o'er again. the wondering listeners were told how esquimaux were chased and captured; how walrus were lanced and harpooned; how bears were speared and shot; how long and weary journeys were undertaken on foot over immeasurable fields of ice and snow; how icebergs had crashed around their ship, and chains had been snapped asunder, and tough anchors had been torn from the ground, or lost; how schools had been set agoing and a theatre got up; and how, provisions having failed, rats were eaten--and eaten, too, with gusto. all this and a great deal more was told on that celebrated night--sometimes by one, sometimes by another, and sometimes, to the confusion of the audience, by two or three at once, and, not unfrequently, to the still greater confusion of story-tellers and audience alike, the whole proceedings were interrupted by the outrageous yells and turmoil of the two indomitable young buzzbys, as they romped, in reckless joviality, with dumps and poker. but at length the morning light broke up the party, and stories of the world of ice came to an end. and now, reader, our tale is told. but we cannot close without a parting word, in regard to those, with whom we have held intercourse so long. it must not be supposed that from this date everything in the affairs of our various friends flowed on in a tranquil, uninterrupted course. this world is a battle-field, on which no warrior finds rest until he dies; and yet, to the christian warrior on that field, the hour of death is the hour of victory. "change" is written in broad letters on everything connected with time; and he who would do his duty well, and enjoy the greatest possible amount of happiness here, must seek to prepare himself for _every_ change. men cannot escape the general law. the current of their particular stream may long run smooth, but, sooner or later, the rugged channel and the precipice will come. some streams run quietly for many a league, and only at the last are troubled. others burst from their very birth on rocks of difficulty, and rush throughout their course in tortuous, broken channels. so was it with the actors in our story. our hero's course was smooth. having fallen in love with his friend tom singleton's profession, he studied medicine and surgery, became an m.d., and returned to practise in grayton, which was a flourishing sea-port, and, during the course of fred's career, extended considerably. fred also fell in love with a pretty young girl in a neighbouring town, and married her. tom singleton also took up his abode in grayton, there being, as he said, "room for two". ever since tom had seen isobel on the end of the quay, on the day when the _dolphin_ set sail for the polar regions, his heart had been taken prisoner. isobel refused to give it back unless he, tom, should return the heart which he had stolen from her. this he could not do, so it was agreed that the two hearts should be tied together, and they two should be constituted joint guardians of both. in short, they were married, and took mrs bright to live with them, not far from the residence of old mr singleton, who was the fattest and jolliest old gentleman in the place, and the very idol of dogs and boys, who loved him to distraction. captain ellice, having had, as he said, "more than his share of the sea," resolved to live on shore, and, being possessed of a moderately comfortable income, he purchased mrs bright's cottage on the green hill that overlooked the harbour and the sea. here he became celebrated for his benevolence, and for the energy with which he entered into all the schemes that were devised for the benefit of the town of grayton. like tom singleton and fred, he became deeply interested in the condition of the poor, and had a special weakness for _poor old women_, which he exhibited by searching up, and doing good to, every poor old woman in the parish. captain ellice was also celebrated for his garden, which was a remarkably fine one; for his flag-staff, which was a remarkably tall and magnificent one; and for his telescope, which constantly protruded from his drawing-room window, and pointed in the direction of the sea. as for the others--captain guy continued his career at sea, as commander of an east indiaman. he remained stout and true-hearted to the last, like one of the oak timbers of his own good ship. bolton, saunders, mivins, peter grim, amos parr, and the rest of them, were scattered in a few years, as sailors usually are, to the four quarters of the globe. o'riley alone was heard of again. he wrote to buzzby, "by manes of the ritin' he had larn'd aboord the _dolfin_," informing him that he had forsaken the "say" and become a small farmer near cork. he had plenty of murphies and also a pig--the latter "bein'," he said, "so like the wan that belonged to his owld grandmother that he thought it must be the same wan comed alive agin, or its darter." and buzzby--poor buzzby--he, also, gave up the sea, much against his will, by command of his wife, and took to miscellaneous work, of which there was plenty for an active man in a seaport like grayton. his rudder, poor man, was again (and this time permanently) lashed amidships, and whatever breeze mrs buzzby chanced to blow, his business was to sail _right before it_. the two little buzzbys were the joy of their father's heart. they were genuine little true-blues, both of them, and went to sea the moment their legs were long enough, and came home, voyage after voyage, with gifts of curiosities and gifts of money to their worthy parents. dumps resided during the remainder of his days with captain ellice, and poker dwelt with buzzby. these truly remarkable dogs kept up their attachment to each other to the end. indeed, as time passed by, they drew closer and closer together, for poker became more sedate, and, consequently, a more suitable companion for his ancient friend. the dogs formed a connecting-link between the buzzby and ellice families-- constantly reminding each of the other's existence, by the daily interchange of visits. fred and tom soon came to be known as skilful doctors. together they went through life respected by all who knew them--each year as it passed cementing closer and closer that undying friendship which had first started into being in the gay season of boyhood, and had bloomed and ripened amid the adventures, dangers, and vicissitudes of the world of ice. transcriber note text emphasis denoted as _italics_. a year with a whaler [illustration: "cutting out" a whale] a year with a whaler by walter noble burns _illustrated with photographs_ [illustration] new york outing publishing company mcmxiii copyright, , by outing publishing company all rights reserved contents chapter page i. the lure of the outfitter ii. the men of the "alexander" iii. why we don't desert iv. turtles and porpoises v. the a, b, c of whales vi. the night king vii. dreams of liberty viii. gabriel's little drama ix. through the roaring forties x. in the ice xi. cross country whaling xii. cutting in and trying out xiii. shaking hands with siberia xiv. moonshine and hygiene xv. news from home xvi. slim goes on strike xvii. into the arctic xviii. blubber and song xix. a narrow pinch xx. a race and a race horse xxi. bears for a change xxii. the stranded whale xxiii. and so--home illustrations "cutting out" a whale _frontispiece_ facing page in bowhead waters when whaling is an easy job waiting for the whale to breach unalaska waiting for the floes to open "trying out" callers from asia peter's sweetheart eskimos summer hut at st. lawrence bay at the gateway to the arctic hoisting the blubber aboard our guests coming aboard in st. lawrence bay the lip of a bowhead whale a close call off herald island skin boat of the siberian eskimos a year with a whaler a year with a whaler chapter i the lure of the outfitter when the brig _alexander_ sailed out of san francisco on a whaling voyage a few years ago, i was a member of her forecastle crew. once outside the golden gate, i felt the swing of blue water under me for the first time in my life. i was not shanghaied. let's have that settled at the start. i had shipped as a green hand before the mast for the adventure of the thing, because i wanted to go, for the glamor of the sea was upon me. i was taking breakfast in a san francisco restaurant when, in glancing over the morning paper, i chanced across this advertisement: wanted--men for a whaling voyage; able seamen, ordinary seamen, and green hands. no experience necessary. big money for a lucky voyage. apply at levy's, no. washington street. until that moment i had never dreamed of going to sea, but that small "ad." laid its spell upon my imagination. it was big with the lure of strange lands and climes, romance and fresh experiences. what did it matter that i had passed all my humdrum days on dry land? "no experience necessary!" there were the magic words staring me in the face. i gulped down my eggs and coffee and was off for the street called washington. levy's was a ship's outfitting store. a "runner" for the house--a hulking man with crafty eyes and a face almost as red as his hair and mustache--met me as i stepped in the door. he looked me over critically. his visual inventory must have been satisfactory. i was young. "ever been a sailor?" he asked. "no." "makes no difference. can you pull an oar?" "yes." "you'll do. hang around the store to-day and i'll see what vessels are shipping crews." that was all. i was a potential whaler from that minute. a young working man in overalls and flannel shirt came in later in the day and applied to go on the voyage. he qualified as a green hand. but no spirit of adventure had brought him to levy's. a whaling voyage appealed to his canny mind as a business proposition. "what can we make?" he asked the runner. "if your ship is lucky," replied the runner, "you ought to clean up a pile of money. you'll ship on the th lay. know what a lay is? it's your per cent. of the profits of the voyage. say your ship catches four whales. she ought to catch a dozen if she has good luck. but say she catches four. her cargo in oil and bone will be worth about $ , . your share will amount to something like $ , and you'll get it in a lump sum when you get back." this was "bunk talk"--a "springe to catch woodcock"--but we did not know it. that fluent and plausible man took pencil and paper and showed us just how it would all work out. it was reserved for us poor greenhorns to learn later on that sailors of whaling ships usually are paid off at the end of a voyage with "one big iron dollar." this fact being discreetly withheld from us, our illusions were not disturbed. the fact is the "lay" means nothing to sailors on a whaler. it is merely a lure for the unsophisticated. it might as well be the th lay as the th, for all the poor devil of a sailor gets. the explanation is simple. the men start the voyage with an insufficient supply of clothing. by the time the vessel strikes cold weather their clothes are worn out and it is a case of buy clothes from the ship's slop-chest at the captain's own prices or freeze. as a consequence, the men come back to port with expense accounts standing against them which wipe out all possible profits. this has become so definitely a part of whaling custom that no sailor ever thinks of fighting against it, and it probably would do him no good if he did. as a forecastle hand's pay the "big iron dollar" is a whaling tradition and as fixed and inevitable as fate. the outfitter who owned the store did not conduct a sailor's boarding house, so we were put up at a cheap hotel on pacific street. after supper, my new friend took me for a visit to the home of his uncle in the tar flats region. a rough, kindly old laboring man was this uncle who sat in his snug parlor in his shirt sleeves during our stay, sent one of the children to the corner for a growler of beer, and told us bluntly we were idiots to think of shipping on a whaling voyage. we laughed at his warning--we were going and that's all there was to it. the old fellow's pretty daughters played the piano and sang for us, and my last evening on shore passed pleasantly enough. when it came time to say good-bye, the uncle prevailed on my friend to stay all night on the plea that he had some urgent matters to talk over, and i went back alone to my dingy hotel on the barbary coast. i was awakened suddenly out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. my friend stood beside my bed with a lighted candle in his hand. "get up and come with me," he said. "don't go whaling. my uncle has told me all about it. he knows. you'll be treated like a dog aboard, fed on rotten grub, and if you don't die under the hard knocks or freeze to death in the arctic ocean, you won't get a penny when you get back. don't be a fool. take my advice and give that runner the slip. if you go, you'll regret it to the last day of your life." in the yellow glare of the candle, the young man seemed not unlike an apparition and he delivered his message of warning with prophetic solemnity and impressiveness. but my mind was made up. "i guess i'll go," i said. he argued and pleaded with me, all to no purpose. he set the candle on the table and blew it out. "you won't come?" he said out of the darkness. "no." "you're a fool." he slammed the door. i never saw him again. but many a time on the long voyage i recalled his wise counsel, prompted as it was by pure friendliness, and wished from my heart i had taken his advice. [illustration: in bowhead waters] next day the runner for levy's tried to ship me aboard the steam whaler _william lewis_. when we arrived at the shipping office on the water front, it was crowded with sailors and rough fellows, many of them half drunk, and all eager for a chance to land a berth. a bronzed and bearded man stood beside a desk and surveyed them. he was the skipper of the steamer. the men were pushing and elbowing in an effort to get to the front and catch his eye. "i've been north before, captain," "i'm an able seaman, sir," "i know the ropes," "give me a chance, captain," "take me, sir; i'll make a good hand,"--so they clamored their virtues noisily. the captain chose this man and that. in twenty minutes his crew was signed. it was not a question of getting enough men; it was a mere matter of selection. in such a crowd of sailormen, i stood no show. in looking back on it all, i wonder how such shipping office scenes are possible, how men of ordinary intelligence are herded aboard whale ships like sheep, how they even fight for a chance to go. it was just as well i failed to ship aboard the _william lewis_. the vessel went to pieces in the ice on the north alaskan coast the following spring. four men lost their lives and only after a bitter experience as castaways on the floes were the others rescued. that afternoon captain shorey of the brig _alexander_ visited levy's. i was called to his attention as a likely young hand and he shipped me as a member of his crew. i signed articles for a year's voyage. it was provided that i was to receive a $ advance with which to outfit myself for the voyage; of course, any money left over after all necessary articles had been purchased was to be mine--at least, in my innocence, i imagined it was. the brig was lying in the stream off goat island and the runner set about the work of outfitting me at once. he and i and a clerk went about the store from shelf to shelf, selecting articles. the runner carried a pad of paper on which he marked down the cost. i was given a sailor's canvas bag, a mattress, a pair of blankets, woolen trousers, dungaree trousers, a coat, a pair of brogans, a pair of rubber sea boots, underwear, socks, two flannel shirts, a cap, a belt and sheath knife, a suit of oil-skins and sou'wester, a tin cup, tin pan, knife, fork and spoon. that was all. it struck me as a rather slender equipment for a year's voyage. the runner footed up the cost. "why," he said with an air of great surprise, "this foots up to $ and your advance is only $ ." he added up the column of figures again. but he had made no mistake. he seemed perplexed. "i don't see how it is possible to scratch off anything," he said. "you'll need every one of these articles." he puckered his brow, bit the end of his pencil, and studied the figures. it was evidently a puzzling problem. "well," he said at last, "i'll tell you what i'll do. bring me down a few curios from the arctic and i'll call it square." i suppose my outfit was really worth about $ --not over $ . as soon as my bag had been packed, i was escorted to the wharf by the runner and rowed out to the brig. as i prepared to climb over the ship's rail, the runner shook me by the hand and clapped me on the back with a great show of cordial goodfellowship. "don't forget my curios," he said. chapter ii the men of the "alexander" the brig _alexander_ was a staunch, sea-worthy little vessel. she had no fine lines; there was nothing about her to please a yachtsman's eye; but she was far from being a tub as whaling ships are often pictured. she was built at new bedford especially for arctic whaling. her hull was of sturdy oak, reinforced at the bows to enable her to buck her way through ice. though she was called a brig, she was really a brigantine, rigged with square sails on her fore-mast and with fore-and-aft sails on her main. she was of only tons but quite lofty, her royal yard being eighty feet above the deck. on her fore-mast she carried a fore-sail, a single topsail, a fore-top-gallant sail, and a royal; on her main-mast, a big mainsail with a gaff-topsail above it. three whale boats--starboard, larboard, and waist boats--hung at her davits. amidships stood the brick try-works equipped with furnaces and cauldrons for rendering blubber into oil. as soon as i arrived on board i was taken in charge by the ship keeper and conducted to the forecastle. it was a dark, malodorous, triangular hole below the deck in the bows. at the foot of the ladder-like stairs, leading down through the scuttle, i stepped on something soft and yielding. was it possible, i wondered in an instant's flash of surprise, that the forecastle was laid with a velvet carpet? no, it was not. it was only a kanaka sailor lying on the floor dead drunk. the bunks were ranged round the walls in a double tier. i selected one for myself, arranged my mattress and blankets, and threw my bag inside. i was glad to get back to fresh air on deck as quickly as possible. members of the crew kept coming aboard in charge of runners and boarding bosses. they were a hard looking lot; several were staggering drunk, and most of them were tipsy. all had bottles and demijohns of whiskey. everybody was full of bad liquor and high spirits that first night on the brig. a company of jolly sea rovers were we, and we joked and laughed and roared out songs like so many pirates about to cruise for treasure galleons on the spanish main. somehow next morning the rose color had faded out of the prospect and there were many aching heads aboard. on the morning of the second day, the officers came out to the vessel. a tug puffed alongside and made fast to us with a cable. the anchor was heaved up and, with the tug towing us, we headed for the golden gate. outside the harbor heads, the tug cast loose and put back into the bay in a cloud of smoke. the brig was left swinging on the long swells of the pacific. the captain stopped pacing up and down the quarter-deck and said something to the mate. his words seemed like a match to powder. immediately the mate began roaring out orders. boat-steerers bounded forward, shouting out the orders in turn. the old sailors sang them out in repetition. men sprang aloft. loosened sails were soon rolling down and fluttering from every spar. the sailors began pulling on halyards and yo-hoing on sheets. throughout the work of setting sail, the green hands were "at sea" in a double sense. the bustle and apparent confusion of the scene seemed to savor of bedlam broke loose. the orders were greek to them. they stood about, bewildered and helpless. whenever they tried to help the sailors they invariably snarled things up and were roundly abused for their pains. one might fancy they could at least have helped pull on a rope. they couldn't even do that. pulling on a rope, sailor-fashion, is in itself an art. finally all the sails were sheeted home. ropes were coiled up and hung neatly on belaying pins. a fresh breeze set all the snowy canvas drawing and the brig, all snug and shipshape, went careering southward. at the outset of the voyage, the crew consisted of twenty-four men. fourteen men were in the forecastle. the after-crew comprised the captain, mate, second mate, third mate, two boat-steerers, steward, cooper, cook, and cabin boy. captain shorey was not aboard. he was to join the vessel at honolulu. mr. winchester, the mate, took the brig to the hawaiian islands as captain. this necessitated a graduated rise in authority all along the line. mr. landers, who had shipped as second mate, became mate; gabriel, the regular third mate, became second mate; and mendez, a boatsteerer, was advanced to the position of third mate. captain winchester was a tall, spare, vigorous man with a nose like julius caesar's and a cavernous bass voice that boomed like a sunset gun. he was a man of some education, which is a rarity among officers of whale ships, and was a typical new england yankee. he had run away to sea as a boy and had been engaged in the whaling trade for twenty years. for thirteen years, he had been sailing to the arctic ocean as master and mate of vessels, and was ingrained with the autocratic traditions of the quarter-deck. though every inch a sea dog of the hard, old-fashioned school, he had his kindly human side, as i learned later. he was by far the best whaleman aboard the brig; as skillful and daring as any that ever laid a boat on a whale's back; a fine, bold, hardy type of seaman and an honor to the best traditions of the sea. he lost his life--poor fellow--in a whaling adventure in the arctic ocean on his next voyage. mr. landers, the mate, was verging on sixty; his beard was grizzled, but there wasn't a streak of gray in his coal-black hair. he was stout and heavy-limbed and must have been remarkably strong in his youth. he was a cape codder and talked with a quaint, nasal, yankee drawl. he had been to sea all his life and was a whaleman of thirty years' experience. in all these years, he had been ashore very little--only a few weeks between his year-long voyages, during which time, it was said, he kept up his preference for liquids, exchanging blue water for red liquor. he was a picturesque old fellow, and was so accustomed to the swinging deck of a ship under him that standing or sitting, in perfectly still weather or with the vessel lying motionless at anchor, he swayed his body from side to side heavily as if in answer to the rise and fall of waves. he was a silent, easy-going man, with a fund of dry humor and hard common sense. he never did any more work than he had to, and before the voyage ended, he was suspected by the officers of being a malingerer. all the sailors liked him. gabriel, the second mate, was a negro from the cape verde islands. his native language was portuguese and he talked funny, broken english. he was about forty-five years old, and though he was almost as dark-skinned as any ethiopian, he had hair and a full beard as finely spun and free from kinkiness as a caucasian's. the sailors used to say that gabriel was a white man born black by accident. he was a kindly, cheerful soul with shrewd native wit. he was a whaleman of life-long experience. mendez, the third mate, and long john, one of the boatsteerers, were also cape verde islanders. long john was a giant, standing six feet, four inches; an ungainly, powerful fellow, with a black face as big as a ham and not much more expressive. he had the reputation of being one of the most expert harpooners of the arctic ocean whaling fleet. little johnny, the other boatsteerer, was a mulatto from the barbadoes, english islands of the west indies. he was a strapping, intelligent young man, brimming over with vitality and high spirits and with all a plantation darky's love of fun. his eyes were bright and his cheeks ruddy with perfect health; he loved dress and gay colors and was quite the dandy of the crew. five of the men of the forecastle were deep-water sailors. of these one was an american, one a german, one a norwegian, and two swedes. they followed the sea for a living and had been bunkoed by their boarding bosses into believing they would make large sums of money whaling. they had been taken in by a confidence game as artfully as the man who loses his money at the immemorial trick of three shells and a pea. when they learned they would get only a dollar at the end of the voyage and contemplated the loss of an entire working year, they were full of resentment and righteous, though futile, anger. taylor, the american, became the acknowledged leader of the forecastle. he quickly established himself in this position, not only by his skill and long experience as a seaman, but by his aggressiveness, his domineering character, and his physical ability to deal with men and situations. he was a bold, iron-fisted fellow to whom the green hands looked for instruction and advice, whom several secretly feared, and for whom all had a wholesome respect. nels nelson, a red-haired, red-bearded old swede, was the best sailor aboard. he had had a thousand adventures on all the seas of all the world. he had been around cape horn seven times--a sailor is not rated as a really-truly sailor until he has made a passage around that stormy promontory--and he had rounded the cape of good hope so many times he had lost the count. he had ridden out a typhoon on the coast of japan and had been driven ashore by a hurricane in the west indies. he had sailed on an expedition to cocos island, that realm of mystery and romance, to try to lift pirate treasure in doubloons, plate, and pieces-of-eight, supposed to have been buried there by "bugs" thompson and benito bonito, those one-time terrors of the spanish main. he had been cast away in the south seas in an open boat with three companions, and had eaten the flesh of the man whose fate had been sealed by the casting of lots. he was some man, was nelson. i sometimes vaguely suspected he was some liar, too, but i don't know. i think most of his stories were true. he could do deftly everything intricate and subtle in sailorcraft from tying the most wonderful knots to splicing wire. none of the officers could teach old nelson anything about fancy sailorizing and they knew it. whenever they wanted an unusual or particularly difficult piece of work done they called on him, and he always did it in the best seamanly fashion. richard, the german, was a sturdy, manly young chap who had served in the german navy. he was well educated and a smart seaman. ole oleson, the norwegian, was just out of his teens but a fine sailor. peter swenson, a swede, was a chubby, rosy boy of sixteen, an ignorant, reckless, devil-may-care lad, who was looked upon as the baby of the forecastle and humored and spoiled accordingly. among the six white green hands, there was a "mule skinner" from western railway construction camps; a cowboy who believed himself fitted for the sea after years of experience on the "hurricane deck" of a bucking broncho; a country boy straight from the plow and with "farmer" stamped all over him in letters of light; a man suspected of having had trouble with the police; another who, in lazy night watches, spun frank yarns of burglaries; and "slim," an irishman who said he had served with the royal life guards in the english army. there was one old whaler. he was a shiftless, loquacious product of city slums. this was his seventh whaling voyage--which would seem sufficient comment on his character. "it beats hoboing," he said. and as his life's ambition seemed centered on three meals a day and a bunk to sleep in, perhaps it did. two kanakas completed the forecastle crew. these and the cabin boy, who was also a kanaka, talked fair english, but among themselves they always spoke their native language. i had heard much of the liquid beauty of the kanaka tongue. it was a surprise to find it the most unmusical and harshly guttural language i ever heard. it comes from the mouth in a series of explosive grunts and gibberings. the listener is distinctly and painfully impressed with the idea that if the nitroglycerine words were retained in the system, they would prove dangerous to health and is fearful lest they choke the spluttering kanaka to death before he succeeds in biting them off and flinging them into the atmosphere. chapter iii why we don't desert as soon as we were under sail, the crew was called aft and the watches selected. gabriel was to head the starboard watch and mendez the port. the men were ranged in line and the heads of the watches made their selections, turn and turn about. the deep-water sailors were the first to be chosen. the green hands were picked for their appearance of strength and activity. i fell into the port watch. sea watches were now set--four hours for sleep and four for work throughout the twenty-four. my watch was sent below. no one slept during this first watch below, but we made up for lost time during our second turn. soon we became accustomed to the routine and found it as restful as the usual landsman's method of eight hours' sleep and sixteen of wakefulness. it is difficult for a landlubber to understand how sailors on shipboard can be kept constantly busy. the brig was a veritable hive of industry. the watch on deck when morning broke pumped ship and swept and flushed down the decks. during the day watches, in addition to working the ship, we were continuously breaking out supplies, keeping the water barrel on deck filled from casks in the hold, laboring with the cargo, scrubbing paint work, polishing brass work, slushing masts and spars, repairing rigging, and attending to a hundred and one details that must be looked after every day. the captain of a ship is one of the most scrupulous housekeepers in the world, and only by keeping his crew busy from morning till night is he able to keep his ship spick and span and in proper repair. whale ships are supposed to be dirty. on the contrary, they are kept as clean as water and brooms and hard work can keep them. the food served aboard the brig was nothing to brag about. breakfast consisted of corned-beef hash, hardtack, and coffee without milk or sugar. we sweetened our coffee with molasses, a keg of which was kept in the forecastle. for dinner, we had soup, corned-beef stew, called "skouse," a loaf of soft bread, and coffee. for supper, we had slices of corned-beef which the sailors called "salt horse," hardtack, and tea. the principal variation in this diet was in the soups. the days were a round of barley soup, bean soup, pea soup, and back to barley soup again, an alternation that led the men to speak of the days of the week not as monday, tuesday, and so on, but as "barley soup day," "bean soup day," and "pea soup day." once or twice a week we had gingerbread for supper. on the other hand the cabin fared sumptuously on canned vegetables, meat, salmon, soft bread, tea, and coffee with sugar and condensed milk, fresh fish and meat whenever procurable, and a dessert every day at dinner, including plum duff, a famous sea delicacy which never in all the voyage found its way forward. from the first day, the green hands were set learning the ropes, to stand lookout, to take their trick at the wheel, to reef and furl and work among the sails. these things are the a b c of seamanship, but they are not to be learned in a day or a week. a ship is a complicated mechanism, and it takes a long time for a novice to acquire even the rudiments of sea education. going aloft was a terrifying ordeal at first to several of the green hands, though it never bothered me. when the cowboy was first ordered to furl the fore-royal, he hung back and said, "i can't" and "i'll fall," and whimpered and begged to be let off. but he was forced to try. he climbed the ratlines slowly and painfully to the royal yard, and he finally furled the sail, though it took him a long time to do it. he felt so elated that after that he wanted to furl the royal every time it had to be done;--didn't want to give anyone else a chance. furling the royal was a one-man job. the foot-rope was only a few feet below the yard, and if a man stood straight on it, the yard would strike him a little above the knees. if the ship were pitching, a fellow had to look sharp or he would be thrown off;--if that had happened it was a nice, straight fall of eighty feet to the deck. my own first experience on the royal yard gave me an exciting fifteen minutes. the ship seemed to be fighting me and devoting an unpleasant amount of time and effort to it; bucking and tossing as if with a sentient determination to shake me off into the atmosphere. i escaped becoming a grease spot on the deck of the brig only by hugging the yard as if it were a sweetheart and hanging on for dear life. i became in time quite an expert at furling the sail. standing lookout was the one thing aboard a green hand could do as well as an old sailor. the lookout was posted on the forecastle-head in fair weather and on the try-works in a storm. he stood two hours at a stretch. he had to scan the sea ahead closely and if a sail or anything unusual appeared, he reported to the officer of the watch. learning to steer by the compass was comparatively easy. with the ship heading on a course, it was not difficult by manipulating the wheel to keep the needle of the compass on a given point. but to steer by the wind was hard to learn and is sometimes a nice matter even for skillful seamen. when a ship is close-hauled and sailing, as sailors say, right in the wind's eye, the wind is blowing into the braced sails at the weather edge of the canvas;--if the vessel were brought any higher up, the wind would pour around on the back of the sails. the helmsman's aim is to keep the luff of the royal sail or of the sails that happen to be set, wrinkling and loose--luffing, sailors call it. that shows that the wind is slanting into the sails at just the right angle and perhaps a little bit is spilling over. i gradually learned to do this in the daytime. but at night when it was almost impossible for me to see the luff of the sails clearly, it was extremely difficult and i got into trouble more than once by my clumsiness. the trick at the wheel was of two hours' duration. the second day out from san francisco was christmas. i had often read that christmas was a season of good cheer and happiness among sailors at sea, that it was commemorated with religious service, and that the skipper sent forward grog and plum duff to gladden the hearts of the sailormen. but santa claus forgot the sailors on the brig. bean soup only distinguished christmas from the day that had gone before and the day that came after. no liquor or tempting dishes came to the forecastle. it was the usual day of hard work from dawn to dark. after two weeks of variable weather during which we were often becalmed, we put into turtle bay, midway down the coast of lower california, and dropped anchor. turtle bay is a beautiful little land-locked harbor on an uninhabited coast. there was no village or any human habitation on its shores. a desolate, treeless country, seamed by gullies and scantily covered with sun-dried grass, rolled away to a chain of high mountains which forms the backbone of the peninsula of lower california. these mountains were perhaps thirty miles from the coast; they were gray and apparently barren of trees or any sort of herbage, and looked to be ridges of naked granite. the desert character of the landscape was a surprise, as we were almost within the tropics. we spent three weeks of hard work in turtle bay. sea watches were abolished and all hands were called on deck at dawn and kept busy until sundown. the experienced sailors were employed as sail makers; squatting all day on the quarter-deck, sewing on canvas with a palm and needle. old sails were sent down from the spars and patched and repaired. if they were too far gone, new sails were bent in their stead. the green hands had the hard work. they broke out the hold and restowed every piece of cargo, arranging it so that the vessel rode on a perfectly even keel. yards and masts were slushed, the rigging was tarred, and the ship was painted inside and out. the waters of the harbor were alive with spanish mackerel, albacore, rock bass, bonitos, and other kinds of fish. the mackerel appeared in great schools that rippled the water as if a strong breeze were blowing. these fish attracted great numbers of gray pelicans, which had the most wonderful mode of flight i have ever seen in any bird. for hours at a time, with perfectly motionless pinions, they skimmed the surface of the bay like living aeroplanes; one wondered wherein lay their motor power and how they managed to keep going. when they spied a school of mackerel, they rose straight into the air with a great flapping of wings, then turned their heads downward, folded their wings close to their bodies, and dropped like a stone. their great beaks cut the water, they went under with a terrific splash, and immediately emerged with a fish in the net-like membrane beneath their lower mandible. [illustration: when whaling is an easy job] every sunday, a boat's crew went fishing. we fished with hand lines weighted with lead and having three or four hooks, baited at first with bacon and later with pieces of fresh fish. i never had such fine fishing. the fish bit as fast as we could throw in our lines, and we were kept busy hauling them out of the water. we would fill a whale boat almost to the gunwales in a few hours. with the return of the first fishing expedition, the sailors had dreams of a feast, but they were disappointed. the fish went to the captain's table or were salted away in barrels for the cabin's future use. the sailors, however, enjoyed the fun. many of them kept lines constantly over the brig's sides, catching skates, soles, and little sharks. by the time we reached turtle bay, it was no longer a secret that we would get only a dollar for our year's voyage. as a result, a feverish spirit of discontent began to manifest itself among those forward and plans to run away became rife. we were anchored about a half mile from shore, and after looking over the situation, i made up my mind to try to escape. except for an officer and a boatsteerer who stood watch, all hands were asleep below at night. being a good swimmer, i planned to slip over the bow in the darkness and swim ashore. once on land, i figured it would be an easy matter to cross the sierras and reach a mexican settlement on the gulf of california. possibly the officers got wind of the runaway plots brewing in the forecastle, for captain winchester came forward one evening, something he never had done before, and fell into gossipy talk with the men. "have you noticed that pile of stones with a cross sticking in it on the harbor head?" he asked in a casual sort of way. yes, we had all noticed it from the moment we dropped anchor, and had wondered what it was. "that," said the captain impressively, "is a grave. whaling vessels have been coming to turtle bay for years to paint ship and overhaul. three sailors on a whaler several years ago thought this was a likely place in which to escape. they managed to swim ashore at night and struck into the hills. they expected to find farms and villages back inland. they didn't know that the whole peninsula of lower california is a waterless desert from one end to the other. they had some food with them and they kept going for days. no one knows how far inland they traveled, but they found neither inhabitants nor water and their food was soon gone. "when they couldn't stand it any longer and were half dying from thirst and hunger, they turned back for the coast. by the time they returned to turtle bay their ship had sailed away and there they were on a desert shore without food or water and no way to get either. i suppose they camped on the headland in the hope of hailing a passing ship. but the vessels that pass up and down this coast usually keep out of sight of land. maybe the poor devils sighted a distant topsail--no one knows--but if they did the ship sank beyond the horizon without paying any attention to their frantic signals. so they died miserably there on the headland. "next year, a whale ship found their bodies and erected a cairn of stones marked by the cross you see over the spot where the three sailors were buried together. this is a bad country to run away in," the captain added. "no food, no water, no inhabitants. it's sure death for a runaway." having spun this tragic yarn, captain winchester went aft again, feeling, no doubt, that he had sowed seed on fertile soil. the fact is his story had an instant effect. most of the men abandoned their plans to escape, at least for the time being, hoping a more favorable opportunity would present itself when we reached the hawaiian islands. but i had my doubts. i thought it possible the captain merely had "put over" a good bluff. next day i asked little johnny, the boatsteerer, if it were true as the captain had said, that lower california was an uninhabited desert. he assured me it was and to prove it, he brought out a ship's chart from the cabin and spread it before me. i found that only two towns throughout the length and breadth of the peninsula were set down on the map. one of these was tia juana on the west coast just south of the united states boundary line and the other was la paz on the east coast near cape st. lucas, the southern tip of the peninsula. turtle bay was two or three hundred miles from either town. that settled it with me. i didn't propose to take chances on dying in the desert. i preferred a whaler's forecastle to that. chapter iv turtles and porpoises we slipped out of turtle bay one moonlight night and stood southward. we were now in sperm whale waters and the crews of the whale boats were selected. captain winchester was to head the starboard boat; mr. landers the larboard boat; and gabriel the waist boat. long john was to act as boatsteerer for mr. winchester, little johnny for mr. landers, and mendez for gabriel. the whale boats were about twenty-five feet long, rigged with leg-of-mutton sails and jibs. the crew of each consisted of an officer known as a boat-header, who sat in the stern and wielded the tiller; a boatsteerer or harpooner, whose position was in the bow; and four sailors who pulled the stroke, midship, tub, and bow oars. each boat had a tub in which four hundred fathoms of whale line were coiled and carried two harpoons and a shoulder bomb-gun. i was assigned to the midship oar of gabriel's boat. let me take occasion just here to correct a false impression quite generally held regarding whaling. many persons--i think, most persons--have an idea that in modern whaling, harpoons are fired at whales from the decks of ships. this is true only of 'long-shore whaling. in this trade, finbacks and the less valuable varieties of whales are chased by small steamers which fire harpoons from guns in the bows and tow the whales they kill to factories along shore, where blubber, flesh, and skeleton are turned into commercial products. many published articles have familiarized the public with this method of whaling. but whaling on the sperm grounds of the tropics and on the right whale and bowhead grounds of the polar seas is much the same as it has always been. boats still go on the backs of whales. harpoons are thrown by hand into the great animals as of yore. whales still run away with the boats, pulling them with amazing speed through walls of split water. whales still crush boats with blows of their mighty flukes and spill their crews into the sea. there is just as much danger and just as much thrill and excitement in the whaling of to-day as there was in that of a century ago. neither steamers nor sailing vessels that cruise for sperm and bowhead and right whales nowadays have deck guns of any sort, but depend entirely upon the bomb-guns attached to harpoons and upon shoulder bomb-guns wielded from the whale boats. in the old days, after whales had been harpooned, they were stabbed to death with long, razor-sharp lances. the lance is a thing of the past. the tonite bomb has taken its place as an instrument of destruction. in the use of the tonite bomb lies the chief difference between modern whaling and the whaling of the old school. the modern harpoon is the same as it has been since the palmy days of the old south sea sperm fisheries. but fastened on its iron shaft between the wooden handle and the spear point is a brass cylinder an inch in diameter, perhaps, and about a foot long. this cylinder is a tonite bomb-gun. a short piece of metal projects from the flat lower end. this is the trigger. when the harpoon is thrown into the buttery, blubber-wrapped body of the whale, it sinks in until the whale's skin presses the trigger up into the gun and fires it with a tiny sound like the explosion of an old-fashioned shotgun cap. an instant later a tonite bomb explodes with a muffled roar in the whale's vitals. the arctic ocean whaling fleet which sails out of san francisco and which in the year of my voyage numbered thirty vessels, makes its spring rendezvous in the hawaiian islands. most of the ships leave san francisco in december and reach honolulu in march. the two or three months spent in this leisurely voyage are known in whaler parlance as "between seasons." on the way to the islands the ships cruise for sperm whales and sometimes lower for finbacks, sulphur-bottoms, california grays, and even black fish, to practice their green hand crews. captain winchester did not care particularly whether he took any sperm whales or not, though sperm oil is still valuable. the brig was not merely a blubber-hunter. her hold was filled with oil tanks which it was hoped would be filled before we got back, but the chief purpose of the voyage was the capture of right and bowhead whales--the great baleen whales of the north. as soon as we left turtle bay, a lookout for whales was posted. during the day watches, a boatsteerer and a sailor sat on the topsail yard for two hours at a stretch and scanned the sea for spouts. we stood down the coast of lower california and in a few days, were in the tide-rip which is always running off cape st. lucas, where the waters of the pacific meet a counter-current from the gulf of california. we rounded cape st. lucas and sailed north into the gulf, having a distant view of la paz, a little town backed by gray mountains. soon we turned south again, keeping close to the mexican coast for several days. i never learned how far south we went, but we must have worked pretty well toward the equator, for when we stood out across the pacific for the hawaiian islands, our course was northwesterly. i saw my first whales one morning while working in the bows with the watch under mr. lander's supervision. a school of finbacks was out ahead moving in leisurely fashion toward the brig. there were about twenty of them and the sea was dotted with their fountains. "blow!" breathed old man landers with mild interest as though to himself. "blow!" boomed captain winchester in his big bass voice from the quarter-deck. "nothin' but finbacks, sir," shouted the boatsteerer from the mast-head. "all right," sang back the captain. "let 'em blow." it was easy for these old whalers even at this distance to tell they were not sperm whales. their fountains rose straight into the air. a sperm whale's spout slants up from the water diagonally. the whales were soon all about the ship, seemingly unafraid, still traveling leisurely, their heads rising and falling rhythmically, and at each rise blowing up a fountain of mist fifteen feet high. the fountains looked like water; some water surely was mixed with them; but i was told that the mist was the breath of the animals made visible by the colder air. the breath came from the blow holes in a sibilant roar that resembled no sound i had ever heard. if one can imagine a giant of fable snoring in his sleep, one may have an idea of the sound of the mighty exhalation. the great lungs whose gentle breathing could shoot a jet of spray fifteen feet into the air must have had the power of enormous bellows. immense coal-black fellows these finbacks were--some at least sixty or seventy feet long. one swam so close to the brig that when he blew, the spray fell all about me, wetting my clothes like dew. the finback is a baleen whale and a cousin of the right whale and the bowhead. their mouths are edged with close-set slabs of baleen, which, however, is so short that it is worthless for commercial purposes. they are of much slenderer build than the more valuable species of whale. their quickness and activity make them dangerous when hunted in the boats, but their bodies are encased in blubber so thin that it is as worthless as their bone. consequently they are not hunted unless a whaling ship is hard up for oil. we gradually worked into the trade winds that blew steadily from the southeast. these winds stayed with us for several weeks or rather we stayed with the winds; while in them it was rarely necessary to take in or set a sail or brace a yard. after we had passed through these aerial rivers, flowing through definite, if invisible, banks, we struck the doldrums--areas of calm between wind currents--they might be called whirlpools of stillness. later in the day light, fitful breezes finally pushed us through them into the region of winds again. the slow voyage to the hawaiian islands--on the sperm whale grounds, we cruised under short sail--might have proved monotonous if we had not been kept constantly busy and if diverting incidents had not occurred almost every day. once we sighted three immense turtles sunning themselves on the sea. to the captain they held out prospect of soups and delicate dishes for the cabin table, and with long john as boatsteerer, a boat was lowered for them. i expected it would be difficult to get within darting distance. what was my surprise to see the turtles, with heads in the air and perfectly aware of their danger, remain upon the surface until the boat was directly upon them. the fact was they could not go under quickly; the big shells kept them afloat. long john dropped his harpoon crashing through the shell of one of the turtles, flopped it into the boat, and then went on without particular hurry, and captured the other two in the same way. the cabin feasted for several days on the delicate flesh of the turtles; the forecastle got only a savory smell from the galley, as was usual. we ran into a school of porpoises on another occasion--hundreds of them rolling and tumbling about the ship, like fat porkers on a frolic. little johnny took a position on the forecastle head with a harpoon, the line from which had been made fast to the fore-bitt. as a porpoise rose beneath him, he darted his harpoon straight into its back. the sea pig went wriggling under, leaving the water dyed with its blood. it was hauled aboard, squirming and twisting. little johnny harpooned two more before the school took fright and disappeared. the porpoises were cleaned and some of their meat, nicely roasted, was sent to the forecastle. it made fine eating, tasting something like beef. the steward was an inveterate fisherman and constantly kept a baited hook trailing in the brig's wake, the line tied to the taff-rail. he caught a great many bonitos and one day landed a dolphin. we had seen many of these beautiful fish swimming about the ship--long, graceful and looking like an animate streak of blue sky. the steward's dolphin was about five feet long. i had often seen in print the statement that dolphins turned all colors of the rainbow in dying and i had as often seen the assertion branded as a mere figment of poetic imagination. our dolphin proved the truth of the poetic tradition. as life departed, it changed from blue to green, bronze, salmon, gold, and gray, making death as beautiful as a gorgeous kaleidoscope. we saw flying fish every day--great "coveys" of them, one may say. they frequently flew several hundred yards, fluttering their webbed side fins like the wings of a bird, sometimes rising fifteen to twenty feet above the water, and curving and zigzagging in their flight. more than once they flew directly across the ship and several fell on deck. i was talking with kaiuli, the kanaka, one night when we heard a soft little thud on deck. i should have paid no attention but kaiuli was alert on the instant. "flying feesh," he cried zestfully and rushed off to search the deck. he found the fish and ate it raw, smacking his lips over it with great gusto. the hawaiian islanders, he told me, esteem raw flying fish a great delicacy. i never saw water so "darkly, deeply, beautifully blue" as in the middle of the pacific where we had some four miles of water under us. it was as blue as indigo. at night, the sea seemed afire with riotous phosphorescence. white flames leaped about the bows where the brig cut the water before a fresh breeze; the wake was a broad, glowing path. when white caps were running every wave broke in sparks and tongues of flame, and the ocean presented the appearance of a prairie swept by fire. a big shark came swimming about the ship one night and it shone like a living incandescence--a silent, ghost-like shape slowly gliding under the brig and out again. the idle night watches in the tropics were great times for story telling. the deep-water sailors were especially fond of this way of passing the time. while the green hands were engaging in desultory talk and wishing for the bell to strike to go back to their bunks, these deep-water fellows would be pacing up and down or sitting on deck against the bulwarks, smoking their pipes and spinning yarns to each other. the stories as a rule were interminable and were full of "then he says" and "then the other fellow says." it was a poor story that did not last out a four-hour watch and many of them were regular "continued in our next" serials, being cut short at the end of one watch to be resumed in the next. no matter how long-winded or prosy the narrative, the story teller was always sure of an audience whose attention never flagged for an instant. the boyish delight of these full-grown men in stories amazed me. i had never seen anything like it. once in a while a tale was told that was worth listening to, but most of them were monotonously uninteresting. they bored me. chapter v the a, b, c of whales one damp morning, with frequent showers falling here and there over the sea and not a drop wetting the brig, captain winchester suddenly stopped pacing up and down the weather side of the quarter-deck, threw his head up into the wind, and sniffed the air. "there's sperm whale about as sure as i live," he said to mr. landers. "i smell 'em." mr. landers inhaled the breeze through his nose in jerky little sniffs. "no doubt about it," he replied. "you could cut the smell with a knife." i was at the wheel and overheard this talk. i smiled. these old sea dogs, i supposed, were having a little joke. the skipper saw the grin on my face. "humph, you don't believe i smell whale, eh?" he said. "i can smell whale like a bird dog smells quail. take a sniff at the wind. can't you smell it yourself?" i gave a few hopeful sniffs. "no," i said, "i can't smell anything unless, perhaps, salt water." "you've got a poor smeller," returned the captain. "the wind smells rank and oily. that means sperm whale. if i couldn't smell it, i could taste it. i'll give you a plug of tobacco, if we don't raise sperm before dark." he didn't have to pay the tobacco. within an hour, we raised a sperm whale spouting far to windward and traveling in the same direction as the brig. the captain hurried to the cabin for his binoculars. as he swung himself into the shrouds to climb to the mast-head, he shouted to me, "didn't i tell you i could smell 'em?" the watch was called. the crew of the captain's boat was left to work the ship and mr. landers and gabriel lowered in the larboard and waist boats. sails were run up and we went skimming away on our first whale hunt. we had a long beat to windward ahead of us and as the whale was moving along at fair speed, remaining below fifteen minutes or so between spouts, it was slow work cutting down the distance that separated us from it. "see how dat spout slant up in de air?" remarked old gabriel whom the sight of our first sperm had put in high good humor. we looked to where the whale was blowing and saw its fountain shoot into the air diagonally, tufted with a cloudy spread of vapor at the top. "you know why it don't shoot straight up?" no one knew. "dat feller's blow hole in de corner ob his square head--dat's why," said gabriel. "he blow his fountain out in front of him. ain't no udder kind o' whale do dat. all de udder kind blow straight up. all de differ in de worl' between dat sperm whale out dere and de bowhead and right whale up nort'. ain't shaped nothin' a-tall alike. bowhead and right whale got big curved heads and big curved backs. sperm whale's about one-third head and his back ain't got no bow to it--not much--jest lies straight out behind his head. he look littler in de water dan de right and bowhead whale. but he ain't. he's as big as de biggest whale dat swims de sea. i've seen a barrel sperm dat measure seventy feet. "blow!" added the old negro as he caught sight of the whale spouting again. "bowhead and right whale got no teeth," he continued. "dey got only long slabs o' baleen hung wit' hair in de upper jaw. sperm whale got teeth same as you and me--about twenty on a side and all in his lower jaw. ain't got no teeth in his upper jaw a-tall. his mouth is white inside and his teeth stand up five or six inches out o' his gums and are wide apart and sharp and pointed and look jes' like de teeth of a saw. wen he open his mouth, his lower jaw fall straight down and his mouth's big enough to take a whale boat inside. "sperm whale's fightin' whale. he fight wit' his tail and his teeth. he knock a boat out de water wit' his flukes and he scrunch it into kindlin' wood wit' his teeth. he's got fightin' sense too--he's sly as a fox. w'en i was young feller, i was in de sperm trade mysel' and used to ship out o' new bedford round cape o' good hope for sperm whale ground in indian ocean and sout' pacific. once i go on top a sperm whale in a boat an' he turn flukes and lash out wit' his tail but miss us. den he bring up his old head and take a squint back at us out o' his foxy little eye and begin to slew his body roun' till he get his tail under de boat. but de boatheader too smart fer him and we stern oars and get out o' reach. but de whale didn't know we done backed out o' reach and w'en he bring up dat tail it shoot out o' de water like it was shot out o' a cannon. mighty fine fer us he miss us dat time. "but dat don't discourage dat whale a-tall. he swim round and slew round and sight at us out o' his eye and at las' he get under de boat. den he lift it on de tip o' his tail sky-high and pitch us all in de water. dat was jes' what he been working for. he swim away and turn round and come shootin' back straight fer dat boat and w'en he get to it, he crush it wit' his teeth and chew it up and shake his head like a mad bulldog until dere warn't nothin' left of dat boat but a lot o' kindlin' wood. but dat warn't all. he swim to a man who wuz lying across an oar to keep afloat and he chew dat man up and spit him out in li'l pieces and we ain't never see nothin' o' dat feller again. "guess that whale was goin' to give us all de same medicine, but he ain't have time. de udder boats come up and fill him full o' harpoons and keep stickin' der lances into him and kill him right where he lays and he never had no chance to scoff the rest o' us. but if it ain't fer dem boats, i guess dat feller eat us all jes' like plum duff. sperm whale, some fighter, believe me. "dere he white waters--blow!" added gabriel as the whale came to the surface again. "sperm whale try out de bes' oil," the garrulous old whaleman went on. "bowhead and right whale got thicker blubber and make more oil, but sperm whale oil de bes'. he got big cistern--what dey call a 'case'--in de top ob his head and it's full o' spermaceti, sloshing about in dere and jes' as clear as water. his old head is always cut off and hoist on deck to bale out dat case. many times dey find ambergrease (ambergis) floating beside a dead sperm whale. it's solid and yellowish and stuck full o' cuttle feesh beaks dat de whale's done swallowed but ain't digest. dey makes perfume out o' dat ambergrease and it's worth its weight in gold. i've offen seen it in chunks dat weighed a hundred pounds. "you see a sperm whale ain't eat nothin' but cuttle feesh--giant squid, dey calls 'em, or devil feesh. dey certainly is terrible fellers--is dem devil feesh. got arms twenty or thirty feet long wit' sucking discs all over 'em and a big fat body in de middle ob dese snaky arms, wit' big pop-eyes as big as water buckets and a big black beak like a parrot's to tear its food wit'. dose devil feesh. dey certainly is terrible fellers--is dem sperm whale nose 'em out and eat 'em. some time dey comes to de top and de whale and de cuttle feesh fights it out. i've hearn old whalers say dey seen fights between sperm whale and cuttle feesh but i ain't never seen dat and i reckon mighty few fellers ever did. but when a sperm whale is killed, he spews out chunks o' cuttle feesh and i've seen de water about a dead sperm thick wit' white chunks of cuttle feesh as big as a sea ches' and wit' de suckin' disc still on 'em. "blow!" said gabriel again with his eyes on the whale. "dat feesh certainly some traveler." we were hauling closer to the whale. i could see it distinctly by this time and could note how square and black its head was. its appearance might be compared not inaptly to a box-car glistening in the sun under a fresh coat of black paint. it did not cut the water but pushed it in white foam in front of it. "sperm pretty scarce nowadays," gabriel resumed. "nothing like as plentiful in pacific waters as dey used to be in de ole days. whalers done pretty well thinned 'em out. but long ago, it used to be nothin' to see schools of a hundred, mostly cows wit' three or four big bulls among 'em." "any difference between a bowhead and a right whale?" some one asked. "o good lord, yes," answered gabriel. "big difference. right whale thinner whale dan a bowhead, ain't got sech thick blubber neither. he's quicker in de water and got nothin' like such long baleen. you ketch right whale in behring sea. i ain't never see none in de arctic ocean. you ketch bowhead both places. right whale fightin' feesh, too, but he ain't so dangerous as a sperm." let me add that i give this statement of the old whaleman for what it is worth. all books i have ever read on the subject go on the theory that the greenland or right whale is the same animal as the bowhead. we lowered for a right whale later in the voyage in behring sea. to my untrained eyes, it looked like a bowhead which we encountered every few days while on the arctic ocean whaling grounds. but there was no doubt or argument about it among the old whalemen aboard. to them it was a "right whale" and nothing else. old gabriel may have known what he was talking about. despite the naturalists, whalers certainly make a pronounced distinction. by the time gabriel had imparted all this information, we had worked to within a half mile of our whale which was still steaming along at the rate of knots. they say a sperm whale has ears so small they are scarcely detected, but it has a wonderfully keen sense of hearing for all that. our whale must have heard us or seen us. at any rate it bade us a sudden good-bye and scurried off unceremoniously over the rim of the world. the boats kept on along the course it was heading for over an hour, but the whale never again favored us with so much as a distant spout. finally signals from the brig's mast-head summoned us aboard. as the men had had no practice in the boats before, both boats lowered sail and we started to row back to the vessel. we had pulled about a mile when mendez, who was acting as boatsteerer, said quietly, "blow! blackfish dead ahead." "aye, aye," replied gabriel. "now stand by, tomas. i'll jes' lay you aboard one o' dem blackfeesh and we'll teach dese green fellers somethin' 'bout whalin'." there were about fifty blackfish in the school. they are a species of small toothed whale, from ten to twenty feet long, eight or ten feet in circumference and weighing two or three tons. they were gamboling and tumbling like porpoises. their black bodies flashed above the surface in undulant curves and i wondered if, when seen at a distance, these little cousins of the sperm had not at some time played their part in establishing the myth of the sea serpent. "get ready, tomas," said gabriel as we drew near the school. "aye, aye, sir," responded mendez. pulling away as hard as we could, we shot among the blackfish. mendez selected a big one and drove his harpoon into its back. almost at the same time mr. lander's boat became fast to another. our fish plunged and reared half out of water, rolled and splashed about, finally shot around in a circle and died. mr. lander's fish was not fatally hit and when it became apparent it would run away with a tub of line, little johnny, the boatsteerer, cut adrift and let it go. mendez cut our harpoon free and left our fish weltering on the water. blackfish yield a fairly good quality of oil, but one was too small a catch to potter with. our adventure among the blackfish was merely practice for the boat crews to prepare them for future encounters with the monarchs of the deep. chapter vi the night king the crew called tomas mendez, the acting third mate, the "night king." i have forgotten what forecastle poet fastened the name upon him, but it fitted like a glove. in the day watches when the captain and mate were on deck, he was only a quite, unobtrusive little negro, insignificant in size and with a bad case of rheumatism. but at night when the other officers were snoring in their bunks below and the destinies of the brig were in his hands, he became an autocrat who ruled with a hand of iron. he was as black as a bowhead's skin--a lean, scrawny, sinewy little man, stooped about the shoulders and walking with a slight limp. his countenance was imperious. his lips were thin and cruel. his eyes were sharp and sinister. his ebony skin was drawn so tightly over the frame-work of his face that it almost seemed as if it would crack when he smiled. his nose had a domineering roman curve. he carried his head high. in profile, this little blackamoor suggested the mummified head of some old pharaoh. he was a native of the cape verde islands. he spoke english with the liquid burr of a latin. his native tongue was portuguese. no glimmer of education relieved his mental darkness. it was as though his outside color went all the way through. he could neither read nor write, but he was a good sailor and no better whaleman ever handled a harpoon or laid a boat on a whale's back. for twenty years he had been sailing as boatsteerer on whale ships, and to give the devil his due, he had earned a name for skill and courage in a thousand adventures among sperm, bowhead, and right whales in tropical and frozen seas. [illustration: waiting for the whale to breach] my first impression of the night king stands out in my memory with cameo distinctness. in the bustle and confusion of setting sails, just after the tug had cut loose from us outside golden gate heads, i saw mendez, like an ebony statue, standing in the waist of the ship, an arm resting easily on the bulwarks, singing out orders in a clear, incisive voice that had in it the ring of steel. when i shipped, it had not entered my mind that any but white men would be of the ship's company. it was with a shock like a blow in the face that i saw this little colored man singing out orders. i wondered in a dazed sort of way if he was to be in authority over me. i was not long in doubt. when calm had succeeded the first confusion and the crew had been divided into watches, captain winchester announced from the break of the poop that "mr." mendez would head the port watch. that was my watch. while the captain was speaking, "mr." mendez stood like a black napoleon and surveyed us long and silently. then suddenly he snapped out a decisive order and the white men jumped to obey. the night king had assumed his throne. the night king and i disliked each other from the start. it may seem petty now that it's all past, but i raged impotently in the bitterness of outraged pride at being ordered about by this black overlord of the quarter-deck. he was not slow to discover my smoldering resentment and came to hate me with a cordiality not far from classic. he kept me busy with some silly job when the other men were smoking their pipes and spinning yarns. if i showed the left-handedness of a landlubber in sailorizing he made me stay on deck my watch below to learn the ropes. if there was dirt or litter to be shoveled overboard, he sang out for me. "clean up dat muck dere, you," he would say with fine contempt. the climax of his petty tyrannies came one night on the run to honolulu when he charged me with some trifling infraction of ship's rules, of which i was not guilty, and ordered me aloft to sit out the watch on the fore yard. the yard was broad, the night was warm, the ship was traveling on a steady keel, and physically the punishment was no punishment at all. there was no particular ignominy in the thing, either, for it was merely a joke to the sailors. the sting of it was in having to take such treatment from this small colored person without being able to resent it or help myself. the very next morning i was awakened by the cry of the lookout on the topsail yard. "blow! blow! there's his old head. blo--o--o--w! there he ripples. there goes flukes." full-lunged and clear, the musical cry came from aloft like a song with little yodling breaks in the measure. it was the view-halloo of the sea, and it quickened the blood and set the nerves tingling. "where away?" shouted the captain, rushing from the cabin with his binoculars. "two points on the weather bow, sir," returned the lookout. for a moment nothing was to be seen but an expanse of yeasty sea. suddenly into the air shot a fountain of white water--slender, graceful, spreading into a bush of spray at the top. a great sperm was disporting among the white caps. "call all hands and clear away the boats," yelled the captain. larboard and waist boats were lowered from the davits. their crews scrambled over the ship's side, the leg-o'-mutton sails were hoisted, and the boats, bending over as the wind caught them, sped away on the chase. the night king went as boatsteerer of the waist boat. i saw him smiling to himself as he shook the kinks out of his tub-line and laid his harpoons in position in the bows--harpoons with no bomb-guns attached to the spear-shanks. in the distance, a slow succession of fountains gleamed in the brilliant tropical sunshine like crystal lamps held aloft on fairy pillars. suddenly the tell-tale beacons of spray went out. the whale had sounded. over the sea, the boats quartered like baffled foxhounds to pick up the lost trail. between the ship and the boats, the whale came quietly to the surface at last and lay perfectly still, taking its ease, sunning itself and spouting lazily. the captain, perched in the ship's cross-trees, signalled its position with flags, using a code familiar to whalemen. the night king caught the message first. he turned quickly to the boatheader at the tiller and pointed. instantly the boat came about, the sailors shifted from one gunwale to the other, the big sail swung squarely out and filled. all hands settled themselves for the run to close quarters. with thrilling interest, i watched the hunt from the ship's forward bulwarks, where i stood grasping a shroud to prevent pitching overboard. down a long slant of wind, the boat ran free with the speed of a greyhound, a white plume of spray standing high on either bow. the night king stood alert and cool, one foot on the bow seat, balancing a harpoon in his hands. the white background of the bellying sail threw his tense figure into relief. swiftly, silently, the boat stole upon its quarry until but one long sea lay between. it rose upon the crest of the wave and poised there for an instant like some great white-winged bird of prey. then sweeping down the green slope, it struck the whale bows-on and beached its keel out of the water on its glistening back. as it struck, the night king let fly one harpoon and another, driving them home up to the wooden hafts with all the strength of his lithe arms. the sharp bite of the iron in its vitals stirred the titanic mass of flesh and blood from perfect stillness into a frenzy of sudden movement that churned the water of the sea into white froth. the great head went under, the giant back curved down like the whirling surface of some mighty fly-wheel, the vast flukes, like some black demon's arm, shot into the air. left and right and left again, the great tail thrashed, smiting the sea with thwacks which could have been heard for miles. it struck the boat glancingly with its bare tip, yet the blow stove a great hole in the bottom timbers, lifted the wreck high in air, and sent the sailors sprawling into the sea. then the whale sped away with the speed of a limited express. it had not been vitally wounded. over the distant horizon, it passed out of sight, blowing up against the sky fountains of clear water unmixed with blood. the other boat hurried to the rescue and the crew gathered up the half-drowned sailors perched on the bottom of the upturned boat or clinging to floating sweeps. fouled in the rigging of the sail, held suspended beneath the wreck in the green crystal of the sea water, they found the night king, dead. when the whale crushed the boat--at the very moment, it must have been--the night king had snatched the knife kept fastened in a sheath on the bow thwart and with one stroke of the razor blade, severed the harpoon lines. he thus released the whale and prevented it from dragging the boat away in its mad race. the night king's last act had saved the lives of his companions. i helped lift the body over the rail. we laid it on the quarter deck near the skylight. it lurched and shifted in a ghastly sort of way as the ship rolled, the glazed eyes open to the blue sky. the captain's newfoundland dog came and sniffed at the corpse. sheltered from the captain's eye behind the galley, the kanaka cabin boy shook a furtive fist at the dead man and ground out between clenched teeth, "you black devil, you'll never kick me again." standing not ten feet away, the mate cracked a joke to the second mate and the two laughed uproariously. the work of the ship went on all around. looking upon the dead thing lying there, i thought of the pride with which the living man had borne himself in the days of his power. i beheld in fancy the silent, lonely, imperious little figure, pacing to and fro on the weather side of the quarter-deck--to and fro under the stars. i saw him stop in the darkness by the wheel, as his custom was, to peer down into the lighted binnacle and say in vibrant tones, "keep her steady," or "let her luff." i saw him buttoned up in his overcoat to keep the dew of the tropical night from his rheumatic joints, slip down the poop ladder and stump forward past the try-works to see how things fared in the bow. again i heard his nightly cry to the lookout on the forecastle-head, "keep a bright lookout dere, you," and saw him limp back to continue his vigil, pacing up and down. the qualities that had made him hated when he was indeed the night king flooded back upon me, but i did not forget the courage of my enemy that had redeemed them all and made him a hero in the hour of death. in the afternoon, old nelson sat on the deck beside the corpse and with palm and needle fashioned a long canvas bag. into this the dead man was sewed with a weight of brick and sand at his feet. at sunset, when all hands were on deck for the dog watch, they carried the body down on the main deck and with feet to the sea, laid it on the gang-plank which had been removed from the rail. there in the waist the ship's company gathered with uncovered heads. over all was the light of the sunset, flushing the solemn, rough faces and reddening the running white-caps of the sea. the captain called me to him and placed a bible in my hands. "read a passage of scripture," he said. dumbfounded that i should be called upon to officiate at the burial service over the man i had hated, i took my stand on the main hatch at the head of the body and prepared to obey orders. no passage to fit my singular situation occurred to me and i opened the book at random. the leaves fell apart at the seventh chapter of matthew and i read aloud the section beginning: "judge not, that ye be not judged. for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." at the close of the reading the captain called for "the sweet bye and bye" and the crew sang the verses of the old hymn solemnly. when the full-toned music ceased, two sailors tilted the gang-plank upwards and the remains of the night king slid off and plunged into the ocean. as the body slipped toward the water, a kanaka sailor caught up a bucket of slop which he had set aside for the purpose, and dashed its filth over the corpse from head to foot. wide-eyed with astonishment, i looked to see instant punishment visited upon this south sea heathen who so flagrantly violated the sanctities of the dead. but not a hand was raised, not a word of disapproval was uttered. the kanaka had but followed a whaler's ancient custom. the parting insult to the dead was meant to discourage the ghost from ever coming back to haunt the brig. chapter vii dreams of liberty at midnight after the burial, we raised the volcanic fire of mauna loa dead ahead. sailors declare that a gale always follows a death at sea and the wind that night blew hard. but we cracked on sail and next morning we were gliding in smooth water along the shore of the island of hawaii with the great burning mountain towering directly over us and the smoke from the crater swirling down through our rigging. we loafed away three pleasant weeks among the islands, loitering along the beautiful sea channels, merely killing time until captain shorey should arrive from san francisco by steamer. once we sailed within distant view of molokai. it was as beautiful in its tropical verdure as any of the other islands of the group, but its very name was fraught with sinister and tragic suggestiveness;--it was the home of the lepers, the island of the living death. we did not anchor at any time. none of the whaling fleet which meets here every spring ever anchors. the lure of the tropical shores is strong and there would be many desertions if the ships lay in port. we sailed close to shore in the day time, often entering honolulu harbor, but at night we lay off and on, as the sailor term is--that is we tacked off shore and back again, rarely venturing closer than two or three miles, a distance the hardiest swimmer, bent upon desertion, would not be apt to attempt in those shark-haunted waters. many attempts to escape from vessels of the whaling fleet occur in the islands every year. we heard many yarns of these adventures. a week before we arrived, five sailors had overpowered the night watch aboard their ship and escaped to shore in a whale boat. they were captured in the hills back of honolulu and returned to their vessel. this is usually the fate of runaways. a standing reward of $ a man is offered by whaling ships for the capture and return of deserters, consequently all the natives of the islands, especially the police, are constantly on the lookout for runaways from whaling crews. when we drew near the islands the runaway fever became epidemic in the forecastle. each sailor had his own little scheme for getting away. big taylor talked of knocking the officers of the night watch over the head with a belaying-pin and stealing ashore in a boat. ole oleson cut up his suit of oil-skins and sewed them into two air-tight bags with one of which under each arm, he proposed to float ashore. bill white, an englishman, got possession of a lot of canvas from the cabin and was clandestinely busy for days making it into a boat in which he fondly hoped to paddle ashore some fine night in the dark of the moon. "slim," our irish grenadier, stuffed half his belongings into his long sea-boots which he planned to press into service both as carry-alls and life-preservers. peter swenson, the forecastle's baby boy, plugged up some big empty oil cans and made life buoys of them by fastening a number of them together. just at the time when the forecastle conspiracies were at their height we killed a thirteen-foot shark off diamond head. our catch was one of a school of thirty or forty monsters that came swarming about the brig, gliding slowly like gray ghosts only a few feet below the surface, nosing close to the ship's side for garbage and turning slightly on their sides to look out of their evil eyes at the sailors peering down upon them over the rail. long john, the boat-steerer, got out a harpoon, and standing on the bulwarks shot the iron up to the wooden haft into the back of one of the sharks, the spear-point of the weapon passing through the creature and sticking out on the under side. the stout manila hemp attached to the harpoon had been made fast to the fore bitt. it was well that this was so, for the shark plunged and fought with terrific fury, lashing the sea into white froth. but the harpoon had pierced a vital part and in a little while the great fish ceased its struggles and lay still, belly up on the surface. it was hauled close alongside, and a boat having been lowered, a large patch of the shark's skin was cut off. then the carcass was cut adrift. the skin was as rough as sandpaper. it was cut into small squares, which were used in scouring metal and for all the polishing purposes for which sandpaper serves ashore. life aboard the brig seemed less intolerable thereafter, and an essay at escape through waters infested by such great, silent, ravenous sea-wolves seemed a hazard less desirable than before. taylor talked no more about slugging the night watch. slim unpacked his sea-boots and put his effects back into his chest. peter threw his plugged oil cans overboard. bill white turned his canvas boat into curtains for his bunk, and ole oleson voiced in the lilting measure of scandinavia his deep regret that he had cut up a valuable suit of oil-skins. the captain of one of the whaling ships came one afternoon to visit our skipper and his small boat was left dragging in our wake as the brig skimmed along under short sail. it occurred to me, and at the same time to my two kanaka shipmates, that here was a fine opportunity to escape. it was coming on dusk, and if we could get into the boat and cut loose we might have a splendid chance to get away. the kanakas and i climbed over the bow, intending to let ourselves into the sea and drift astern to the boat, but the breeze had freshened and the brig was traveling so fast we did not believe we could catch the boat; and if we failed to do so, we might confidently expect the sharks to finish us. we abandoned the plan after we had remained squatting on the stays over the bow for a half hour considering our chances and getting soaked to the skin from the dashing spray. a pathetic incident grew out of the visit of the captain from the other ship. tomas mendez's brother, a boat-steerer, came aboard with the boat's crew. he was a young negro whom all the boat-steerers and officers knew. he came swinging lightly over our rail, laughing and happy over the prospect of seeing his brother. "hello, fellers," he called to the portuguese officers and boat-steerers who welcomed him. "where's my brudder?" "dead, my boy," said one of the boat-steerers gently. "dead?" echoed mendez. he staggered back. when he had heard the details of his brother's death, he burst into tears. all the time his skipper remained aboard, the poor fellow stood by the cooper's bench and sobbed. while drifting at the mouth of honolulu harbor one morning, captain winchester called for a boat's crew to row him ashore. all hands wanted to go. i was one of the lucky ones to be chosen. the morning was calm and beautiful, the water was smooth, and we pulled away with a will. the city looked inviting at the foot of its green mountains, its quaint houses embowered in tropical foliage. on our starboard beam rose the fine, bold promontory of diamond head, and in between the headland and the city lay waikiki, the fashionable bathing beach. we could see the bathers taking the surf in the bright morning sunlight, while beyond stretched a delectable wooded country, above the tops of whose trees peeped manors and villas of wealthy citizens. we reached the long pier at last and tied up the boat. while the captain went into the city the sailors remained on the dock in charge of long john, the boat-steerer. three snaky-eyed kanaka policemen in blue uniforms hung about, watching our every movement. we were not allowed to stir off the dock. there was a street corner within a stone's throw. a little red brick store stood upon it. a lazy kanaka lounged against the building, smoking a cigarette. that corner fascinated me. if i only could dodge around it! how near it seemed, and yet how unattainable! but if we sailormen could not get into town, we at least had the freedom of the long pier. this was several hundred feet long and piled thick with freight of all descriptions, which shut its harbor end from view. with a casual and indifferent air i sauntered out along the pier. in a moment i was hidden behind the merchandise from the unsuspecting long john and the policemen. i soon reached the harbor end. i saw that a sharp curve in the shore line brought the part of the pier on which i was standing close to land. it seemed easy to dive off the pier, swim past a big four-masted english ship unloading alongside, gain the land, and escape to the cane fields which swept up to the edge of the city. i sat down behind some freight and began to take off my shoes. i had one off when a barefooted kanaka suddenly stepped into view from behind a pile of bales and boxes. he was tip-toeing and peering about him furtively. i knew him for a spy instantly. directly he saw me staring at him he looked as guilty as one taken in crime, and slunk away sheepishly. i knew he was on his way to inform on me and made up my mind not to get my clothes wet by any hopeless attempt to run away. i put my shoe back on and strolled back toward the boat. i saw one of my shipmates--it was richard, the deep-water german sailor--walking up the gang-plank of the english ship alongside the dock. i followed him. when we reached the deck, we saw a gang of sailors working about an open hatch. "hello, mates," said richard. "we are merchant seamen and want to clear out from a blooming whaler. stow us away, won't you?" the sailors didn't seem to take kindly to the proposition. perhaps they were afraid of getting into trouble. but they told us we might go down in the fore-peak of the ship and stow ourselves away. richard and i climbed down three decks and found ourselves in the chain lockers deep in the ship's bow. it was pitch dark down there and we lay upon the ship's cable in the farthest corners. for three hours we huddled there in silence. just when we were beginning to congratulate ourselves that our escape would be successful, the hatch was pulled off suddenly and three kanaka policemen with drawn clubs came leaping down upon us. "come out of this, you," they yelled, swearing at us and brandishing their billets. the jig was up; resistance would have got us only broken heads. we were led upon deck and escorted toward the gangway for the pier. but i was for one more try before giving up. suddenly i darted for the rail on the harbor side of the ship. we were in the waist and the bulwarks reached about to my breast. before the kanaka policemen had recovered from their surprise i had plunged head first over the rail and dived into the water twenty or thirty feet below. when i came to the surface i struck out for shore with all my might. it was only a short swim. i soon made the land and dragged myself, dripping brine, out upon a beach. i glanced toward the pier. the policemen, with a crowd at their backs, were dashing for me along shore. i started for the cane fields, but in my wet and heavy clothes i stumbled along as if there was lead in my shoes. perhaps i ran a quarter of a mile. my pursuers gained on me steadily. i was drawing near a cane field, in which i felt i should be able to lose myself; but before reaching it, my pursuers sprang upon me and bore me to the ground. then, with a policeman on either side of me, i was marched back to the brig's boat. the populace had turned out royally in my honor and i passed through a lane of brown humanity that bent round eyes upon me and chortled and spluttered kanaka and seemed to get a huge amount of enjoyment out of my capture. as my captors paraded me onto the pier, who should be there waiting for me but captain shorey, our new skipper, just arrived from san francisco by steamer. he stood with feet wide apart and arms folded on his breast and looked at me steadily with stern, cold eyes. in my wet clothes i cut a sorry figure. i felt ashamed of myself and realized that this introduction to my new captain was not all it should have been. captain winchester had nothing to say to richard and me on the long pull back to the brig. once aboard, he drew a pint of jamaica rum from his pocket and gave every man of the boat's crew, except us, a swig. but no penalty of any sort was imposed upon us for our escapade. this surprised us. chapter viii gabriel's little drama on a bright, sunshiny morning a few days later, with a light breeze just ruffling the harbor, the brig with her sails laid back and her head pointed seaward was drifting with the ebb tide perhaps a mile and a quarter off shore between honolulu and diamond head. captain winchester had set out for the city in a whale boat. those of the sailors left aboard were idling forward. mr. landers, the mate, sat by the skylight on the poop, reading a magazine. second mate gabriel and the cooper were busy at the cooper's bench in the waist. no one else was on deck and i resolved to attempt again to escape. the situation seemed made to order. in the warm weather of the tropics, i had often seen old man landers, when there was nothing doing on deck, sit and read by the hour without ever looking up. i hoped that this morning his magazine would prove of absorbing interest. gabriel and the cooper were intent upon their work. as for the sailors, i told them i was going to try to swim ashore and if i were discovered and they had to lower for me, i asked them to hurry as little as possible so i might have every chance to get away. for my adventure i wore a blue flannel shirt, dungaree trousers, and my blue cap. i tied my shoes together with a rope yarn, which i slipped baldric-fashion over my shoulder. in the belt at my waist i carried a sailor's sheath knife. with this i had a foolish idea that i might defend myself against sharks. without attracting attention, i slipped over the bow, climbed down by the bob-stays, and let myself into the sea. i let myself wash silently astern past the ship's side and struck out for shore, swimming on my side without splash or noise, and looking back to watch developments aboard. i am convinced to this day that if i had not been in the water, old landers would have kept his nose in that magazine for an hour or so and drowsed and nodded over it as i had seen him do dozens of times before. either my good angel, fearful of the sharks, or my evil genius, malignantly bent upon thwarting me, must have poked the old fellow in the ribs. at any rate, he rose from his chair and stepped to the taff-rail with a pair of binoculars in his hand. he placed the glasses to his eyes and squinted toward the pier to see whether or not the captain had reached shore. i don't know whether he saw the captain or not, but he saw me. "who's that overboard?" he shouted. i did not answer. then he recognized me. "hey, you," he cried, calling me by name, "come back here." i kept on swimming. "lay aft here, a boat's crew," mr. landers sang out. gabriel and the cooper ran to the quarter-deck and stared at me. the sailors came lounging aft along the rail. mr. landers and gabriel threw the boat's falls from the davit posts. the sailors strung out across the deck to lower the boat. "lower away," shouted mr. landers. one end of the boat went down rapidly. the other end jerked and lurched and seemed to remain almost stationary. i wondered whether my shipmates were bungling purposely. mr. landers and gabriel sprang among them, brushed them aside and lowered the boat themselves. a crew climbed down the brig's side into the boat. old gabriel went as boatheader. in a jiffy the sweeps were shot into place, the boat was shoved off, and the chase was on. all this had taken time. as the ship was drifting one way and i was quartering off in an almost opposite direction, i must have been nearly a half mile from the vessel when gabriel started to run me down. i swam on my side with a long, strong stroke that fast swimmers used to fancy before the australian crawl came into racing vogue. i was swimming as i never in my life swam before--swimming for liberty. all my hope and heart, as well as all my strength, lay in every stroke. the clear, warm salt water creamed about my head and sometimes over it. i was making time. swimming on my side, i could see everything that was happening behind me. as the boat came after me i noticed there was but a slight ripple of white water about the prow. plainly it was not making great speed. "pull away, my boys. we ketch dat feller," sang out gabriel. wilson at the midship oar "caught a crab" and tumbled over backwards, his feet kicking in the air. wilson was a good oarsman. he was my friend. a hundred yards more and walker at the tub oar did the same. he also was my friend. the boys were doing their best to help me--to give me a chance. i knew it. gabriel knew it, too. the crafty old negro recognized the crisis. i could not hear what he said or see all that he did, but the boys told me about it afterwards. it must have been a pretty bit of acting. suddenly gabriel half rose from his seat and peered anxiously ahead. "my god!" he cried, "dat poor feller, he drown. pull, my boys. oh, good god!" the sailors at the sweeps had their backs to me. it was a good long swim and the water was full of sharks. it was not difficult to make them believe that i was verging on tragedy. "dere he go down!" gabriel's voice was broken and sobbing. "he t'row his hands up. he underneath de water. i cain't see him. oh, dat poor feller! no, dere he come up again--oh, good lord! pull away, my bully boys, pull away. we save him yet." surely the stage lost a star when gabriel became a whaler. the old thespian was good--he was great. his acting carried conviction. the sailors believed i was drowning. they leaned upon their oars with a will. the sweeps bent beneath the powerful strokes. the boat jumped through the water. i noted the increased speed by the white spray that began to stand at the bow. gabriel helped along the speed by forward lurches of his body, pushing at the same time upon the stroke oar. all the while he kept shouting: "we save him yet, dat poor feller! pull away, my boys." the boat came up rapidly. in a little while it was almost upon me. i tried to dodge it by darting off at right angles. it was no use--gabriel slewed his tiller and the boat came swishing round upon me. i had played the game out to the last and i was beaten--that was all. i caught the gunwale near the bow and pulled myself into the boat. "you make dam good swim, my boy," said old gabriel, smiling at me as he brought the boat around and headed back for the ship. i had made a good swim. i was fully a mile from the brig. i was not much over a half mile from shore. i looked across the sunlit, dancing blue water to the land. how easy it would have been to swim it! how easy it would have been after i had crawled out upon the sands to hide in the nearby mountains and live on wild fruit until the ship started for the north and all danger of capture was past. no land could have seemed more beautiful. groves of banana, orange, and cocoanut trees held out their fruit to me. forests swept to the summits of the mountains. flowers were in riotous bloom everywhere. i could almost count the ribs in the glossy fronds of the palms. i could hear the soft crash of the combers on the coral beaches of those enchanted shores. it all looked like paradise and i had missed it by half a mile. when i reached the brig, mr. landers permitted me to put on dry clothing and then put me in irons, as the sea phrase is. this consisted in fastening my hands together in front of me with a pair of steel handcuffs of the ordinary kind used by sheriffs and policemen everywhere. then he made me sit on the main hatch until captain winchester came back from honolulu, along toward sundown. "what's the matter with that man?" roared the captain as he swung over the rail and his eyes lighted on me. "he jumped overboard and tried to swim ashore," said mr. landers in his nasal cape cod drawl. "why didn't you get my rifle and shoot him?" thundered the captain. "well," returned mr. landers, "i don't shoot folks." after supper the captain stuck his head out of the cabin gangway. "come down here, you," he said. i stepped into the cabin, now bright with lighted lamps. the captain glared at me savagely. "you want to give me a bad name with captain shorey when he takes command, do you?" he shouted. "you want to make it appear i have been hard on my men, eh? you think you're a smart sea lawyer, but i'll teach you the bitterest lesson you ever learned. we are bound for the arctic ocean. there are no ships up there but whale ships, and we do as we please. i have been sailing to the arctic for thirteen years as master and mate of whale ships and i know just how far i can go in dealing with a man without making myself liable to law. i am going to make it as rough for you as i know how to make it. i will put you over the jumps right. i will punish you to the limit. this ship is going to be a floating hell for you for the rest of the voyage. and when we get back to san francisco you can prosecute me all you please." he drew a key from his pocket and unlocked one manacle. it dropped from one wrist and dangled from the other. "boy," he said to the kanaka cabin boy, who has been listening with open mouth and bulging eyes to this tirade, "get this man a cup of water and a biscuit." i had had nothing to eat since breakfast, and i sat down at the cabin table and ate my one hardtack and drank my quart tin of water with a relish. after my meal, the captain fastened my handcuff again and jerked a little hatch out of the floor. "get down there," he said. i climbed down and he clapped the hatch on again. i was in darkness except for the light that filtered from the cabin lamps through the four cracks of the hatch. when my eyes had become accustomed to the dimness, i made out that i was in the ship's run, where the provisions for the captain's table were stored. i rummaged about as well as i could in my handcuffs and found a sack of raisins open and a box of soda crackers. to these i helped myself generously. from a forecastle viewpoint they were rare dainties, and i filled my empty stomach with them. i had not tasted anything so good since i had my last piece of pie ashore. pie! dear me! one doesn't know how good it is--just common pie baked in a bakery and sold at the corner grocery--until one cannot get it and has had nothing but salt horse and cracker hash for months. i used to yearn for pie by day and dream of pie by night. at bedtime the captain snatched the hatch off again and tossed me down my blankets. i bundled up in them as best i could and slept with my manacles on. i was kept in irons on bread and water for five days and nights. sometimes in the daytime, with one handcuff unlocked and hanging from my other wrist, i was put at slushing down the main boom or washing paint-work. but for the most part i was held a close prisoner in the run, being called to the cabin table three times a day for my bread and water. finally, when captain shorey came aboard and assumed command and the vessel headed for the north, i was released and sent to the forecastle. my shipmates proved job's comforters and were filled with gloomy predictions regarding my future. "i pity you from now on," each one said. but their prophecies proved false. after captain shorey took charge of the ship mr. winchester became mate. as mate he was, as may be said, the ship's foreman, directing the work of the men, and was in much more intimate contact with the sailors than when he had been skipper. in his new capacity he had much greater opportunity to make it unpleasant for me in a thousand ways. but for some reason or other he never made good that ferocious speech he had delivered to me in the cabin. when other green hands bungled, he damned them in round terms for their awkwardness. when i blundered he showed me how to correct my error. "not that way, my boy," he would say. "do it this way." when i took my trick at the wheel he would often spin a yarn or crack a joke with me. he loaned me books from time to time. in behring sea, when he got out his rifle and shot okchug seals as they lay basking on cakes of ice, he almost invariably took me with him in the boat to bring back the kill. in short, he treated me more considerately than he treated any other man in the forecastle and before the voyage was over we had become fast friends. chapter ix through the roaring forties before leaving the islands, we shipped a portuguese negro boat-steerer to take the place of the night king. he was coal black, had a wild roll to his eyes, an explosive, spluttering way of talking, looked strikingly like a great ape, and had little more than simian intelligence. his feet had the reputation of being the largest feet in the hawaiian islands. when i had seen them i was prepared to believe they were the largest in the world. he was dubbed "big foot" louis, and the nickname stuck to him during the voyage. he came aboard barefooted. i don't know whether he could find any shoes in the islands big enough to fit him or not. anyway, he didn't need shoes in the tropics. when we began to get north into cold weather he needed them badly, and there were none on board large enough for him to get his toes in. the captain went through his stock of eskimo boots, made of walrus hide and very elastic, but they were too small. when we entered the region of snow, louis was still running about the deck barefooted. as a last resort he sewed himself a pair of canvas shoes--regular meal sacks--and wore them through snow and blizzard and during the cold season when we were in the grip of the behring sea ice pack. up around behring straits the captain hired an eskimo to make a pair of walrus hide boots big enough for louis to wear, and louis wore them until we got back to san francisco and went ashore in them. i met him wandering along pacific street in his walrus hides. however, he soon found a pair of brogans which he could wear with more or less comfort. one night while i was knocking about the barbary coast with my shipmates we heard dance music and the sound of revelry coming from behind the swinging doors of the bow bells saloon, a free-and-easy resort. we stepped inside. waltzing around the room with the grace of a young bowhead out of water was "big-foot" louis, his arm around the waist of a buxom negress, and on his feet nothing but a pair of red socks. we wondered what had become of his shoes and spied them on the piano, which the "professor" was vigorously strumming. louis seemed to be having more fun than anybody, and was perfectly oblivious to the titters of the crowd and to the fact that it was not _de rigueur_ on the barbary coast to dance in one's socks. we left the hawaiian islands late in march and, standing straight north, soon left the tropics behind, never to see them again on the voyage. as we plunged into the "roaring forties" we struck our first violent storm. the fury of the gale compelled us to heave to under staysails and drift, lying in the troughs of the seas and riding the waves sidewise. the storm was to me a revelation of what an ocean gale could be. old sailors declared they never had seen anything worse. the wind shrieked and whistled in the rigging like a banshee. it was impossible to hear ordinary talk and the men had to yell into each other's ears. we put out oil bags along the weather side to keep the waves from breaking. but despite the oil that spread from them over the water, giant seas frequently broke over the brig. one crushed the waist boat into kindling wood and sent its fragments flying all over the deck. we were fortunate to have several other extra boats in the hold against just such an emergency. waves sometimes filled the ship to the top of the bulwarks and the sailors waded about up to their breasts in brine until the roll of the vessel spilled the water overboard or it ran back into the sea through the scuppers and hawse-holes. the waves ran as high as the topsail yard. they would pile up to windward of us, gaining height and volume until we had to look up almost vertically to see the tops. just as a giant comber seemed ready to break in roaring foam and curl over and engulf us, the staunch little brig would slip up the slope of water and ride over the summit in safety. then the sea would shoot out on the other side of the vessel with a deafening hiss like that of a thousand serpents and rush skyward again, the wall of water streaked and shot with foam and looking like a polished mass of jade or agate. i had not imagined water could assume such wild and appalling shapes. those monster waves seemed replete with malignant life, roaring out their hatred of us and watching alertly with their devilish foam-eyes for a chance to leap upon us and crush us or sweep us to death on their crests. i became genuinely seasick now for the first time. a little touch of seasickness i had experienced in the tropics was as nothing. to the rail i went time and again to give up everything within me, except my immortal soul, to the mad gods of sea. for two days i lay in my bunk. i tried pickles, fat bacon, everything that any sailor recommended, all to no purpose. i would have given all i possessed for one fleeting moment upon something level and still, something that did not plunge and lurch and roll from side to side and rise and fall. i think the most wretched part of seasickness is the knowledge that you cannot run away from it, that you are penned in with it, that go where you will, on the royal yard or in the bilge, you cannot escape the ghastly nightmare even for a minute. there is no use fighting it and no use dosing yourself with medicines or pickles or lemons or fat meat. nothing can cure it. in spite of everything it will stay with you until it has worked its will to the uttermost, and then it will go away at last of its own accord, leaving you a wan, limp wreck. i may add, to correct a general impression, that it is impossible to become seasoned to seasickness. one attack does not render the victim immune from future recurrences. i was very sick once again on the voyage. after a season ashore, the best sailors are liable to seasickness, especially if they encounter rough weather soon after leaving port. some time later we were frozen solidly in behring sea for three weeks. when a storm swell from the south broke up the ice and the motionless brig began suddenly to rock and toss on a heavy sea, every mother's son aboard, including men who had been to sea all their lives, was sick. not one escaped. [illustration: unalaska] during the storm we kept a man at the wheel and another on the try-works as a lookout. one day during my trick at the wheel, i was probably responsible for a serious accident, though it might have happened with the most experienced sailor at the helm. to keep the brig in the trough of the seas, i was holding her on a certain point of the compass, but the big waves buffeted the vessel about with such violence that my task was difficult. captain shorey was standing within arm's length of me, watching the compass. a sea shoved the brig's head to starboard and, as if it had been lying in ambush for just such an opportunity, a giant comber came curling in high over the stern. it smashed me into the wheel and for an instant i was buried under twenty feet of crystal water that made a green twilight all about us. then the wave crashed down ponderously upon the deck and i was standing in clear air again. to my astonishment, the captain was no longer beside me. i thought he had been washed overboard. the wave had lifted him upon its top, swept him high over the skylight the entire length of the quarter-deck and dropped him on the main deck in the waist. his right leg was broken below the knee. sailors and boat-steerers rushed to him and carried him into the cabin, where mr. winchester set the broken bones. we put into unalaska a week later and the surgeon of the revenue cutter _bear_ reset the leg. this was in the last days of march. the captain was on crutches in july, when we caught our first whale. the storm did not blow itself out. it blew us out of it. we must have drifted sidewise with the seas about six hundred miles. at dawn of the second day, after leaving the fury of the forties behind, we were bowling along in smooth water with all sails set. the sky was clear and the sea like hammered silver. far ahead a mountain rose into the sky--a wedge-shaped peak, silver-white with snow, its foot swathed in purple haze. it rose above unimak pass, which connects the pacific ocean and behring sea between unimak and ugamok islands of the fox island chain. unimak pass is ten miles broad, and its towering shores are sheer, black, naked rock. mr. winchester, who had assumed command after the captain had broken his leg, set a course to take us directly through the passage. running before a light breeze that bellied all our sails, we began to draw near the sea gorge at the base of the mountain. then, without warning, from over the horizon came a savage white squall, blotting out mountain, pass, sea, and sky. i never saw bad weather blow up so quickly. one moment the ship was gliding over a smooth sea in bright sunlight. the next, a cloud as white and almost as thick as wool had closed down upon it; snow was falling heavily in big, moist flakes, a stiff wind was heeling the vessel on its side, and we could not see ten feet beyond the tip of the jib boom. the wind quickened into a gale. by fast work we managed to furl sails and double-reef the topsail before they carried away. soon the deck was white with four or five inches of snow. on the forecastle-head big foot louis was posted as lookout. everybody was anxious. mr. winchester took his stand close by the main shrouds at the break of the poop and kept gazing ahead through his glasses into the mist. the sailors and boat-steerers crowded the forward rails, peering vainly into the swirling fog. big foot louis bent forward with his hand shielding his eyes from the falling snow. "land, land!" he cried. if it were land that louis saw through the clouds and blinding snow, it was mighty close. our doom seemed sealed. we expected the ship to crash bows-on upon the rocks. we nerved ourselves for the shock. a momentary vision of shipwreck on those bleak coasts in snow and storm obsessed me. but louis's eyes had deceived him. the ship went riding on its stately way through the blinding snow before the gale. the situation was ticklish, if not critical. we had been headed squarely for the passage before the storm closed down. now we could not see where we were going. if we held directly upon our course we were safe. if the gale blew us even slightly out of our way, shipwreck and death on the rock-bound shore awaited us. which would it be? mr. winchester was a man of iron nerve. he demonstrated this now as he did many times afterward. he was as skillful a navigator as he was a fearless one. he knew his reckonings were good. he knew that when the squall shut out the world the brig's nose was pointed directly at the center of unimak pass. so he did not veer to east or west, or seek to tack back from the dangerous coasts on our bows, but drove the vessel straight upon its course into the blank white wall of mist and snow. an hour later the squall lifted as quickly as it had come. blue skies and sunshine came back. we found ourselves almost becalmed on a placid sea. to the south lay the outline of a lofty coast. a boat-steerer bustled forward. "we are in behring sea," he said with a laugh. we had shot through the narrow channel without sighting the shores. i have often wondered just how close to port or starboard death was to us that morning on the black cliffs of unimak pass. chapter x in the ice from unalaska, into which port we put to have the captain's leg attended to, the brig stood northwesterly for the spring whaling on the bowhead and right whale grounds off the siberian coast. we were a week's sail from the fox islands when we encountered our first ice. it appeared in small chunks floating down from the north. the blocks became more numerous until they dappled the sea. they grew in size. strings and floes appeared. then we brought up against a great ice field stretching to the north as far as the eye could see. it was all floe ice broken into hummocks and pressure ridges and pinnacles, with level spaces between. there were no towering 'bergs such as are launched into the sea from the glaciers on the greenland coast and the pacific coast of alaska. the highest 'berg i saw on the voyage was not more than forty feet high. it was composed of floe ice which had been forced upward by the pressure of the pack. the crow's nest was now rigged and placed in position on the cross-trees abaft the fore-mast, between the topsail and the fore-top-gallant-sail yard. it was a square box of heavy white canvas nailed upon a wooden frame-work. when a man stood in it the canvas sides reached to his breast and were a protection against the bitter winds. from early morning until dark an officer and a boat-steerer occupied the crow's nest and kept a constant lookout for whales. as soon as we struck the ice the captain's slop-chest was broken open and skin clothes were dealt out to the men. accoutred for cold weather, i wore woolen underwear and yarn socks next my flesh; an outer shirt of squirrel skin with hood or parka; pants and vest of hair seal of the color and sheen of newly minted silver; a coat of dogskin that reached almost to my knees; a dogskin cap; deer-skin socks with the hair inside over my yarn socks; walrus-hide boots and walrus-hide mittens over yarn mittens. the walrus-boots were fastened by a gathering string just below the knees and by thongs of tanned skin about the ankle. some of the men wore heavy reindeer-skin coats. the skin clothes worn by the officers and boat-steerers were of finer quality and more pretentious. perhaps the handsomest costume was that of little johnny. it consisted of coat, vest, and trousers of silvery hair-seal, with the edges of the coat trimmed with the snowwhite fur of fur-seal pups. with this he wore a black dogskin cap and walrus-hide boots. while we were among the ice, the officer in the crow's nest directed the course of the brig. whaling officers are great fellows to show their skill by just grazing dangerous ice. many a time we green hands stood with our hearts in our mouths as the ship seemed about to crash into a 'berg bows-on. "starboard, sir," the helmsman would respond. "starboard," would come the order from aloft. [illustration: waiting for the floes to open] the bow would swing slowly to one side and the 'berg would go glancing along the rail so close perhaps that we could have grabbed a snowball off some projection. "steady," the officer would call. "steady, sir." the bow would stop in its lateral swing. "port." "port, sir." the bow would swing the other way. "steady." we would be upon our old course again. once i remember the mate was in the crow's nest and had been narrowly missing ice all day for the fun of the thing--"showing off," as we rather disturbed green hands said. a 'berg about thirty feet high, a giant for behring sea waters, showed a little ahead and to leeward of our course. the mate thought he could pass to windward. he kept the brig close to the wind until the 'berg was very near. then he saw a windward passage was impossible and tried suddenly to go to leeward. "hard up your wheel," he cried. "hard up it is, sir." the bow swung toward the 'berg--swung slowly, slowly across it. the tip of the jib-boom almost rammed a white pinnacle. just when everybody was expecting the brig to pile up in wreck on the ice, the great 'berg swept past our starboard rail. but we had not missed it. its jagged edges scraped a line an inch deep along our side from bow to stern. shooting _okchug_ (or, as it is sometimes spelled, ooksook) or hair seals was a favorite amusement in the spring ice. the mate was an expert with a rifle. he shot many as they lay sunning themselves on ice cakes. okchugs are as large as oxen and are covered with short silvery hair so glossy that it fairly sparkles. if an okchug was killed outright, its head dropped over upon the ice and it lay still. if only slightly wounded, the animal flounced off into the sea. if vitally hurt, it remained motionless with its head up and glaring defiance, whereupon a boat's crew would row out to the ice cake and a sailor would finish the creature with a club. it was exciting to step on a small ice cake to face a wounded and savage okchug. the animal would come bouncing on its flippers straight at one with a vicious barking roar. the nose was the okchug's most vulnerable point. a tap on the nose with a club would stretch the great creature out dead. it required a cool head, a steady nerve, and a good aim to deliver this finishing stroke upon the small black snout. if one missed or slipped on the ice, the possible consequences would not have been pleasant. we tanned the skins of the okchugs and made them into trousers or "pokes." the meat was hung over the bows to keep in an ice-box of all outdoors. ground up and made into sausages, it was a _pièce de resistance_ on the forecastle bill of fare. one night in the latter part of may we saw far off a great light flaring smokily across the sea. it was what is known in whaler parlance as a bug-light and was made by blazing blubber swinging in an iron basket between the two smokestacks of a whale-ship's try-works. by it the crew of that distant ship was working at trying out a whale. the bug-light signaled to all the whaling fleet the first whale of the season. the great continent of ice drifting southward gradually closed round the fleet. the ships had worked so far in there was no escape. in the early part of june the brig was frozen in. for three weeks the vessel remained motionless in solid ice with every stitch of canvas furled. no water or land was in sight--nothing but one great sweep of broken and tumbled ice as far as the eye could see. those three ice-bound june weeks were given over to idleness. a stove was placed in the forecastle and was kept going night and day. this made it possible to keep comfortable and to read. we went on frequent seal hunts. we strolled across the frozen sea to visit the other ships, the nearest of which was two miles away. visiting is called "gamming" by whalers. we learned the gossip of the fleet, who had taken the first whale, how many whales had been caught, the adventures of the ships, the comedies and tragedies of the whaling season. we established, too, what we called the "behring sea circulating library." there were a number of books in every forecastle. these greasy, dog-eared volumes were passed about from ship to ship. perhaps there were twenty books aboard the brig which had been read by almost every member of the crew, forward and aft. before we got out of the ice, we had exchanged these volumes for an entirely new lot from other ships. one morning i awoke with the ship rocking like a cradle. i pulled on my clothes and hurried on deck. the ice fields were in wild commotion. great swells from some storm upon the open sea to the south were rolling under them. crowded and tumultuous waves of ice twenty feet high chased each other across the frozen fields from horizon to horizon. the ship would sink for a moment between ridges of ice and snow, and then swing up on the crest of an ice mountain. great areas of ice would fall away as if the sea had opened beneath them. then they would shoot up and shut out half the sky. the broken and jagged edges of these white and solid billows appeared for an instant like a range of snowy sierras which, in another instant, would crumble from view as if some seismic cataclysm had shaken them down in ruin. the air was filled with grinding, crushing, ominous noises and explosions. the ship was in imminent peril. in that mad turmoil of ice it seemed certain she would be ground to pieces. captain shorey, who was hobbling about on crutches, ordered a cask of bread, a cask of water, and a barrel of beef hoisted on deck ready to be thrown out on an ice cake in case the brig were wrecked and we were cast away. in the grinding of the floes, the ship became wedged in between two immense pieces of ice. the great bergs washed closer and closer. when they rose on some tremendous billow, great caverns, washed out by the sea, appeared in their sides like mouths, edged with splinters and points of blue and glittering ice, like fangs. as they rose and fell, it seemed the two white monsters were opening and closing devouring maws for us while the suck of the water in their ice caves made noises like the roar of hungry beasts of prey. a cable was run out hurriedly over the bow and a bowline at the end of it was slipped over a hummock of ice. with the inboard end wound around the windlass, all hands worked like beavers to heave the brig out of her dangerous position. it was all the crew could do to swing the windlass bars up and down. the ship went forward slowly, almost imperceptibly, and all the time the great bergs swept closer and closer. for a long time it looked as if we were doomed. there was no doubt about the ship's fate if the bergs struck it. but inch by inch, heave by heave, we hauled her through. ten minutes later, the ice monsters came together with a force that would have crushed an ironclad. gradually patches of clear water began to appear in the ice. it was as though the white fields were opening great blue eyes. little lakes and zigzag lanes of water formed. sails were set. the brig began to work her way along. soon she was swinging on heavy billows--not white billows of ice but green billows of water, thick with ice in stars and constellations. chapter xi cross country whaling we had hardly washed clear of the ice in the heavy seas when "blow!" rang from the crow's nest. a school of whales close ahead, covering the sea with fountains, was coming leisurely toward the ship. there were more than thirty of them. "bowheads!" shouted the mate. their great black heads rose above the surface like ponderous pieces of machinery; tall fountains shot into the air; the wind caught the tops of the fountains and whisked them off in smoke; hollow, sepulchral whispers of sound came to the brig as the breath left the giant lungs in mighty exhalations. why they were called bowheads was instantly apparent--the outline of the top of the head curved like an indian's bow. as the head sank beneath the surface, the glistening back, half as broad as a city street and as black as asphalt, came spinning up out of the sea and went spinning down again. our crippled captain in his fur clothes and on crutches limped excitedly about the quarter-deck glaring at $ , worth of whales spouting under his nose. but with so much ice about and such a heavy sea running he was afraid to lower. if the whales saw the brig they gave no sign. they passed all around the vessel, the spray of their fountains blowing on deck. one headed straight for the ship. the mate seized a shoulder bomb-gun and ran to the bow. the whale rose, blew a fountain up against the jib-boom, and dived directly beneath the brig's forefoot. as its back curled down, the mate, with one knee resting on the starboard knighthead, took aim and fired. he surely hit the whale--there was little chance to miss. but the bomb evidently did not strike a vital spot, for the leviathan passed under the ship, came up on the other side and went on about its business. the sight of all these whales passing by us with such unconcern, blowing water on us as if in huge contempt, almost seeming to laugh at us and mock our bombs and harpoons and human skill, drove the captain frantic. should he allow that fortune in whales to escape him without a try for it? with purple face and popping eyes he gazed at the herd now passing astern. "lower them boats!" he cried. "what?" expostulated mr. landers. "do you want to get us all killed?" "lower them boats!" yelled the skipper. "don't you know that a boat that gets fast to a whale in that ice will be smashed, sure?" "lower them boats!" shouted the captain. mr. winchester, enthusiastic and fearless whaleman that he was, was eager for the captain's order. his boat and mr. landers's went down. the waist boat--mine--was left on its davits. but gabriel, its boatheader, armed with a shoulder gun, went in the mate's boat. left aboard to help work ship, i had an opportunity to view that exciting chase from beginning to end. with storm-reefed sails, the boats went plunging away over the big seas, dodging sharply about to avoid the ice cakes. not more than two hundred yards away on our starboard beam a great whale was blowing. the mate marked it and went for it like a bull dog. he steered to intercept its course. it was a pretty piece of maneuvering. the whale rose almost in front of him and his boat went shooting upon its back. long john let fly his harpoon. gabriel fired a bomb from his shoulder gun. there was a flurry of water as the whale plunged under. back and forth it slapped with its mighty flukes as it disappeared, narrowly missing the boat. down came the boat's sail. it was bundled up in a jiffy and the mast slewed aft until it stuck out far behind. out went the sweeps. the mate stood in the stern wielding a long steering oar. i could see the whale line whipping and sizzling out over the bows. for only a moment the whale remained beneath the surface. then it breached. its black head came shooting up from the water like a titanic rocket. up went the great body into the air until at least forty feet of it was lifted against the sky like some weird, mighty column, its black sides glistening and its belly showing white. then the giant bulk crashed down again with a smack on the sea that might have been heard for miles and an impact that sent tons of water splashing high in air. for an instant the monster labored on the water as if mortally hurt, spouting up fountains of clotted blood that splattered over the ice blocks and turned them from snow white to crimson. then a second time the whale sounded and went speeding away to windward, heading for the ice pack. it dragged the boat at a dizzy clip despite the fact that the line was running out so fast as to seem to the men in the boat a mere vibrant, indistinct smear of yellow. the boat was taken slicing through the big waves, driving its nose at times beneath the water, and knocking against lumps of ice. a long ice block appeared in its course. a collision seemed inevitable unless the boat was cut loose from the whale. captain shorey was watching the chase with fierce intentness as he leaned upon his crutches on the forecastle head. he had been filled with great joy, seized with anxiety or shaken with anger as the hunt passed from one phase to another. he shouted his emotions aloud though there was never a chance for the men in the boats to hear him. "good boy, long john," he had cried when the boatsteerer drove his harpoon home. "that's our fish," he had chortled as the wounded leviathan leaped high against the sky and spouted blood over the ice. now when it seemed possible that the mate would be forced to cut loose from the whale to save his boat from destruction, the captain danced about on his crutches in wild excitement. "don't cut that line! don't cut that line!" he yelled. mr. winchester realized as well as the captain that there was something like $ , on the other end of the rope, and he had no idea of cutting loose. towed by the whale the boat drove toward the ice. the mate worked hard with his steering oar to avoid striking the block. it was impossible. the bow smashed into one end of the ice cake, was lifted out of the water and dragged across to slip back into the sea. a hole was stove in the starboard bow through which the water rushed. the crew thereafter was kept busy bailing. it was evident from the fountains of blood that the whale was desperately wounded, but its vitality was marvelous and it seemed it might escape. when mr. landers saw the mate's line being played out so rapidly he should have hurried to the mate's boat and bent the line from his own tub to the end of the mate's line. as an old whaleman mr. landers knew what to do in this crisis, but in such ice and in such high seas he preferred not to take a chance. he was a cautious soul, so he held his boat aloof. the mate waved to him frantically. long john and gabriel wigwagged frenzied messages with waving arms. as for captain shorey on his crutches on the forecastle head, when it seemed certain that the whale would run away with all the mate's line and escape, he apparently suffered temporary aberration. he damned old man landers in every picturesque and fervent term of an old whaleman's vocabulary. he shook his fist at him. he waved a crutch wildly. "catch that whale!" he yelled in a voice husky and broken with emotion. "for god's sake, catch that whale!" all this dynamic pantomime perhaps had its effect on landers. at any rate, his men began to bend to their sweeps and soon his boat was alongside that of the mate. his line was tied to the free end of the rope in the mate's almost exhausted tub just in time. the mate's line ran out and landers' boat now became fast to the whale. fortune favored landers. his boat was dragged over the crests of the seas at thrilling speed, but he managed to keep clear of ice. the whale showed no sign of slowing down. in a little while it had carried away all the line in mr. landers' tub. the monster was free of the boats at last. it had ceased to come to the surface to blow. it had gone down into the deep waters carrying with it the mate's harpoon and fathoms of manila rope. it seemed probable it had reached the safety of the ice pack and was lost. the boats came back to the brig; slowly, wounded, limping over the waves. the flying spray had frozen white over the fur clothes of the men, making them look like snow images. they climbed aboard in silence. mr. landers had a hang-dog, guilty look. the skipper was a picture of gloom and smoldering fury. he bent a black regard upon mr. landers as the latter swung over the rail, but surprised us all by saying not a word. when the next day dawned, we were out of sight of ice, cruising in a quiet sea. a lookout posted on the forecastle head saw far ahead a cloud of gulls flapping about a dark object floating on the surface. it was the dead whale. chapter xii cutting in and trying out two boats were sent to secure the whale. i lowered with one. as we came up to the whale, i marveled at its immense bulk. it looked even larger than when it had breached and i had seen it shoot up, a giant column of flesh and blood, against the heavens. it had turned belly up as dead whales do, its ridged white abdomen projecting above the waves. it seemed much like a mighty white and black rock, against which the waves lapped lazily. seventy-five feet long the officers estimated it--an unusually large bull whale. i had never imagined any animal so large. i had seen jumbo, said to be the largest elephant ever in captivity. jumbo made ordinary circus elephants seem like pigmies. this whale was as big as a dozen jumbos. the great hairy mammoth, of which i had seen stuffed specimens in museums, would have seemed a mere baby beside this monster of the deep. as proof that the whale was ours, the harpoon sticking in its back bore the brig's name, and fast to the haft and floating far out on the sea in a tangled mass was the fathoms of line from the brig's two tubs. our first work was to recover the line. as this had to be straightened out and coiled in the boats, it was a long and tedious job. then with a short sharp spade, a hole was cut through the whale's flukes and a cable passed through and made fast. with both boats strung out along the cable, the men bent to the sweeps, hauling the carcass slowly toward the brig. meanwhile the vessel had been sailing toward us. so we had but a hundred yards or so to pull. the loose end of the hawser was passed through the hawse-hole in the starboard bow and made fast to the fore-bitt. in this way the flukes were held close to the bow. as the brig made headway under short sail, the great body washed back against the vessel's side and lay upon the surface, the head abreast the wheel on the quarter-deck--which will give an idea of the whale's length. the gang-plank was taken from the bulwarks and a cutting stage lowered over the whale. this stage was made of three broad planks. two projected from the ship's side, the third joined their outer ends. along the inside of the third plank was a low railing. two officers took their station on the outer plank with long-handled spades to cut in the blubber. the spade was enough like a garden spade in shape to suggest its name and was fastened to a long pole. its cutting edge was as sharp as a razor. a block and tackle was rigged above the whale, the upper block fastened to the cross-trees of the main mast and the tackle carried forward to the windlass. a great hook was fastened into the whale's blubber, and everything was ready for the cutting in. as the officers with their spades cut under the blubber, the sailors heaved on the windlass. the blanket piece of blubber began to rise. as it rose, the officers kept spading under it, rolling the whale over gradually. thus the whale was peeled much as one would peel a roll of bologna sausage. when the great carcass had been rolled completely over, the blanket piece of blubber came off. the upper end of it fast to the tackle hook was up almost against the cross-trees as the lower end swung free. the largest blanket pieces weighed perhaps ten tons. six were taken off in the process of skinning. the weight of the whale, i should estimate, was roughly something like one hundred tons, perhaps a little more. when the blanket piece was cut free from the whale it swung inboard, and as it came over the main hatch, it was lowered into the hold. there men fell upon it with short spades, cutting it into small pieces and distributing them equally about the ship to prevent the vessel from listing. it took most of the day to strip the whale of its blubber. when this had been finished the great flensed carcass stretched out along the ship's side a mass of blood-red flesh. the final work was cutting in the "old head." long john with an axe climbed down upon the whale's back. as it was his boat that had struck the whale the cutting in of the head was his job. nobody envied him the task. the stripped body of a whale offers a surface as slippery as ice. as the waves rocked the whale, long john had much ado to keep his footing. once he fell and almost tumbled into the water. finally he cut himself two foot-holds and began to wield his axe, raining blows upon the neck. he chopped through from the upper neck surface into the corners of the mouth, thus loosening the head and upper jaw from the body. the lower jaw is devoid of teeth. the tackle hook having been fixed in the tip-top of the head's bowlike curve, the windlass men heaved away. up rose the head above the bulwarks and swung inwards. "lower, lower away!" cried the mate. down came the head upon the deck and a great cheer went up. the "old head" was safe. immediately afterwards, the mate came forward with a bottle of jamaica rum and gave each man a swig. "bringing in his old head," as it is called, is a memorable event in cutting in a whale, and is always celebrated by dealing out a drink all around. great hunks of meat were cut out from the carcass. these were hung over the bow. the meat was served in the form of steaks and sausages in both forecastle and cabin. and let me give my testimony right here that whale steak is mighty good eating. it tastes something like tender beef, though it is coarser grained and of ranker flavor. we preferred to eat it as steaks, though made into meat balls with gravy it was extremely toothsome. i do not know how whale would taste if served on the home table, but at sea, after months of salt horse and "sow belly," it was delicious. the hunks became coated with ice over the bow and kept well. they lasted us for several weeks. when the carcass was cut adrift it went floating astern. flocks of gulls and sea birds that had been constantly hovering about the ship in hundreds waiting for the feast swooped down upon it. the body washed slowly out of sight, still swarmed over by the gulls. the head rested in the waist near the poop. it was, i should say, twelve feet high at the crest of the bow, and suggested some strange sort of tent. i stepped inside it without bending my head and walked about in it. its sides were shaggy with the long hair hanging from the teeth or baleen, and the interior resembled, in a way, a hunter's forest lodge made of pine boughs. if the head had been in a forest instead of on the deck of a ship it would have formed an ideal shelter for a winter's night with a wood fire burning at the opening. only the lower tip of the head or what we might call the nose rested on the deck. it was supported otherwise upon the teeth. i now had my first opportunity to see baleen in its natural setting. the teeth viewed from the outside looked something like the interior of a piano. the whale's gums, following the bony skeleton of the jaw, formed an arched and undulant line from nose tip to the back of the jaw. the front teeth were six inches long; the back ones were ten feet. each tooth, big and little alike, was formed of a thin slab of bluish whalebone, almost flat. the largest of these slabs were six inches broad at their base in the gum. the smallest were an inch. all tapered to a point. they were set in the gum with the flat surfaces together and almost touching. they were extremely pliant and at the outer ends could be pulled wide apart. the inner edges were hung with black coarse hair, which seemed exactly like that of a horse's tail. the hair on the small front teeth was an inch long perhaps; on the back teeth, it was from six to ten inches long. such teeth are beautifully adapted to the animal's feeding habits. the baleen whale feeds on a kind of jelly fish. we saw at times the sea covered with these flat, round, whitish living discs. the whale swims through an area of this food with its mouth open. when it has obtained a mouthful, it closes its jaws. the water is forced out between the slab-like teeth; the jelly fish remain tangled in the hair to be gulped down. our first job after the cutting in of the whale was to cut the baleen from the jaw. it was cut away in bunches of ten or a dozen slabs held together by the gums and stowed away in the hold not to be touched again until later in the voyage. [illustration: "trying out"] while the baleen was being prepared for stowage, the lid was removed from the try-works, uncovering the two big copper caldrons. a fire was started in the furnace with kindling and a handful of coal, but kept going thereafter with tried-out blubber called "scrap." two men dressed in oil-skins were sent down into the blubber-room as the portion of the hold was called in which the blanket pieces of blubber had been stowed. their oil-skins were to protect them from the oil which oozed from the blubber. oilskins, however, are but slight protection as i learned later when i was sent into the blubber room at the taking of another whale. the oil soaks through the water-proof oil-skins and saturates one's clothes and goes clear through to the skin leaving it as greasy as if it had been rubbed with oil. a whale's blubber lies immediately beneath its skin, which is black and rubbery and about a quarter of an inch thick. the blubber is packed between this thin covering and the flesh in a layer of pink and opalescent fat from six inches to two feet thick. the blubber is so full of oil that the oil exudes from it. one can squeeze the oil from a piece of raw blubber as water from a sponge. the two blubber-room men with short handled spades cut the great blankets of blubber in what in whaling parlance are called "horse pieces." these horse pieces are two or three feet long and about six inches wide. they are pitched into tubs on deck and the tubs dragged forward to the mincing vat. this is an immense oblong tub across the top of which is fastened a plank. two sailors with mincing knives are stationed at each end of the plank. the mincing knife is like a carpenter's drawing knife, except that the edge is on the outside. the sailor lays a horse piece along the plank. then grasping the mincing knife by its two handles, he passes the blade back and forth from side to side across the blubber until it has been cut into leaves something like those of a book, each leaf perhaps a quarter of an inch thick and all of them held together at the back by the black skin. thus minced the horse pieces are pitch-forked into the caldrons that are kept bubbling with boiling oil. when the oil has been boiled out of them, the horse-pieces, now shrunken and twisted into hard, brittle lumps, called "scrap," are skimmed off and thrown into a vat at the port side of the try-works to be used later as fuel in trying out the remainder of the blubber. the oil is ladled off into a cooling vat at the starboard side where, after it has cooled, it is siphoned into hogsheads or tanks and these are later stowed in the hold. the trying out of the whale gave several delicacies to the forecastle menu. hardtack biscuit soaked in buckets of sea water and then boiled in the bubbling caldrons of oil made relishing morsels. the crisp, tried-out blubber, which looked like honey-comb, was palatable to some. black whale skin freed of blubber and cut into small cubes and pickled in salt and vinegar had a rather agreeable taste, though it was much like eating pickled rubber. these things with whale steaks and whale sausages made trying-out days a season of continual feasting. at night "scrap" was put into an iron basket swung between the two chimneys of the try-works and set on fire, making a flaring yellow blaze which lighted the ship from stem to stern and threw weird shadows everywhere. the beacon not only gave us plenty of light to work by, but advertised the brig's good luck to any ship which happened in sight of us. in the blubber-room, holes were cut in a blanket piece and rope yarns, having been rubbed upon the blubber, were coiled in the hole and lighted. as they burned they lighted the oil from the blubber. these unique lamps had all the oil in a ten-ton blanket piece to draw on. it was only the wick that ever gave out. new strands of rope yarn had to be provided from time to time. three or four of these lamps blazing and spluttering made the blubber-room bright. working night and day, it took three days to cut in and try out the whale. while the work was going on, the decks were so greasy that we could run and slide anywhere for long distances like boys on ice. after the whale had been tried out and the oil casks had been stowed below, we fell upon the decks and paint work with lye and water. hard work soon had the ship looking as bright as a new pin. chapter xiii shaking hands with siberia the ship's prow was turned northward after work on the whale had been finished. i expected we would soon run into the ice again. we sailed on and on, but not a block of ice big enough to make a highball did we sight. the white floes and drifts and the frozen continent floating southward, along the coasts of which we had cruised for whales and which had surrounded us and held us captive for three weeks, had disappeared entirely. the warm water from the south, the southern winds, and the spring sunshine had melted the ice. its utter disappearance savored of magic. a long hilly coast rose ahead of us covered with grass, barren of trees or shrubs, dotted with blackened skeletons of old ice--an utterly desolate land. it was siberia. we put into a bight called st. lawrence bay. there was an eskimo village on the shore. the huts were made of whale ribs covered with hides of walrus and reindeer. in the warm weather, some of the hides had been removed and we saw the white gleaming bones of the frame work. we could see the dogs with tails curling over their backs frisking about and could hear their clamor as they bayed the great white-winged thing that had come up from over the sea's verge. in this first part of july it was continuous day. the sun set at eleven o'clock at night in the northwest. its disc remained barely below the horizon--we could almost see its flaming rim. a molten glow of color made the sky resplendent just above it as it passed across the north pole. it rose at : in the morning high in the northeast. all the time it was down a brilliant twilight prevailed--a twilight like that which in our temperate zone immediately follows the sinking of the sun behind a hill. we could see to read without difficulty. soon boats and kyacks were putting off from the village. when we were still a mile or two out, strange craft came alongside and eskimo men, women, and children swarmed aboard. very picturesque they looked in clothes made of the skins of reindeer, hair seals, dogs, and squirrels, oddly trimmed and decorated with fur mosaics in queer designs. some of the women wore over their furs a yellow water-proof cloak made of the intestines of fish, ornamented with needle-work figures and quite neat looking. the men and the older women had animal faces of low intelligence. the young girls were extremely pretty, with glossy, coal-black hair, bright black eyes, red cheeks, lips like ripe cherries, and gleaming white teeth forever showing in the laughter of irresponsibility and perfect health. the captain ordered a bucket of hardtack brought out in honor of our guests. the biscuit were dumped in a pile on the main deck. the eskimos gathered around in a solemn and dignified circle. the old men divided the bread, giving an equal number of hardtack to each. this ceremony of welcome over, the eskimos were given the freedom of the ship, or at least, took it. we kept a careful watch upon them, however, to see that they took nothing else. several of the eskimo men had a sufficient smattering of english to make themselves understood. they had picked up their small vocabulary among the whalers which every spring put in at the little ports along the siberian and alaskan coasts. one of them had been whaling to the arctic ocean aboard a whale ship which some accident had left short handed. he spoke better english than any of the others and was evidently regarded by his fellow townsmen as a wonderfully intellectual person. he became quite friendly with me, showing his friendship by begging me to give him almost everything i had, from tobacco to clothes. he constantly used an eskimo word the meaning of which all whalers have learned and it assisted him materially in telling his stories--he was a great story teller. this word was "_pau_,"--it means "nothing." i never knew before how important nothing could be in human language. here is a sample of his use of "nothing:" [illustration: callers from asia] "winter," he said, "sun pau; daylight pau. all dark. water pau; all ice. land pau, all snow. eskimo igloo, plenty fire. moss in blubber oil all time blaze up. cold pau. plenty hot. eskimo, he sweat. clothes pau. good time. hot time. eat plenty. sleep." this seemed to me a good, vivid description. the picture was there, painted chiefly with "nothing." of course he had the english words "yes" and "no" in his assortment, but his way of using them was pure eskimo. for instance: "you wear no clothes in winter?" i asked him. "no," he replied. "no?" i echoed in surprise. "yes," he said. his "yes" merely affirmed his "no." it sometimes required a devious mental process to follow him. a pretty girl came up to me with a smile and an ingratiating air. "tobac," she said holding out her hand. i handed her my smoking plug. she took half of it at one cavernous bite and gave the remainder back to me, which i thought considerate. she enjoyed the tobacco. she chewed upon it hard, working her jaws as if she were masticating a dainty tidbit. did she expectorate? not a drop. she evidently did not propose to waste any of the flavor of that good weed. neither did she get sick--that pretty eskimo girl. at last when she had chewed for twenty minutes or so, she removed her quid and stuck it behind her right ear. she chewed it at intervals later on, always between times wearing it conspicuously behind her ear. i rather expected our guests would depart after a call of an hour or so. not so. they had come to stay indefinitely. when they became tired they lay on deck--it didn't make any particular difference where--and went quietly to sleep. they seemed to have no regular time for sleeping. i found eskimos asleep and awake during all my deck watches. as it was day all the twenty-four hours, i wondered if these people without chronometers did not sometimes get their hours mixed up. new parties of eskimos kept coming to see us. one of these had killed a walrus and the skin and the raw meat, butchered into portable cuts, lay in the bottom of their big family canoe of hide. the boat was tied alongside and the eskimos came aboard. if any of them became hungry, they climbed down into the canoe and ate the raw walrus meat, smacking their lips over it. when the sailors would lean over the rail to watch this strange feat of gastronomy, the eskimos would smile up at them with mouths smeared with blood and hold out a red chunk in invitation. it was their joke. we loafed in st. lawrence bay for more than a week. we could not have sailed away if we had wanted to, for all the time there was a windless calm and the sea heaved and fell, unruffled by a ripple, like a vast sheet of moving mercury. it was weather characteristic of the arctic summer--a beautiful dream season of halcyon, silver seas, opalescent haze, and tempered golden sunlight. to the men in skin clothes, it was warm weather, but one had only to step from sunshine to shadow to pass from summer to winter. one perspired in the sunlight; in the shadow there was frost, and if the spot were damp, a coating of ice. i went duck hunting with a boat's crew one day. mr. winchester, who headed the boat, was a good hand with a shotgun and brought back a fine bag. one of the ducks, knocked over on the wing, dropped within a few feet of shore. when we rowed to pick it up, i touched siberia with an oar. i felt that it was a sort of handshake with the asiatic continent. i never landed and never got any nearer. in a little while, most of us had traded for a number of nicely tanned hair-seal skins and had set the eskimo women and girls to work tailoring trousers and vests and coats. it was marvelous how dexterous they were at cutting and sewing. they took no measurements and yet their garments fitted rather snugly. before they began sewing they softened the edges of the skins by chewing them. they wore their thimble on their index finger and drove the needle into one side of the skins and jerked it through from the other side with such amazing rapidity that the two movements seemed one. a good seamstress--and all seemed remarkably expert--could cut and sew a pair of trousers in an hour, a bit of work it would have taken a sailor a day or two to accomplish. we could hire a seamstress for an entire morning or afternoon for five hardtack. a bowl of soup with a piece of salt horse was sufficient pay for a day's labor. my old skin clothes, which i had obtained from the slop-chest were greasy, dirty, and worn and i had an eskimo woman make me a complete new outfit from hair-seal skins i purchased from her husband. she cut out a coat, vest, and trousers, spreading the skins on deck and using a knife in cutting. she sat cross-legged on deck most of the day sewing on the garments and i carefully superintended the job. she ornamented the coat with a black dogskin collar and edged it down the breast and around the bottom with the same material, which set off the glistening seal skin attractively. i also bought a new squirrel skin shirt with a hood attached. when i appeared on deck in my new toggery, i felt quite presentable. however, i was not alone in gorgeous regalia. most of my shipmates were soon looking like animate statues of silver in their shining seal skins. our turns up and down deck became fashion parades. we strutted like peacocks, it must be admitted, and displayed our fine clothes to best advantage under the eyes of the eskimo beauties. it remained for peter, our rolypoly little swede, to make the only real, simon-pure conquest. in his new clothes, which sparkled like a silver dollar fresh from the mint, and with his fresh boyish face, he cut quite a handsome figure and one little eskimo maid fell a victim to his fatal fascinations. "'e's killed her dead," said english bill white. she was perhaps fifteen years old, roguish eyed, rosy cheeked, and with coal-black hair parted in the middle and falling in two braids at the sides of her head. plump and full of life and high spirits, the gay little creature was as pretty as any girl i saw among the eskimos. peter was all devotion. he gave his sweetheart the lion's share of all his meals, feasting her on salt horse, hardtack, soup, and gingerbread which to her primitive palate that never had risen to greater gastronomic heights than blubber and raw meat must have seemed epicurean delicacies. the sailors called the girl "mamie," which was very different from the eskimo name her mother spluttered at her. if peter was missed at any time, it was only necessary to locate the charming miss mamie, and there by her side peter would be found, speaking only with his eyes and making distinct progress. sometimes peter, finding optical language not entirely satisfactory, pressed into his service the intellectual eskimo as interpreter. these three-cornered efforts at love making were amusing to all who chanced to overhear them;--the dashing young romeo could scarcely talk english himself, the interpreter could talk even less and the object of peter's adoration could not speak a word. as the upshot of this interesting affair, the little lady and peter plotted between them that peter should run away from the ship and live among her people. this plan appealed to peter who was a cold weather product himself and almost as primitive as his inamorata. but peter made one mistake;--he took old nels nelson, his countryman and side-partner, into his confidence. nelson loved the boy like a father and did his best to persuade him to give up the idea, but peter was determined. one twilight midnight with the sun just skimming below the horizon, peter wrapped from head to foot in an eskimo woman's mackintosh of fish intestine, with the hood over his head and half hiding his chubby face, climbed over the rail into an eskimo boat with a number of natives, his sweetheart among them, and set out for shore. nelson and several sailors watched the boat paddle away, but no one but nelson knew that the person bundled up in the native raincoat was peter. the boat got half a mile from the brig. then nelson could stand it no longer. the strain was too much. he rushed back to the quarter-deck where old gabriel was walking up and down. "peter's run away," nelson blurted out. "there he goes in that boat. that's him dressed up like a woman in fish-gut oil-skins." [illustration: peter's sweetheart] without ado gabriel called aft the watch, manned a boat, and set out in pursuit. the eskimo canoe was quickly overhauled and peter was captured and brought back aboard. "you ben bigges' fool for sech a li'l' boy i ever have see," said gabriel severely. "you don't know you freeze to deaf up here in winter time, no?" peter had nothing to say. he was ashamed, but he was mad, too. he was not punished. when captain shorey learned of the escapade, he merely laughed. peter took the matter quite to heart and pouted for days. to the end of the voyage, he still dreamed of his eskimo sweetheart and of the happiness that might have been his. every time he spoke of her his eyes grew bright. "she was fine gal," he used to say. chapter xiv moonshine and hygiene we noticed that several of our eskimo guests appeared at times to be slightly under the influence of liquor and thought perhaps they had obtained gin or rum from some whaling vessel that had touched at the port before we arrived. we asked the intellectual eskimo where these fellows had got their booze. he pointed to an eskimo and said, "him." "him" was a lordly person dressed in elaborately trimmed and ornamented skin clothes. from the way he strutted about, we had fancied him a chief. he turned out be a "moonshiner." this doubtless will surprise those whose ideas of "moonshiners" are associated with southern appalachian ranges, lonely mountain coves, revenue raids, and romance. but here was an eskimo "moonshiner" who made unlicensed whiskey under the midnight sun and yet was as genuine a "moonshiner" as any lawless southern mountaineer. the sailors, being thirsty souls, at once opened negotiations with him for liquor. he drew from beneath his deer-skin coat a skin bottle filled with liquor and sold it to us for fifteen hardtack. wherefore there was, for a time, joy in the forecastle--in limited quantity, for the bottle was small. this product of the ice-bound north was the hottest stuff i ever tasted. the captain was not long in discovering that the eskimo had liquor to sell and sent a boat ashore with a demijohn. the jug was brought back filled with siberian "moonshine," which had been paid for with a sack of flour. the boat's crew found on the beach a little distillery in comparison with which the pot stills of the kentucky and tennessee mountains, made of old kitchen kettles would seem elaborate and up-to-date plants. the still itself was an old tin oil can; the worm, a twisted gun barrel; the flake-stand, a small powder keg. the mash used in making the liquor, we learned, was a fermented mixture of flour and molasses obtained in trade from whale ships. it was boiled in the still, a twist of moss blazing in a pan of blubber oil doing duty as a furnace. the vapor from the boiling mash passed through the worm in the flake-stand and was condensed by ice-cold water with which the powder keg was kept constantly filled by hand. the liquor dripped from the worm into a battered old tomato can. it was called "kootch" and was potently intoxicating. an eskimo drunk on "kootch" was said to be brave enough to tackle a polar bear, single-handed. the little still was operated in full view of the villagers. there was no need of secrecy. siberia boasted no revenue raiders. the owner of the plant did an extensive trade up and down the coast and it was said natives from diomede islands and alaska paddled over in their canoes and _bidarkas_ to buy his liquor. they paid for it in walrus tusk ivory, whale bone, and skins and the "moonshiner" was the richest man in all that part of siberia. if contact with civilization had taught the eskimo the art of distillation and drunkenness, it also had improved living conditions among them. many owned rifles. their spears and harpoons were steel tipped. they bartered for flour, molasses, sugar, and all kinds of canned goods with the whale ships every summer. they had learned to cook. there was a stove in the village. the intellectual eskimo boasted of the stove as showing the high degree of civilization achieved by his people. the stove, be it added, was used chiefly for heating purposes in winter and remained idle in summer. the natives regarded the cooked foods of the white man as luxuries to be indulged in only occasionally in a spirit of connoisseurship. they still preferred their immemorial diet of blubber and raw meat. aside from these faint touches of civilization, the eskimos were as primitive in their life and mental processes as people who suddenly had stepped into the present out of the world of ten thousand years ago. i fancy adam and eve would have lived after the manner of the eskimos if the garden of eden had been close to the north pole. there is apparently no government or law among these eskimos. they have no chiefs. when it becomes necessary to conduct any business of public importance with outsiders, it is looked after by the old men. the eskimos are a race, one may say, of individuals. each one lives his life according to his own ideas; without let or hindrance. each is a law unto himself. under these conditions one might expect they would hold to the rule of the strong arm under which might makes right. this is far from true. there is little crime among them. murder is extremely rare. though they sometimes steal from white men--the sailors on the brig were warned that they would steal anything not nailed down--they are said never--or hardly ever--to steal from each other. they have a nice respect for the rights of their neighbors. they are not exactly a golden rule people, but they mind their own business. the infrequency of crime among them seems stranger when one learns that they never punish their children. eskimo children out-topsy topsy in "just growing." i was informed that they are never spanked, cuffed, or boxed on the ears. their little misdemeanors are quietly ignored. it might seem logical to expect these ungoverned and lawless little fellows to grow up into bad men and women. but the ethical tradition of the race holds them straight. when a crime occurs, the punishment meted out fits it as exactly as possible. we heard of a murder among the eskimos around st. lawrence bay the punishment of which furnishes a typical example of eskimo justice. a young man years before had slain a missionary by shooting him with a rifle. the old men of the tribe tried the murderer and condemned him to death. his own father executed the sentence with the same rifle with which the missionary had been killed. tuberculosis is a greater scourge among the eskimos than among the peoples of civilization. this was the last disease i expected to find in the cold, pure air of the arctic region. but i was told that it caused more than fifty per cent. of the deaths among the natives. these conditions have been changed for the better within the last few years. school teachers, missionaries, and traveling physicians appointed by the united states government have taught the natives of alaska hygiene and these have passed on the lesson to their kinsmen of siberia. long after my voyage had ended, captain a. j. henderson, of the revenue cutter _thetis_ and a pioneer judge of uncle sam's "floating court" in behring sea and arctic ocean waters, told me of the work he had done in spreading abroad the gospel of health among the eskimos. finding tuberculosis carrying off the natives by wholesale, captain henderson began the first systematic crusade against the disease during a summer voyage of his vessel in the north. in each village at which the _thetis_ touched, he took the ship's doctor ashore and had him deliver through an interpreter a lecture on tuberculosis. though the eskimos lived an out-door life in summer, they shut themselves up in their igloos in winter, venturing out only when necessity compelled them, and living in a super-heated atmosphere without ventilation. as a result their winter igloos became veritable culture beds of the disease. [illustration: eskimos summer hut at st. lawrence bay] those afflicted had no idea what was the matter with them. their witch doctors believed that they were obsessed by devils and attempted by incantations to exorcise the evil spirits. the doctor of the _thetis_ had difficulty in making the natives understand that the organism that caused their sickness was alive, though invisible. but he did succeed in making them understand that the disease was communicated by indiscriminate expectoration and that prevention and cure lay in plenty of fresh air, cleanliness, and wholesome food. in all the villages, captain henderson found the igloos offensively filthy and garbage and offal scattered about the huts in heaps. he made the eskimos haul these heaps to sea in boats and dump them overboard. he made them clean their igloos thoroughly and take off the roofs to allow the sun and rains to purify the interiors. after this unroofing, captain henderson said, the villages looked as if a cyclone had struck them. he taught the natives how to sew together sputum cups of skin and cautioned the afflicted ones against expectoration except in these receptacles. the eskimos were alive to the seriousness of the situation and did their utmost to follow out these hygienic instructions to the last detail. as a result of this first missionary campaign in the cause of health, the eskimos have begun to keep their igloos clean and to ventilate them in winter. there has grown up among them an unwritten law against indiscriminate expectoration more carefully observed than such ordinances in american cities. the villages have been gradually turned into open-air sanitariums and the death rate from tuberculosis has been materially reduced. chapter xv news from home with the first breeze, we set sail for port clarence, alaska, the northern rendezvous of the arctic ocean whaling fleet in early summer. there in the latter part of june or the early part of july, the fleet always met the four-masted schooner _jennie_, the tender from san francisco, by which all firms in the whaling trade sent mail and supplies to their vessels. on our way across from siberia to alaska, we passed just south of behring straits and had our first distant glimpse of the arctic ocean. when we dropped anchor in the windy roadstead of port clarence, eighteen whale ships were there ahead of us. the land about port clarence was flat and covered with tall, rank grass--a region of tundra stretching away to distant hills. the _jennie_ came in direct from san francisco soon after we arrived. boats from the whale ships swarmed about her as soon as she dropped anchor, eager for letters and newspapers. our mate brought back a big bundle of san francisco newspapers which were sent forward after the cabin had read them. they gave us our first news since leaving honolulu of how the great world was wagging. every man in the forecastle who could read read these papers from the first headline to the last advertisement. it seemed good to get into touch once more with the men and events of civilization. exiles of the sea, the news of our country seemed to have an intimate personal meaning to us which it never could possibly have to stay-at-homes to whom newspapers are every-day, casual budgets of gossip and information. i remember that a telegraphic brevity describing a murder in my native state seemed like a message from home. among the eskimos who came aboard the brig from the large village on shore, was a white man dressed like an eskimo to the last detail and looking like one except for a heavy beard. he had run away from a whale ship three years before, hoping to make his way to some white settlement to the south and there secure passage on shipboard back to san francisco. he had escaped, he said, in an eskimo kyack tied alongside his ship. as soon as he was missed officers and boatsteerers put ashore in a boat and trailed him. he led his pursuers a long chase inland and though he was shot at several times, he managed to elude them and reach the safety of the hills. after he had seen the whaling fleet sail away, he ventured back to the eskimo village on shore where he was welcomed by the natives. he soon found that escape by land was practically impossible; the nearest white settlement was hundreds of miles distant and he would have to thread his way through pathless forests and across ranges of mountains covered at all seasons with ice and snow. moreover, he learned what he should have known before he ran away that no vessels except whaling ships, their tender, and an occasional revenue cutter ever touched at port clarence which at that time was far north of the outmost verge of the world's commerce. there was nothing left for him to do but settle among the eskimos and wait for the arrival of the whaling fleet in the following summer. during the long arctic night, with the temperature forty and fifty degrees below zero, he lived in an igloo after the manner of the natives; learned to eat raw meat and blubber--there was nothing else to eat--became fluent in the eskimo language; and took an eskimo girl for a wife. he found existence among these human anachronisms left over from the stone age a monotonously dreary and soul-wearying experience, and he waited with nervous impatience for the coming of the fleet with its annual opportunity for getting back to civilization. the first year passed and the ships anchored in port clarence. he hurried out in his kyack to ask the captains for permission to work his way back to san francisco. he never once doubted that they would give him his chance. but a sad surprise was in store for him. from ship to ship he went, begging to be allowed to remain aboard, but the hard-hearted captains coldly refused him, one after the other. he was a deserter, they told him; he had made his bed and he could lie in it; to take him away would encourage others to desert. some captains cursed him; some ordered him off their vessels. finally the ships sailed away for the whaling grounds, leaving him marooned on the bleak shore to pass another year in the squalor of his igloo. next year when the whaling fleet came again it was the same story over again. again he watched the ships arrive with a heart beating high with hope and again he saw their topmasts disappear over the horizon, leaving him hopeless and wretched behind. before he came aboard the brig, he had made the rounds of the other ships and had met with the same refusals as of yore. i saw him go aft and plead with captain shorey and that stern old sea dog turned him down as curtly as the other skippers had done. the ships sailed away, leaving him to his fate. to me his story was the most pathetic that ever fell within my personal experience. i never learned whether he ever managed somehow to get back home or left his bones to bleach upon the frozen tundra. from port clarence, we headed back to unalaska to ship our whale bone to san francisco by steamer. midway of our run down the behring sea a thick fog closed about us and we kept our fog horn booming. soon, off our bows, we heard another fog horn. it seemed to be coming closer. our cooper, an old navy bugler, became suspicious. he got out his old bugle and sounded "assembly" sharply. as the first note struck into the mist, the other fog horn ceased its blowing. we did not hear it again. when the mist lifted, no vessel was in sight, but the situation was clear. we had chanced upon a poaching sealer and when she heard our cooper's bugle, she concluded we were a revenue cutter and took to her heels. [illustration: at the gateway to the arctic] aday or two later, we saw the revenue cutter _corwin_ chasing a poacher. heeled over under crowded sail, the sealing schooner was scurrying before a stiff wind. the _corwin_ was plowing in hot pursuit, smoke pouring from her funnel and hanging thick in the wake of the chase. she was gaining steadily, for she was a steamship and the schooner had only her sails to depend on. finally the revenue cutter sent a solid shot across the schooner's bows. the ball knocked up a great splash of water. but the poacher did not heave to--just kept on her way, leaning so far over that the clews of her lower sails almost touched the waves and a big white feather of spray stood up in front of her. so pursuer and pursued passed over the horizon and we did not see the end of the hunt. but we knew that there could be but one end. the fate of that poacher was sealed. only a fog could save her, and the sky was clear. we passed close to st. george island, the southernmost of the pribiloff group, the breeding place of the fur seals. as we came near the shores, the air literally shook with the raucous, throbbing bark of countless seals. the din was deafening. along the shore, a shelving beach ran up to rocky declivities and beach and rocks were packed with seals. there may have been a hundred thousand; there may have been a million; and it seemed as if every seal was barking. the water alongshore swarmed with them. thousands of heads were sticking out of the sea. thousands of other seals were playing, breaching out of the water like porpoises. they swam close to the brig and floated lazily on the surface, staring at us unafraid. if we had been poachers, i should think we could have taken several hundred thousand dollars worth of seals without difficulty. a dozen little pup seals whose fur was of a snowy and unspotted white came swimming about the vessel. these sea babies were soft, furry, cunning little fellows and they paddled about the brig, sniffing at the strange monster that had invaded their home. they seemed absolutely fearless and gazed up at us out of big, brown, wondering, friendly eyes. sealers kill them, as their fur makes beautiful edgings and borders for fur garments. the fur seals are supposed to pass the winter somewhere in the south pacific, but whether in the open sea or on land has never been definitely learned. from their mysterious southern hiding places, they set out for the north in the early spring. they first appear in march in the waters off california. coastwise vessels find the sea alive with thousands of them. they travel slowly northward following the coast line, fifty or a hundred miles out at sea, feeding on fish and sleeping on the surface. regularly each year in april, a revenue cutter setting out from port townsend for patrol service in behring sea and arctic ocean waters, picks up the herd and convoys it to the pribiloffs to guard it against the attacks of poachers. the seals swarm through the passes between the aleutian islands in may and arrive at the pribiloffs in the latter part of that month or early in june. they remain on the pribiloffs during the breeding and rearing season and begin to depart for the south again in the latter part of september. they are all gone as a rule by november, though in some years the last ones do not leave until december. they are again seen as they crowd through the aleutian channels, but all track of them is lost a few hundred miles to the south. at what destination they finally arrive on that southward exodus no man knows. it is one of the mysteries of the sea. we saw no whales on our southward passage and did not much expect to see any, though we kept a lookout at the mast-head on the off chance of sighting some lone spout. the summer months are a second "between seasons," dividing the spring whaling in behring sea from that in the arctic ocean in the fall. the whales had all followed the retreating ice northward through behring straits. the fourth of july found us in the middle of behring sea. we observed the glorious fourth by hoisting the american flag to our gaff-topsail peak, where it fluttered all day long. mr. winchester came forward with two bottles of jamaica rum and dealt out a drink all around. we entered unalaska harbor by the same long, narrow, and precipitous channel through which we had passed on our voyage north when we put into the harbor to have the captain's leg set. negotiating this channel--i should say it was about two miles long--was another illustration of our captain's seamanship. we had to tack innumerable times from one side of the channel to the other, our jib-boom at every tack projecting over the land before the brig came around. we finally dropped anchor opposite the old, cross-crowned greek church which stands in the center of the struggling village. chapter xvi slim goes on strike it was the heart of the arctic summer and the high hills that rose all about the town were green with deep grass--it looked as if it would reach a man's waist--and ablaze with wild flowers. i was surprised to see such a riot of blooms in this far northern latitude, but there they were, and every off-shore breeze was sweet with their fragrance. the village was dingy enough, but the country looked alluring and, as the day after we dropped anchor was sunday and nothing to do aboard, the crew decided to ask for a day's liberty ashore. bill white, the englishman, and slim, our royal life guardsman, agreed to act as the forecastle's ambassadors to the cabin. they dressed up in their smartest clothes and went aft to interview captain shorey on the quarter-deck. white made the speech of the occasion and proffered the forecastle's request in his best rhetoric. captain shorey puffed silently at his cigar. "i'll see about it," he said. that closed the incident as far as the captain was concerned. we got no shore leave. as the day wore away and the desired permission failed to materialize, the forecastle became piqued at what it considered the skipper's gratuitous ungraciousness. slim waxed particularly indignant. "he'll 'see about it,'" slim sneered. "he never had no idea of letting us go in the first place. he's a cold-blooded son of a sea cook--that's what he is--and as for me, i'll never do another tap of work aboard the bloody hooker." this was strong language. of course, none of us took it seriously, feeling sure slim would reconsider by the next morning and turn to for work with the rest of us. but we did not know slim. bright and early monday morning, the men mustered on deck and went to work, but slim remained in his bunk. having rowed our whale bone to the dock and stored it in a warehouse to await the first steamer for san francisco, a boat's crew towed three or four hogsheads roped together ashore for water. another boat went ashore for coal. those left aboard the brig were put to work in the hold near the main hatch under the supervision of mr. winchester. the mate suddenly noted slim's absence. "where's slim?" he asked. nobody answered. "he didn't go ashore in the boats," said the mate. "where is he?" someone volunteered that slim was sick. "sick, eh?" said the mate. he hustled off to the forecastle scuttle. "slim," he sang out, "what's the matter with you?" "i'm sick," responded slim from his bunk. "if you're sick," said the mate, "come aft and report yourself sick to the captain." in a little while, slim shuffled back to the cabin. a few minutes later wild yells came from the cabin. we stopped work. the mate seemed to think we might rush to the rescue. [illustration: hoisting the blubber aboard] "get busy there," he roared. "slew that cask around." the yells broke off. we went to work again. for a half hour, there was silence in the cabin. we wondered what had happened. slim might have been murdered for all we knew. finally slim emerged and went silently forward. we noticed a large shaved spot on the top of his head where two long strips of court-plaster formed a black cross. the first thing slim did after getting back to the forecastle was to take one of his blue flannel shirts and, while none of the officers was looking, shin up the ratlines and hang it on the fore-lift. this is an old-time sailor sign of distress and means trouble aboard. the mate soon spied the shirt swinging in the breeze. "well, i'll be darned," he said. "jump up there one of you and take that shirt down." no one stirred. the mate called the cabin boy and the young kanaka brought down the shirt. slim told us at dinner time all about his adventure in the cabin. "i goes down in the cabin," said slim, "and the captain is standing with his hands in his pants pockets, smiling friendly-like. 'hello, slim,' he says. 'sit down in this chair.' i sits down and the captain says, 'well, my boy, what's the matter with you?' 'i'm sick,' says i. 'where do you feel bad?' he says. 'i ache all over,' says i. he steps over in front of me, still with that little smile on his face. 'i've got good medicine aboard this ship,' he says, 'and i'll fix you up in a jiffy, my boy,' says he. with that he jerks one of his hands out of his pocket and he has a revolver clutched in it. 'here's the medicine you need,' he says and he bats me over the cocoanut with the gun. "the blood spurts all over me and i jumps up and yells, but the captain points his pistol at me and orders me to sit down again. he storms up and down the cabin floor. 'i'll teach you who's master aboard this ship,' he shouts and for a minute he was so purple in the face with rage, i thought he was going to murder me for sure. by and by he cools down. 'well, slim,' he says, 'i guess i hit you a little harder than i meant to, but i'm a bad man when i get started. you need tending to now, sure enough.' "so he has the cabin boy fetch a pan of warm water and he washes the blood out of my hair with his own hands and then shaves around the cut and pastes sticking plaster on. that's all. but say, will i have the law on him when we get back to frisco? will i?" it was a long way back to frisco. in the meantime we wondered what was in store for the luckless irish grenadier. that afternoon, the revenue cutter _corwin_ came steaming into port towing a poaching sealer as a prize. it was the same schooner, we learned, we had seen the _corwin_ chasing a few days before. as the cutter passed us, slim sprang on the forecastle head while captain shorey and everybody aboard the brig looked at him and, waving a blue flannel shirt frantically, shouted: "please come aboard. i've had trouble aboard." "aye, aye," came back across the water from the government patrol vessel. waving a shirt has no significance in sea tradition, but slim was not enough of a sailor to know that, and besides, he wanted to leave nothing undone to impress the revenue cutter officers with the urgency of his case. no sooner had the _corwin_ settled to her berth at the pier than a small boat with bluejackets at the oars, two officers in gold braid and epaulettes in the stern, and with the stars and stripes flying, shot out from under her quarter and headed for the brig. "aha," we chuckled. "captain shorey has got his foot in it. he has uncle sam to deal with now. he won't hit him over the head with a revolver." the boat came alongside and the officers climbed over the rail. captain shorey welcomed them with a smile and elaborate courtesy and ushered them into the cabin. slim was sent for. "tell 'em everything, slim," we urged. "give it to the captain hot and heavy. he's a brute and the revenue cutter men will take you off the brig as sure as shooting. they won't dare leave you aboard to lead a dog's life for the rest of the voyage." "i'll show him up, all right," was slim's parting shot. slim came back from the cabin a little later. "i told 'em everything," he said. "they listened to everything i had to say and took down a lot of notes in a book. i asked 'em to take me off the brig right away, for, says i, captain shorey will kill me if they leave me aboard. i guess they'll take me off." an hour later, the two officers of the _corwin_ emerged from the cabin, accompanied by captain shorey. they were puffing complacently at a couple of the captain's cigars. they seemed in high good humor. after shaking hands with captain shorey, they climbed down into their boat and were rowed back to their vessel. that was the last we ever saw of them. poor slim was left to his fate. and his fate was a rough one. there was no outward change in the attitude of the captain or the officers of the brig toward him. whenever they spoke to him, they did it with as much civility as they showed the rest of us. but slim was compelled to work on deck all day and stand his regular night watches into the bargain. that meant he got eight hours sleep during twenty-four hours one day and four hours sleep during the next. as the ship was in whaling waters from now on, the crew had little to do except man the boats. but slim always had plenty to do. while we smoked our pipes and lounged about, he was kept washing paint work, slushing down masts, scraping deck and knocking the rust off the anchors. any one of a hundred and one little jobs that didn't need doing, slim did. this continued until the brig squared her yards for the homeward voyage. slim had more than three months of it. the lord knows it was enough. when his nagging finally ended, he was a pale, haggard shadow of his former self. it almost killed him. chapter xvii into the arctic from unalaska, we headed north for the arctic ocean. for one day of calm, we lay again off the little eskimo village of st. lawrence bay and again had the natives as our guests. peter made an elaborate toilet in expectation of seeing once more his little eskimo sweetheart, but she did not come aboard. a little breeze came walking over the sea and pushed us on northward. on august , we sailed through behring straits and were at last in the arctic. the straits are thirty-six miles wide, with east cape, a rounded, dome-shaped mass of black basalt, on the asiatic side and on the american side cape prince of wales, a headland of sharper outline, but neither so lofty nor so sheer. in between the two capes and in line with them, lie the two islands of big and little diomede. through the three narrow channels between the capes and the islands, the tide runs with the swiftness of a river's current. the eskimos constantly cross from continent to continent in small boats. in still weather the passage can be made in a light kyack with perfect safety. the widest of the three channels is that between big diomede and east cape and is, i should say, not more than fifteen miles across. while we were passing through the straits, we saw a party of eskimos in a skin boat paddling leisurely across from america to asia. they no doubt had been on a visit to relatives or friends on the neighboring continent. we were told that in winter when the straits are frozen solidly, the eskimos frequently walk from one continent to the other. [illustration: our guests coming aboard in st. lawrence bay] while we were sailing close to the american shore soon after passing through the straits, the cry of "walrus, walrus!" from the mast-head sent the crew hurrying to the rail to catch a glimpse of these strange creatures which we had not before encountered. we were passing an immense herd. the shore was crowded with giant bulks, lying perfectly still in the sun, while the waters close to land were alive with bobbing heads. at a distance and at first glance, those on shore looked like a vast herd of cattle resting after grazing. they were as big as oxen and when the sun had dried them, they were of a pronounced reddish color. those in the water looked black. they had a way of sticking their heads and necks straight up out of the sea which was slightly suggestive of men treading water. their heads seemed small for their great bodies and with their big eyes, their beard-like mass of thick bristles about the nose, and their long ivory tusks they had a distinctly human look despite their grotesque ugliness. they lifted their multitudinous voices in gruff, barking roars like so many bulldogs affected with a cold. there must have been , of them. they paid little attention to the ship. those on shore remained as motionless as boulders. "want to collect a little ivory?" captain shorey said with a smile to mr. winchester. "no, thank you, not just now," replied the mate. "i want to live to get back to 'frisco." an ivory hunter among those tusked thousands doubtless would have fared disastrously. walrus are famous fighters. when attacked, they sometimes upset a boat with their tusks and drown the hunters. they are dangerous even in small herds. moreover they are difficult to kill. their thick hides will turn a bullet that does not hit them solidly. though slow and unwieldy on land or ice, they are surprisingly agile in the water and a harpooned walrus will frequently tow a boat at a dizzy clip. the region about cape prince of wales is a favorite feeding ground for the animals. the coasts swarm with clams, mussels, and other shell-fish upon which the walrus live. thirteen varieties of edible clams, it is said, have been discovered by scientists about cape prince of wales. the walrus dig these shell-fish out of the sand and rocks with their tusks, crush them with their teeth, eject the shells, and swallow the dainty tidbits. their tusks serve them also as weapons of defense and as hooks by which to haul themselves upon ice floes. we did not dare take chances in the boats among such vast numbers of these formidable creatures and soon left the great herd astern. a little higher up the coast we ran into a small herd numbering about a hundred, and mr. winchester, armed with his repeating rifle, lowered his boat to have a try for ivory. when the mate's boat dashed among the animals they did not dive or run away, but held their ground, standing well up out of water and coughing out defiance. long john darted a harpoon into one of the beasts and it plunged below and went scurrying away. one might have thought the boat was fast to a young whale from the way the line sizzled out over the bow. the walrus dragged the boat about half a mile, and when the animal again came to the surface for air mr. winchester killed it with a bullet. but the blood and the shooting had thrown the remainder of the herd into violent excitement. roaring furiously, the great beasts converged from all sides in the wake of the chase. by the time long john had cut off the head of the dead walrus and heaved it aboard and had recovered his harpoon, the animals were swarming menacingly about the boat. long john, who had been in such ticklish situations before, began to beat a tattoo on the gunwales with his sheath knife, at the same time emitting a series of blood-curdling yells. this was intended to awe the boat's besiegers and had a momentary effect. the brutes stood in the water apparently puzzled, but still roaring savagely. but they were not long to be held off by mere noise. led by a monster bull, they rushed at the boat in a concerted attack. the sailors belabored them over the head with the sweeps. the mate pumped lead into them from his rifle. still they came on. when captain shorey, who had been watching the battle from the quarter-deck, saw how serious the situation was becoming, he grew alarmed. "those men will be killed," he shouted to mr. landers. "call the watch and lower those other boats, and be quick about it." in a jiffy the boats were lowered, the crews piled in, masts were stepped, and we shot away to the rescue. but the mate's crew solved their own problem before we could come into action. when it seemed likely the walrus would swamp the boat, long john harpooned the leader of the herd. the big walrus dived and made off, hauling the boat out of the midst of the furious brutes to safety. the other animals did not pursue. they bobbed about the scene of the conflict for some time and finally disappeared. long john killed the big bull to which the boat was fast, cut off its head, and the boat went back to the battleground to take similar toll of the walrus that had died under the mate's rain of bullets. eight carcasses were found afloat and as many more probably had sunk. ten heads with their ivory tusks were brought aboard the brig as trophies of the hunt. the tusks of the bull that had led the attack measured two feet six inches. the animal, according to mr. winchester, must have been ten or twelve feet long. the mate estimated its weight at , pounds--a guess, of course, but perhaps a close one. chapter xviii blubber and song we were cruising in open water soon afterward with two whaling ships in sight, the _reindeer_ and the _helen marr_, both barkentines and carrying five boats each, when we raised a school of bowheads straight ahead and about five miles distant. there were twenty-five or thirty whales and a broad patch of sea was covered with their incessant fountains. the other ships saw them about the same time. the long-drawn, musical "blo-o-o-w!" from their mastheads came to us across the water. aboard the brig, the watch was called and all hands were mustered to the boats. falls were thrown off the hooks and we stood by to lower as soon as the captain gave the word. there was equal bustle on the other ships. traveling before a favoring breeze in the same direction as the whales, the three vessels waited until they could work closer. each captain in the meanwhile kept a watchful eye on the others. none of them proposed to let his rivals get the start. the _reindeer_ was to windward of us, the _helen marr_ on our lee. when the ships had reached within a mile of the whales captain shorey sent our boats down. instantly the other skippers did the same. soon thirteen whale boats were speeding on the chase. fine sailing weather it was, with a fresh breeze ruffling the surface of a gently heaving sea. with all sails set and keeping well apart, the boats heeled over, their crews sitting lined up along the weather gunwales. there seemed no chance of any clash or misunderstanding. there were plenty of whales, and with any luck there would be glory enough and profit enough for all. like a line of skirmishers deployed against an enemy, the boats stole silently toward the whales. we soon saw the great animals were busy feeding. a few inches below the surface the sea was filled with "whale food," a round, diaphanous, disk-like jellyfish about the size of a silver dollar and perfectly white. when he arrived in this arctic ocean whale pasture the water seemed snowy with the millions of jellyfish. with open jaws, the whales swam this way and that, making zigzag swaths a hundred yards long through the gelatinous masses, their great heads and backs well out of water, their fins now and then flapping ponderously. when they had entangled a sufficient quantity of the jellyfish in the long hair hanging from the inner edges of their teeth they closed their mouths with reverberating snaps that sent the water splashing out on either side. before the whales were aware of danger, the boats rushed in among them. each boatheader singled out a whale, and five boats were quickly fast--two from the _reindeer_, two from the _helen marr_, and mr. winchester's boat. wild turmoil and confusion instantly ensued among the great animals. they went plunging below in alarm and the boats that made no strike at the first onslaught had no chance thereafter. the whales did not stop to investigate the causes of the sudden interruption of their banquet. the sea swallowed them up and we did not see them again. a little later we caught a glimpse of their fountains twinkling against the sky on the far horizon. mr. winchester's whale was wriggling about among the jellyfish with jaws widely distended when the boat slipped silently upon it. as the prow bumped against its black skin, long john drove a harpoon up to the hitches in its back. with a tonite bomb shattered in its vitals, the monster sounded in a smother of foam. in the dynamic violence with which it got under way it literally stood on its head. its flukes, easily twenty feet from tip to tip, shot at least thirty feet into the air. they swung over to one side, the great body forming a high arch, and struck the sea with a resounding smack. then they sailed on high again to come down on the other side with another broadside smash. again they rose like lightning into the air and the whale seemed to slip down perpendicularly into the ocean. it was evident at the outset that the animal was badly wounded. it swam only a short distance below the surface and not rapidly, sending up thousands of bubbles to mark its course. this broad highway of bubbles curved and turned, but mr. winchester, who had been smart enough not to lower his sail, followed it as a hound follows the trail of a deer. the boat sailed almost as swiftly as the whale swam and was able to keep almost directly above it. when the whale came to the surface the mate was upon it and long john's second harpoon stopped it dead in its track. the whale went through no flurry, but died instantly and rolled over on its back. with excitement all about, there was nothing for mr. landers or gabriel to do. so we sat still in the boats and watched the swift incidents of the far-flung battle. one of the whales struck by a boat from the _reindeer_ breached almost completely out of water as soon as it felt the sting of the harpoon. it floundered down like a falling tower, rolled about for a moment before sinking to a swimming depth, and made off at mad speed. it rose within twenty feet of where our boat lay at a standstill and we could see its wild eye, as big as a saucer, as the injured creature blew up a fountain whose bloody spray fell all over us. the boat it was dragging soon went flashing past us, the crew sitting crouched down and silent. "swing to him, fellers," shouted kaiuli, standing up and waving his hat about his head. but the others paid no attention to our south sea island savage. they were intent just then on tragedy. their boat struck the whale at its next rise. the animal went into a violent flurry. it beat the sea into a lather with fins and flukes and darted around on its side in a semi-circle, clashing its great jaws, until it finally collapsed and lay limp and lifeless. the whale struck by the other boat from the reindeer ran out a tub of line, but a second boat had come up in time to bend on its own line and took the animal in tow. before the whale had run out this new tub, a third boat harpooned it. with two boats fast to it, it continued its flight to windward and was at least two miles from us when its pursuers at last overtook and killed it. two boats from the _helen marr_ struck whales while the monsters were feeding within an oar's length of each other. one whale started off at right angles to the direction taken by the other. it looked for a time as if the two lines would become entangled and the boats would crash together. but the whale that cut across the other's course swam above the latter's line and dragged its boat so swiftly after it that a collision was averted by a few feet. one of the whales was bombed and killed after a short flight. the other acted in a way that whales hardly ever act. it ran hard to windward at first, as whales usually do when struck. then it suddenly turned and ran in an exactly opposite direction. this unexpected change in its course almost upset the boat, which was jerked violently over on its beam-ends and spun round like a top, while the crew held on for dear life and barely escaped being pitched into the sea. once righted and on its way again, the boat rapidly hauled up on the whale, whose fast-going vitality showed in its diminished speed. after a flight that had covered at least a mile, the whale was finally killed close to the spot at which it had first been struck. when, the sharp, fast work of the boats ended, five mighty carcasses lay stretched upon the sea. the great whale drive, which had lasted less than an hour, had bagged game worth something like $ , . the three ships soon sailed to close quarters and the boats had a comparatively easy time getting the whales alongside. that night the try-works were started and big cressets whose flames were fed by "scrap" flared up on all the ships, lighting them in ghostly-wise from the deck to the topmost sail. at the cutting in of this whale i had my first experience at the windlass. the heaviest labor falls to the sailors who man the windlass and hoist in the great blanket pieces of blubber and the "old head." gabriel, the happiest-spirited old soul aboard, bossed the job, as he always did, and cheered the sailors and made the hard work seem like play by his constant chanteys--those catchy, tuneful, working songs of the sea. all the old sailors on the brig knew these songs by heart and often sang them on the topsail halyard or while reefing on the topsail yard. the green hands soon picked up the words and airs of the choruses and joined in. the day laborer on land has no idea how work at sea is lightened by these songs. gabriel knew no end of them, and in a round, musical voice led the men at the windlass in such rollicking old-time sea airs as "whiskey for the johnnies," "blow the man down," "blow, boys, blow," and "rolling rio." he would sing a verse and the sailors would stand with their hands on the windlass bars until he had concluded. then they would heave away with a will and make the pawls clank and clatter as they roared out the chorus. the old negro's favorite was "whiskey for the johnnies." it had a fine rousing chorus and we liked to sing it not only for its stirring melody but because we always harbored a hope--which, i may add, was never realized--that the captain would be touched by the words and send forward a drop of liquor with which to wet our whistles. gabriel would begin in this way: "o whiskey is the life of man." and the sailors as they heaved would chorus: "o whiskey, o johnny. o whiskey is the life of man, whiskey for the johnnies." then gabriel would sing: "whiskey killed my poor old dad, whiskey drove my mother mad, whiskey caused me much abuse, whiskey put me in the calaboose, whiskey fills a man with care, whiskey makes a man a bear." and the men would come through with the refrain: "whiskey, johnny. i drink whiskey when i can. o whiskey for the johnnies." at the end of our song which ran through verses enough to bring a blanket piece of blubber swinging inboard, we would look wistfully toward the quarter-deck and wonder if the "old man" would take our musical hint. or gabriel would start up "rolling rio": "i'll sing you a song of the fish of the sea." the men would thunder: "rolling rio." gabriel would continue: "as i was going down broadway street a pretty young girl i chanced to meet." and the sailors would sing: "to my rolling rio grande. hurrah, you rio, rolling rio. so fare you well, my pretty young girl, i'm bound for the rio grande." "blow, boys, blow" was another with which we made the arctic ring. the other ships could not have failed to hear its swinging rhythm as it burst from our lusty lungs in this fashion: gabriel: "a yankee ship came down the river." the sailors: "blow, boys, blow." gabriel: "and who do you think was skipper of her? dandy jim of old carolina." sailors: "blow, my bully boys, blow." gabriel: "and who do you think was second greaser? why, pompey squash, that big buck nigger." sailors: "blow, boys, blow." gabriel: "and what do you think they had for dinner? monkey lights and donkey's liver." [illustration: the lip of a bowhead whale] sailors: "blow, my bully boys, blow." gabriel: "and what do you think they had for supper? old hard tack and yankee leather. then blow, my boys, for better weather. blow, my boys, i love to hear you." sailors: "blow, my bully boys, blow." so with a heave and a song we soon had our whale stowed, bone and blubber, below hatches. the _reindeer_ and the _helen marr_ had drifted far away from us by the time our work was finished, but they were still in sight and their try-works smoking. our whale yielded , pounds of bone. chapter xix a narrow pinch the whaling fleet divided soon after entering the arctic ocean. some of the ships went straight on north to the whaling grounds about point barrow and herschel island. the others bore to the westward for the whaling along the ice north of eastern siberia. we stood to the westward. in a few days we had raised the white coasts of a continent of ice that shut in all the north as far as the eye could see and extended to the pole and far beyond. with the winds in the autumn always blowing from the northwest, the sea was perfectly calm in the lee of this indestructible polar cap. i have been out in the whale boats when they were heeled over on their beam-ends under double-reefed sails before a gale of wind upon a sea as smooth as the waters of a duck pond. it was now no longer bright twilight at midnight. the sun already well on its journey to the equator, sank earlier and deeper below the horizon. several hours of darkness began to intervene between its setting and its rising. by september we had a regular succession of days and nights. with the return of night we saw for the first time that electric phenomenon of the far north, the aurora borealis. every night during our stay in the arctic the skies were made brilliant with these shooting lights. i had expected to see waving curtains of rainbow colors, but i saw no colors at any time. the auroras of those skies were of pure white light. a great arch would suddenly shoot across the zenith from horizon to horizon. it was nebulously bright, like a shining milky way or a path of snow upon which moonlight sparkles. you could hear it rustle and crackle distinctly, with a sound like that of heavy silk violently shaken. it shed a cold white radiance over the sea like the light of arc lamps, much brighter than the strongest moonlight. it was not quite bright enough to read by--but almost--and it threw sharp, black shadows on the deck. gradually the arch would fade, to be succeeded by others that spanned the heavens from other angles. often several arches and segments were in the sky at the same time. sometimes, though rarely, the aurora assumed the form of a curtain hanging vertically along the horizon and shimmered as though agitated by a strong wind. i was pleasantly surprised by the temperatures encountered in the arctic. we were in the polar ocean until early in october, but the lowest temperature recorded by the brig's thermometer was degrees below zero. such a temperature seems colder on sea than on land. greater dampness has something to do with it, but imagination probably plays its part. there is something in the very look of a winter sea, yeasty under the north wind and filled with snowy floes and icebergs, that seems to congeal the marrow in one's bones. in the cold snaps, when a big wave curled over the bows, i have seen it break and strike upon the deck in the form of hundreds of ice pellets. almost every day when it was rough, the old arctic played marbles with us. what with the mists, the cold rains, the sleets and snows and flying spray, the brig was soon a mass of ice. the sides became encased in a white armor of ice which at the bows was several feet thick. we frequently had to knock it off. the decks were sheeted with ice, the masts and spars were glazed with it, the shrouds, stays, and every rope were coated with ice, and the yard-arms and foot-ropes were hung with ice stalactites. one of the most beautiful sights i ever saw was the whaling fleet when we fell in with it one cold, gray morning. the frost had laid its white witchery upon the other ships as it had upon the brig, and they glided through the black seas, pallid, shimmering, and phantom-like in their ice armor--an armada of ghostly _flying dutchmen_. the brig was constantly wearing and tacking on the whaling grounds and there was considerable work to be done aloft. by the captain's orders, we did such work with our mittens off. hauling bare-handed on ropes of solid ice was painful labor, and "belay all!" often came like a benediction to souls in torment. then we had much ado whipping our hands against our sides to restore the circulation. after big foot louis had frozen a finger, the captain permitted us to keep our mittens on. work aloft under such conditions was dangerous. our walrus-hide boots were heelless and extremely slippery and our footing on the foot-ropes was precarious. we had to depend as much upon our hands as upon our feet to keep from falling when strung out for reefing along the topsail yard. many were the slips and hair-breadth escapes. it seems now, on looking back on it, almost miraculous that some of us green hands did not tumble to our death. we saw whales frequently. sometimes the boats were lowered half a dozen times a day. often we spent whole days in the boats, and even in our skin clothes it was freezing business sitting still on the gunwale of a beam-ended boat driving along at thrilling speed in the teeth of an arctic gale. our skipper was a good gambler, and he lowered whenever there was an off chance to bag a leviathan. as we worked to the westward, twin peaks rose out of the sea ahead of us. covered with snow and ice, they stood out against the sky as white as marble. it was our first glimpse of herald island, in latitude degrees north. we sailed north of the island and close to it. it looked forbiddingly desolate. along the shores there was a rampart of black rock. nowhere else was a glimpse of earth or herbage of any sort. the island was a gleaming white mass of snow and ice from the dark sea to the tips of the twin mountains. it was discovered in by captain kellett of the english ship _herald_ and named after his vessel. captain de long, leader of the ill-fated _jeanette_ expedition, was frozen in close to the island in the winter of . he found polar bear plentiful and trapped and shot a number. here at herald island we fell in with eighteen ships of the whaling fleet--all that had cruised to the westward--and it was only by good luck that some of them did not leave their hulks on those desolate shores. the polar pack rested solidly against the island's western end and curved in a great half-moon to the north and east. the pocket thus formed between the island and the ice looked good for whales and the ships hunted it out carefully. far to the eastward, a long arm of ice reached out from the pack and grasped the island's eastern end. this arm was perhaps a mile wide. it barred our passage back to the open sea. the ships had been caught in a trap. they were bottled up in a hole of water perhaps a hundred square miles in extent. busy on the lookout for whales, the captains of the fleet did not realize the situation for several hours. when they discovered their predicament, they hurried to the crow's-nests with glasses to try to spy out an avenue of escape. sail was cracked on. the ships began to fly about like panic-stricken living creatures. the great polar pack was pressing rapidly toward the island. unless the ships escaped, it seemed likely they would be securely hemmed in before night. in this event, if they escaped wreck by ice pressure they faced the prospect of lying still in an ice bed until the pack broke up in the spring. [illustration: a close call off herald island] all day long the frightened ships scurried up and down the ice barrier without finding an opening. they ran to the westward. there was no escape there. they flew back to the east. an ice wall confronted them. the case seemed hopeless. the panic of the captains became more and more evident. if a ship hurried off in any direction, the other ships flocked after her like so many scared sheep. morning and afternoon passed in this wild search for an outlet. night was coming on. a bark squared her yards and shot away to the southeast. it was the _sea breeze_. when the others expected her to tack, she did no such thing, but kept going straight ahead. on she went alone, far from the fleet. it was exciting to watch that single ship flying eastward. what could it mean? had she found an opening? the other ships turned their prows after her, one by one. a long line of vessels soon was careering in the wake of the _sea breeze_. she had dwindled to a little ship in the far distance when at last we saw her break out the american colors at her mizzen peak. every man aboard the brig gave a cheer. cheers from the other ships came across the water. it meant that the _sea breeze_ was clear. she had found a lead that suddenly had opened through the eastern ice strip, as leads will open in drifting floes. the lead was not entirely clear. a narrow strip of ice lay across it. the _sea breeze_ butted through this strip and sailed on to freedom. the other vessels followed. our brig was the tenth ship to pass through. as we negotiated the narrow passage, the ice was so close on both sides we could have leaped upon it from the bulwarks. it was with a joyous sense of escape that we cleared the pack and swung once more on the open sea. soon after the last ship of the fleet had bumped her way to safety the ice closed solidly behind. chapter xx a race and a race horse early one morning the old familiar cry rang from the crow's-nest--"blo-o-o-w." a lone whale, in plain view from the deck, was sporting lazily on the surface about a mile and a half off our starboard bow. the three boats were hurriedly lowered and the crews scrambled in. we took to the oars, for not a breath of air was stirring and the sea was as smooth as polished silver. away went the boats together, as if from a starting line at the crack of a pistol, with the whale as the goal and prize of the race. mr. winchester had often boasted of the superiority of his crew. mr. landers had not seemed interested in the question, but gabriel resented the assumption. "just wait," he used to say to us confidentially. "we'll show him which is de bes' crew. our time'll come." the men of the mate's boat had shared their officer's vainglorious opinion. they had long swaggered among us with a self-complacent assurance that made us smart. our chance had at last come to prove their pride a mockery under the skipper's eyes. if ever men wanted, from the bottom of their hearts, to win, we did. we not only had our name as skillful oarsmen to vindicate, but a grudge to wipe out. so evenly matched were the crews that the boats rushed along side by side for at least half a mile, mr. winchester insouciant and superciliously smiling, mr. landers indifferent, gabriel all eagerness and excitement. perhaps mr. landers knew his crew was outclassed. if he did not, he was not long in finding it out, for his boat began to drop steadily behind and was soon hopelessly out of the contest. but the other two crews, stroke for stroke, were proving foemen worthy of each other's prowess. "oho, gabriel," mr. winchester laughed contemptuously, "you think your boat can out-pull us, eh? bet you ten pounds of tobacco we beat you to the whale." "i take you," cried gabriel excitedly. "dat's a bet." if gabriel accepted the challenge, so did we, and right heartily at that. we threw ourselves, heart and soul, into the struggle. the men in the mate's boat, holding us cheaply, believed they could draw away whenever they chose and go on to win, hands down. the mate kept looking over at us, a supercilious smile still curling the corners of his mouth. "come on now, my boys," he cried. "all together. shake her up a bit. give those fellows a taste of your mettle." we heard his words as distinctly as his own crew heard them--he was only a few boat lengths away. they inspired us to greater exertion than they inspired his own men. they spurted. so did we. still the two boats raced neck and neck. we were not to be shaken off. the mate looked disconcerted. his men had done their level best to take the lead and they had failed. that spurt marked the crisis of the race. the mate's smile faded out. his face grew anxious. then it hardened into an expression of grim determination. he had sat motionless at the beginning. now when he saw his vaunted superiority slipping through his fingers he began to "jockey"--throwing his body forward in violent lunges at every stroke of the sweeps, pushing with all his might on the stroke oar, and booming out, "pull, my boys; pull away, my boys." but old gabriel was "jockeying," too, and encouraging us in the same fashion. "we show dat mate," he kept repeating. "we show him. steady together, my lads. pull away!" and we pulled as if our lives depended on it, bending to the oars with every ounce of our strength, making the long sweeps bend in the water. we began to forge ahead, very slowly, inch by inch. we saw it--it cheered us to stronger effort. our rivals saw it--it discouraged them. under the heart-breaking strain they began to tire. they slipped back little by little. they spurted again. it was no use. we increased our advantage. open daylight began to broaden between the stern of our boat and the bow of theirs. they were beaten in a fair trial of strength, oarsmanship, and endurance. "ha, my boys," chuckled gabriel. "we win. good-by to dat mate. now we catch dat whale." we shot along at undiminished speed, pulling exultantly. what the whale was doing or how close we were to it, we at the oars could not see. "stand by, louis," said gabriel presently. "aye, aye, sir," responded louis. a few more strokes and a great black bulk loomed close alongside. "give it to him, louis," cried gabriel. and as the boat glanced against that island of living ebony, louis's harpoon sank deep into the soft, buttery mass. we heard the tiny concussion of the cap of the tonite gun, and a fraction of a second later the bomb exploded with a muffled roar in the whale's vitals. "stern, stern!" shouted gabriel. "stern for your lives!" we backed water as hard as we could. the great back went flashing down, the mighty tail rose up directly over us, shutting out the sky. it curled over away from us and smote the sea with deafening thunder. as quick as lightning it rose into the air again, curled high above us with tragic menace, and came crashing down, this time toward us. but we had backed just out of harm's way. death and that terrible tail missed us by about three feet. the mate's boat came rushing up. it was too late. the whale--our whale--had sounded. "your boat can beat us, eh?" gabriel called tauntingly to mr. winchester. "not much. i know we break blackskin first. i know we win dat race." our line began to dance and sing, leaping up from its neatly laid coils in the tub in dizzy spirals and humming out over the bow. "ha, boys," sang out kaiuli, our kanaka bow oarsman. "now for fine ride behind arctic race horse--eh?" with a whale harnessed to our boat and a sea as smooth as any turnpike for our highway, we settled ourselves for the ride. the friction of the line set the boat going. it gathered momentum. in a little while we were tearing along through that sea of oil, our bow deep in the smother as the whale pulled down upon it, and flashing walls of white spray flaring out on either side. the other boats pulled for the point at which it seemed most probable the whale would come up. when it rose to the surface, the mate's boat was nearest. "lay me on four seas off and i'll get him," we heard long john shout to mr. winchester. the mate did just that. the whale was up but a moment and long john tried for it, but it was too long a dart, and his harpoon fell into the sea. before he had recovered his iron we had shot past. when the whale rose again, we bumped out of water on its body. a second harpoon drove home in its back, a second bomb exploded in its insides. a great shudder seized the monster. the water foamed white with its throes. then everything grew still. slowly the great body rolled over, belly up. big foot louis danced up and down in the bow, raising his knees high in a sort of joyful cake-walk. gabriel, equally excited, waved his hat. "by golly," he shouted, "dat mate don't strike him. dat feesh is all ours. it takes old gabriel fer kill de whale, by golly." when we got back to the brig we looked like snow-powdered santa clauses. the spray kicked up in our wild ride behind the arctic ocean race horse had wet us from head to foot and, freezing on our fur clothes, had frosted us all over with fine white ice. mr. winchester was a good sportsman and paid his bet promptly. out of his winnings gabriel gave each man of his boat's crew a plug of tobacco. after the whale had been brought alongside the ship and the blubber had been peeled off its body, it fell to the lot of big foot louis to cut in the "old head." it was his first opportunity to show his experience in such work and he was as elated as a boy. he threw off his coat with a theatrical flourish, hitched up his trousers, seized an axe, and with an air of bravado climbed down on the stripped carcass. a little sea had begun to run and the whale was bending sinuously throughout its length and rolling slightly from side to side. louis chopped two little ledges in the whale's flesh with the deftness of an old hand, and planting his feet in these, began raining blows with his axe on the neck. he was getting on famously, and the crew, hanging over the bulwarks, was watching with admiring eyes. suddenly the whale gave an unexpectedly violent roll--our arctic ocean race horse was proving a bronco even in death--and louis's big foot slipped off into the water. he lost his balance, pitched forward, and sprawled face downward on the whale, his axe sailing away and plunking into the sea. he clutched frantically at the whale, but every grip slipped loose and, inch by inch, with eyeballs popping out of his head, he slid off into the sea and with a yell went under. everybody laughed. the captain held his sides and the officers on the cutting stage almost fell off in the violence of their mirth. louis came up spluttering and splashing. he was an expert swimmer, as expert as the kanakas among whom he had lived for years, and he needed all his skill to keep afloat in his heavy boots and skin clothes. as soon as the mate could control his merriment, he stuck the long handle of his spade down and louis grasped it and was pulled back on the whale's body. he sat there, dripping and shivering and with chattering teeth, rolling his white eyes up at the laughing crew along the rail with a tragic "et tu, brute" expression. he couldn't see the joke. "lemme aboard," he whimpered. "stay where you are," roared the captain, "and cut in that head." louis lived in mortal fear of the skipper, and the way he straightened up in his slippery seat and said "aye, aye, sir!" made the crew burst out laughing again. another axe was passed down to him. he floundered to his feet, and though he found it harder than ever in his wet boots to keep his footing, and slipped more than once and almost fell off again, he finally succeeded in cutting off the head. he had regained his air of bravado by the time he had scrambled back on deck. "pretty close shave, louis," ventured a sailor. "humph," returned louis, "dat's nothin'--nothin' at all." and with quite lordly dignity, despite the dripping brine, he stalked off to the cabin to change his clothes. chapter xxi bears for a change soon after taking our third whale, we saw our first polar bears--two of them on a narrow floe of ice. when the brig was within fifty yards of them the mate got out his rifle and began blazing away. his first shot struck one of the bears in the hind leg. the animal wheeled and snapped at the wound. the second shot stretched it out dead. the second bear was hit somewhere in the body and, plunging into the sea, it struck out on a three-mile swim for the main ice pack. it swam with head and shoulders out, cleaving the water like a high-power launch and leaving a creaming wake behind. moving so swiftly across the brig's course, it made a difficult target. "i'm going down after that fellow," said mr. winchester. he called a boat's crew and lowered, taking his place in the bow with his rifle, while long john sat at the tiller. he had got only a short distance from the ship when captain shorey ordered gabriel after him. "killing that bear may be a bigger job than he thinks," he said. "lower a boat, mr. gabriel, and lend a hand. it may be needed." in a few minutes gabriel was heading after the mate's boat. neither boat hoisted sail. with four men at the sweeps, it was as much as the boats could do to gain on the brute. if the bear was not making fifteen miles an hour, i'm no judge. mr. winchester kept pegging away, his bullets knocking up water all around the animal. one ball struck the bear in the back. that decided the animal to change its tactics. it quit running away and turned and made directly for its enemies. "avast rowing," sang out the mate. the men peaked their oars, turned on the thwarts, and had their first chance to watch developments, which came thick and fast. rabid ferocity, blind fury, and deadly menace were in every line of that big white head shooting across the water toward them. the boat sat stationary on a dancing sea. the mate's rifle cracked repeatedly. the bullets peppered the sea, sending up little spurts of water all about the bear. but the beast did not notice them, never tried to dodge, never swerved aside--just kept rushing for the boat with the directness of an arrow. it was a time of keen excitement for the men in the boat. they kept glancing with an "oh, that blücher or night would come" expression toward gabriel's boat, which was doing all that oars could do to get into the fray, big foot louis standing all the while in the bow with harpoon ready. the bobbing of his boat disconcerted the mate's aim. though he was a crack shot, as he had often proved among the okchugs, i never saw him shoot so badly. but he kept banging away, and when the bear was within fifteen or twenty yards he got home a ball in its shoulder. the beast plunged into the air, snarling and clawing at the sea, then rushed again for the boat like a white streak. it rammed into the boat bows-on, stuck one mighty paw over the gunwale, and with a snarling roar and a frothing snap of glistening fangs, leaped up and tried to climb aboard. just at this critical instant gabriel's boat came into action with a port helm. louis drove a harpoon into the beast behind the shoulder--drove it up to the haft, so that the spear-head burst out on the other side. at the same moment the mate stuck the muzzle of his rifle almost down the bear's throat and fired. the great brute fell back into the water, clawed and plunged and roared and clashed its teeth and so, in a whirlwind of impotent fury, died. for a moment it lay limp and still among the lapping waves, then slowly began to sink. but louis held it up with the harpoon line and the animal was towed back to the brig. it measured over seven feet in length and weighed , pounds--a powerful, gaunt old giant, every inch bone and sinew. mr. winchester retrieved the other bear from the ice floe. it was considerably smaller. the pelts were stripped off and the carcasses thrown overboard. the skins were in good condition, despite the earliness of the season. they were stretched on frames fashioned by the cooper, and tanned. a week or so later we sighted a lone bear on an ice floe making a meal off a seal it had killed. it was late in the afternoon and one had to look twice before being able to make out its white body against the background of snow-covered ice. when the brig sailed within seventy-five yards the bear raised its head for a moment, took a squint at the vessel, didn't seem interested, and went on eating. resting his rifle on the bulwarks and taking careful aim, mr. winchester opened fire. the pattering of the bullets on the ice seemed to puzzle the bear. as it heard the missiles sing and saw the snow spurt up, it left the seal and began walking all about the floe on an investigation. finally it reared on its hind legs to its full height. while in this upright position, a bullet struck it and turned it a sudden twisting somersault. its placid mood was instantly succeeded by one of ferocious anger. it looked toward the vessel and roared savagely. still the bullets fell about it, and now alive to its danger, it plunged into the sea and struck out for the polar pack a mile distant. mr. winchester again lowered, with gabriel's boat to back him up. the chase was short and swift. the boats began to overhaul the bear as it approached the ice, the mate's bullets splashing all about the animal, but doing no damage. as the brute was hauling itself upon the ice, a ball crashed into its back, breaking its spine. it fell back into the water and expired in a furious flurry. a running bowline having been slipped over its neck, it was towed back to the brig. not long afterward, while we were cruising in open water, a polar bear swam across the brig's stern. there was neither ice nor land in sight. figuring the ship's deck as the center of a circle of vision about ten miles in diameter, the bear already had swum five miles, and probably quite a bit more, and it is certain he had an equal distance to go before finding any ice on which to rest. it probably had drifted south on an ice pan and was bound back for its home on the polar pack. the bear made too tempting a target for the mate to resist, and he brought out his rifle and, kneeling on the quarter-deck, he took steady aim and fired. his bullet struck about two feet behind the animal. he aimed again, but changed his mind and lowered his gun. "no," he said, "that fellow's making too fine a swim. i'll let him go." cleaving the water with a powerful stroke, the bear went streaking out of sight over the horizon. it is safe to say that before its swim ended the animal covered fifteen miles at the lowest estimate, and possibly a much greater distance. one moonlight night a little later, while we were traveling under short sail with considerable ice about, a whale blew a short distance to windward. i was at the wheel and mr. landers was standing near me. "blow!" breathed mr. landers softly. suddenly the whale breached--we could hear it distinctly as it shot up from a narrow channel between ice floes. "there she breaches!" said mr. landers in the same low voice, with no particular concern. we thought the big creature merely was enjoying a moonlight frolic. it breached again. this time its body crashed upon a strip of ice and flopped and floundered for a moment before sliding back into the water. then it breached half a dozen times more in rapid succession. i had never seen a whale breach more than once at a time, even when wounded. mr. landers became interested. "i wonder what's the matter with that whale," he said. to our surprise, two other black bodies began to flash up into the moonlight about the whale. every time the whale breached, they breached, too. they were of huge size, but nothing like so large as the whale. "killers!" cried mr. landers excitedly. then we knew the whale was not playing, but fighting for its life. it leaped above the surface to a lesser and lesser height each time. plainly it was tiring fast. when it breached the last time only its head and a small portion of its body rose into the air and both killers seemed to be hanging with a bulldog grip upon its lower jaw. what the outcome of that desperate battle was we did not see. the whale and its savage assailants moved off out of eye-shot. but for some time after we had lost sight of the whale we could hear its labored and stertoreous breathing and its heavy splashes as it attempted to breach. killers, mr. landers told me, are themselves a species of rapacious, carnivorous whale, whose upper and lower jaws are armed with sharp, saw-like teeth. they are otherwise known as the orca gladiator, and tiger-hearted gladiators of the sea they are. the great, clumsy bowhead with no teeth with which to defend itself, whose only weapons are its flukes and its fins, is no match for them. they attack the great creature whenever they encounter it, and when it has exhausted itself in its efforts to escape, they tear open its jaws and feast upon its tongue. the killer whale never hunts alone. it pursues its titanic quarry in couples and trios, and sometimes in veritable wolf-like packs of half a dozen. there is usually no hope for the bowhead that these relentless creatures mark for their prey. chapter xxii the stranded whale our fourth and last whale gave us quite a bit of trouble. we sighted this fellow spouting in a choppy sea among ice islands two or three miles off the edges of the polar pack. all three boats lowered for it. it was traveling slowly in the same direction the brig was sailing and about two miles from the vessel. it took the boats some time to work to close quarters. when the mate's boat was almost within striking distance, the whale went under. as frightened whales usually run against the wind, mr. winchester steered to windward. but the whale had not been frightened; it had not seen the boats. consequently it failed to head into the wind, but did the unexpected by coming up to leeward, blowing with evident unconcern. this brought it nearest to gabriel, who went after it in a flash. after a sharp, swift run down the wind, we struck the whale, which dived and went racing under water for the ice pack. the dizzy rate at which it took out our line might have led us to believe it was not hurt, but we knew it was seriously wounded by the fountains of blood it sent up whenever it came to the surface. the captain's signals from the brig, by this time, had headed the other boats in our direction, but they could not reach us in time to be of any assistance. the whale ran away with our tub of line and we sat still and watched the red fountains that marked its course as it headed for the big ice to the north. directly in the whale's course lay an ice floe about half a mile long, a few hundred yards wide and rising from five to ten feet above the surface. we naturally supposed the creature would dive under this and keep going for the main pack. to our surprise we soon saw fountain after fountain, red with blood, shooting up from the center of the floe. the whale evidently was too badly injured to continue its flight and had sought refuge beneath this strip of drifting ice. [illustration: skin boat of the siberian eskimos] men were hurriedly landed from all the boats with harpoons and shoulder guns, leaving enough sailors on the thwarts to fend the boats clear of the ice. the landing parties clambered over the broken and tumbled ice, dragging the harpoon lines. we found the whale half exposed in a narrow opening in the center of the floe, all the ice about it red with clotted blood. long john and little johnny threw two harpoons each into the big body and big foot louis threw his remaining one. as a result of this bombardment, five tonite bombs exploded in the whale, which, with the harpoons sticking all over its back, suggested a baited bull in a spanish bullring hung with the darts of the banderilleros. but the great animal kept on breathing blood and would not die. after all the harpoons had been exhausted, shoulder guns were brought into play. in all, twelve tonite bombs were fired into it before the monster gave a mighty shiver and lay still. but with the whale dead, we still had a big problem on our hands. in some way the giant bulk had to be hauled out of the ice. this was a difficult matter even with plenty of time in which to do it. night was coming on and it was the brig's custom in the hours of darkness to sail far away from the great ice pack with its edging of floating bergs and floes in order to avoid possible accident and to sail back to the whaling grounds on the morrow. this captain shorey prepared to do now. as a solution of the dilemma, an empty bread cask or hogshead was brought on deck and the name of the brig was seared in its staves with a hot iron in several places. this cask was towed to the floe, hauled up on the edge of the ice, and the long line of one of the harpoons sticking in the whale was made fast to it by means of staples. thus the cask marked the floe in which the whale was lying. it was growing dark when the brig went about, said good-night to the whale, and headed for open water to the south. we sailed away before a stiff breeze and soon cask and floe and the great white continent beyond had faded from view. when morning broke we were bowling along under light sail in a choppy sea with nothing but water to be seen in any direction. the great ice cap was somewhere out of sight over the world's northern rim. not a floe, a berg, or the smallest white chunk of ice floated anywhere in the purple sphere of sea ringed by the wide horizon. being a green hand, i said to myself, "good-bye, mr. whale, we certainly have seen the last we'll ever see of you." let me make the situation perfectly clear. our whale was drifting somewhere about the arctic ocean embedded in an ice floe scarcely to be distinguished from a thousand other floes except by a cask upon its margin which at a distance of a few miles would hardly be visible through strong marine glasses. the floe, remember, was not a stationary object whose longitude and latitude could be reckoned certainly, but was being tossed about by the sea and driven by the winds and ocean currents. the brig, on the other hand, had been sailing on the wind without a set course. it had been tacking and wearing from time to time. it, too, had felt the compulsion of the waves and currents. so throughout the night the brig had sailed at random and twenty miles or so away the whale in its floe had been drifting at random. now how were we going to find our whale again? this struck me that morning on the open sea with neither whale nor ice in sight, as a problem certainly very nice, if not hopeless. the way it was solved was as pretty a feat of navigation as i ever saw. when captain shorey came on deck after breakfast, he "shot the sun" through his sextant and went below to make his calculations. in a little while he came on deck again and stepped to the man at the wheel. the helmsman was steering full and by. "how do you head?" asked captain shorey. "northwest," answered the sailor. "keep her northwest by west half west," said the captain. for several hours the brig sailed steadily on this course. along about o'clock, we saw the peculiar, cold, light look above the sky line ahead which meant ice and which sailors call an "ice horizon," to be distinguished at a glance from a water horizon, which is dark. a little later, we sighted the white loom of the great ice continent. later still, we picked up the bergs, floes, islands, and chunks of ice which drift forever along its edge. the brig kept on its course. a floe of ice, looking at a distance like a long, narrow ribbon, lay ahead of us, apparently directly across our path. as we drew nearer, we began to make out dimly a certain dark speck upon the edge of the ice. this speck gradually assumed definiteness. it was our cask and we were headed straight for it. to a landlubber unacquainted with the mysteries of navigation, this incident may seem almost unbelievable, but upon my honest word, it is true to the last detail. after the brig had been laid aback near the ice, a boat was lowered and a hole was cut in the bow of the whale's head. a cable was passed through this and the other end was made fast aboard the ship. then under light sail, the brig set about the work of pulling the whale out of the ice. the light breeze fell away and the three boats were strung out ahead with hawsers and lent assistance with the oars. it was slow work. but when the breeze freshened, the ice began gradually to give, then to open up, and finally the whale was hauled clear and drawn alongside for the cutting in. chapter xxiii and so--home it was on october tenth that we broke out the stars and stripes at our main gaff and squared our yards for home. everybody cheered as the flag went fluttering up, for everybody was glad that the end of the long, hard voyage was in sight. behring straits which when we were about to enter the arctic ocean--sea of tragedy and graveyard of so many brave men and tall ships--had looked like the portals of inferno, now when we were homeward bound seemed like the gateway to the happy isles. the four whales we had captured on the voyage had averaged about , pounds of baleen, which that year was quoted at $ . a pound. we had tried out all our whales except the last one and our casks were filled with oil. our entire catch was worth over $ , . the officers and boatsteerers made a pretty penny out of the voyage. the captain, i was told, had shipped on a lay of one-sixth--and got it. the sailors had shipped on the th lay--and didn't get it. that was the difference. at san francisco, the forecastle hands were paid off with the "big iron dollar" of whaling tradition. the homeward voyage was not a time of idleness. we were kept busy a large part of the time cleaning the bone of our last three whales--the bone from our first whale had been shipped to san francisco from unalaska. as we had at first stowed it away, the baleen was in bunches of ten or a dozen slabs held together at the roots by "white horse," which is the whaler name for the gums of the whale. these bunches were now brought up on deck and each slab of baleen was cut out of the gums separately and washed and scoured with cocoanut rind procured for the purpose in the hawaiian islands. then the slabs were dried and polished until they shone like gun metal, tied into bales, and stowed under hatches once more. a little south of king's island in the northern end of behring sea, captain shorey set a course for unimak pass. we ran down behring sea with a gale of wind sweeping us before it and great billows bearing us along. when we bore up for the dangerous passage which had given us such a scare in the spring, we were headed straight for it, and we went through into the pacific without pulling a rope. it was another remarkable example of the navigating skill of whaling captains. we had aimed at unimak pass when miles away and had scored a bull's-eye. again the "roaring forties" lived up to their name and buffeted us with gale and storm. the first land we sighted after leaving the fox islands was the wooded hills of northern california. i shall never forget how beautiful those hills appeared and what a welcome they seemed to hold out. they were my own country again, the united states--home. my eyes grew misty as i gazed at them and i felt much as a small boy might feel who, after long absence, sees his mother's arms open to him. the tug that picked us up outside of golden gate at sundown one day seemed like a long lost friend. it was long after darkness had fallen, that it towed us into san francisco harbor, past the darkly frowning presidio and the twinkling lights of telegraph hill, to an anchorage abreast the city, brilliantly lighted and glowing like fairyland. i never in all my life heard sweeter music than the rattle and clank of the anchor chain as the great anchor plunged into the bay and sank to its grip in good american soil once more. my whaling voyage was over. it was an adventure out of the ordinary, an experience informing, interesting, health-giving, and perhaps worth while. i have never regretted it. but i wouldn't do it again for ten thousand dollars. the end * * * * * transcriber note hyphenation of boat-steerer vs. boatsteerer was not changed as there were approximately equal number of each version. other words were changed to match the most used version. minor typos were corrected. the illustrations were moved to prevent splitting paragraphs. fighting the whales, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. in trouble, to begin with. there are few things in this world that have filled me with so much astonishment as the fact that man can kill a whale! that a fish, more than sixty feet long, and thirty feet round the body; with the bulk of three hundred fat oxen rolled into one; with the strength of many hundreds of horses; able to swim at a rate that would carry it right round the world in twenty-three days; that can smash a boat to atoms with one slap of its tail, and stave in the planks of a ship with one blow of its thick skull;--that such a monster can be caught and killed by man, is most wonderful to hear of, but i can tell from experience that it is much more wonderful to see. there is a wise saying which i have often thought much upon. it is this: "knowledge is power." man is but a feeble creature, and if he had to depend on his own bodily strength alone, he could make no head against even the ordinary brutes in this world. but the knowledge which has been given to him by his maker has clothed man with great power, so that he is more than a match for the fiercest beast in the forest, or the largest fish in the sea. yet, with all his knowledge, with all his experience, and all his power, the killing of a great old sperm whale costs man a long, tough battle, sometimes it even costs him his life. it is a long time now since i took to fighting the whales. i have been at it, man and boy, for nigh forty years, and many a wonderful sight have i seen; many a desperate battle have i fought in the fisheries of the north and south seas. sometimes, when i sit in the chimney-corner of a winter evening, smoking my pipe with my old messmate tom lokins, i stare into the fire, and think of the days gone by, till i forget where i am, and go on thinking so hard that the flames seem to turn into melting fires, and the bars of the grate into dead fish, and the smoke into sails and rigging, and i go to work cutting up the blubber and stirring the oil-pots, or pulling the bow-oar and driving the harpoon at such a rate that i can't help giving a shout, which causes tom to start and cry:-- "hallo! bob," (my name is bob ledbury, you see). "hallo! bob, wot's the matter?" to which i reply, "tom, can it all be true?" "can _wot_ be true?" says he, with a stare of surprise--for tom is getting into his dotage now. and then i chuckle and tell him i was only thinking of old times, and so he falls to smoking again, and i to staring at the fire, and thinking as hard as ever. the way in which i was first led to go after the whales was curious. this is how it happened. about forty years ago, when i was a boy of nearly fifteen years of age, i lived with my mother in one of the seaport towns of england. there was great distress in the town at that time, and many of the hands were out of work. my employer, a blacksmith, had just died, and for more than six weeks i had not been able to get employment or to earn a farthing. this caused me great distress, for my father had died without leaving a penny in the world, and my mother depended on me entirely. the money i had saved out of my wages was soon spent, and one morning when i sat down to breakfast, my mother looked across the table and said, in a thoughtful voice-- "robert, dear, this meal has cost us our last halfpenny." my mother was old and frail, and her voice very gentle; she was the most trustful, uncomplaining woman i ever knew. i looked up quickly into her face as she spoke. "all the money gone, mother?" "ay, all. it will be hard for you to go without your dinner, robert, dear." "it will be harder for you, mother," i cried, striking the table with my fist; then a lump rose in my throat and almost choked me. i could not utter another word. it was with difficulty i managed to eat the little food that was before me. after breakfast i rose hastily and rushed out of the house, determined that i would get my mother her dinner, even if i should have to beg for it. but i must confess that a sick feeling came over me when i thought of begging. hurrying along the crowded streets without knowing very well what i meant to do, i at last came to an abrupt halt at the end of the pier. here i went up to several people and offered my services in a wild sort of way. they must have thought that i was drunk, for nearly all of them said gruffly that they did not want me. dinner time drew near, but no one had given me a job, and no wonder, for the way in which i tried to get one was not likely to be successful. at last i resolved to beg. observing a fat, red-faced old gentleman coming along the pier, i made up to him boldly. he carried a cane with a large gold knob on the top of it. that gave me hope, "for of course," thought i, "he must be rich." his nose, which was exactly the colour and shape of the gold knob on his cane, was stuck in the centre of a round, good-natured countenance, the mouth of which was large and firm; the eyes bright and blue. he frowned as i went forward hat in hand; but i was not to be driven back; the thought of my starving mother gave me power to crush down my rising shame. yet i had no reason to be ashamed. i was willing to work, if only i could have got employment. stopping in front of the old gentleman, i was about to speak when i observed him quietly button up his breeches pocket. the blood rushed to my face, and, turning quickly on my heel, i walked away without uttering a word. "hallo!" shouted a gruff voice just as i was moving away. i turned and observed that the shout was uttered by a broad rough-looking jack-tar, a man of about two or three and thirty, who had been sitting all the forenoon on an old cask smoking his pipe and basking in the sun. "hallo!" said he again. "well," said i. "wot d'ye mean, youngster, by goin' on in that there fashion all the mornin', a-botherin' everybody, and makin' a fool o' yourself like that? eh!" "what's that to you?" said i savagely, for my heart was sore and heavy, and i could not stand the interference of a stranger. "oh! it's nothin' to me of course," said the sailor, picking his pipe quietly with his clasp-knife; "but come here, boy, i've somethin' to say to ye." "well, what is it?" said i, going up to him somewhat sulkily. the man looked at me gravely through the smoke of his pipe, and said, "you're in a passion, my young buck, that's all; and, in case you didn't know it, i thought i'd tell ye." i burst into a fit of laughter. "well, i believe you're not far wrong, but i'm better now." "ah, that's right," said the sailor, with an approving nod of his head, "always confess when you're in the wrong. now, younker, let me give you a bit of advice. never get into a passion if you can help it, and if you can't help it get out of it as fast as possible, and if you can't get out of it, just give a great roar to let off the steam and turn about and run. there's nothing like that. passion han't got legs. it can't hold on to a feller when he's runnin'. if you keep it up till you a'most split your timbers, passion has no chance. it _must_ go a-starn. now, lad, i've been watchin' ye all the mornin', and i see there's a screw loose somewhere. if you'll tell me wot it is, see if i don't help you!" the kind frank way in which this was said quite won my heart, so i sat down on the old cask, and told the sailor all my sorrows. "boy," said he, when i had finished, "i'll put you in the way o' helpin' your mother. i can get you a berth in my ship, if you're willin' to take a trip to the whale-fishery of the south seas." "and who will look after my mother when i'm away?" said i. the sailor looked perplexed at the question. "ah, that's a puzzler," he replied, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "will you take me to your mother's house, lad?" "willingly," said i, and, jumping up, i led the way. as we turned to go, i observed that the old gentleman with the gold-headed cane was leaning over the rail of the pier at a short distance from us. a feeling of anger instantly rose within me, and i exclaimed, loud enough for him to hear-- "i do believe that stingy old chap has been listening to every word we've been saying!" i thought i observed a frown on the sailor's brow as i said this, but he made no remark, and in a few minutes we were walking rapidly through the streets. my companion stopped at one of those stores so common in seaport towns, where one can buy almost anything, from a tallow candle to a brass cannon. here he purchased a pound of tea, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter, and a small loaf,--all of which he thrust into the huge pockets of his coat. he had evidently no idea of proportion or of household affairs. it was a simple, easy way of settling the matter, to get a pound of everything. in a short time we reached our house, a very old one, in a poor neighbourhood, and entered my mother's room. she was sitting at the table when we went in, with a large bible before her, and a pair of horn-spectacles on her nose. i could see that she had been out gathering coals and cinders during my absence, for a good fire burned in the grate, and the kettle was singing cheerily thereon. "i've brought a friend to see you, mother," said i. "good-day, mistress," said the sailor bluntly, sitting down on a stool near the fire. "you seem to be goin' to have your tea." "i expect to have it soon," replied my mother. "indeed!" said i, in surprise. "have you anything in the kettle?" "nothing but water, my son." "has anybody brought you anything, then, since i went out?" "nobody." "why, then, mistress," broke in the seaman, "how can you expect to have your tea so soon?" my mother took off her spectacles, looked calmly in the man's face, laid her hand on the bible, and said, "because i have been a widow woman these three years, and never once in all that time have i gone a single day without a meal. when the usual hour came i put on my kettle to boil, for this word tells me that `the lord will provide.' i _expect_ my tea to-night." the sailor's face expressed puzzled astonishment at these words, and he continued to regard my mother with a look of wonder as he drew forth his supplies of food, and laid them on the table. in a short time we were all enjoying a cup of tea, and talking about the whale-fishery, and the difficulty of my going away while my mother was dependent on me. at last the sailor rose to leave us. taking a five-pound note from his pocket, he laid it on the table and said-- "mistress, this is all i have in the world, but i've got neither family nor friends, and i'm bound for the south seas in six days; so, if you'll take it, you're welcome to it, and if your son bob can manage to cast loose from you without leaving you to sink, i'll take him aboard the ship that i sail in. he'll always find me at the bull and griffin, in the high street, or at the end o' the pier." while the sailor was speaking, i observed a figure standing in a dark corner of the room near the door, and, on looking more closely, i found that it was the old gentleman with the nose like his cane-knob. seeing that he was observed, he came forward and said-- "i trust that you will forgive my coming here without invitation; but i happened to overhear part of the conversation between your son and this seaman, and i am willing to help you over your little difficulty, if you will allow me." the old gentleman said this in a very quick, abrupt way, and looked as if he were afraid his offer might be refused. he was much heated, with climbing our long stair no doubt, and as he stood in the middle of the room, puffing and wiping his bald head with a handkerchief, my mother rose hastily and offered him a chair. "you are very kind, sir," she said; "do sit down, sir. i'm sure i don't know why you should take so much trouble. but, dear me, you are very warm; will you take a cup of tea to cool you?" "thank you, thank you. with much pleasure, unless, indeed, your son objects to a `_stingy old chap_' sitting beside him." i blushed when he repeated my words, and attempted to make some apology; but the old gentleman stopped me by commencing to explain his intentions in short, rapid sentences. to make a long story short, he offered to look after my mother while i was away, and, to prove his sincerity, laid down five shillings, and said he would call with that sum every week as long as i was absent. my mother, after some trouble, agreed to let me go, and, before that evening closed, everything was arranged, and the gentleman, leaving his address, went away. the sailor had been so much filled with surprise at the suddenness of all this, that he could scarcely speak. immediately after the departure of the old gentleman, he said, "well, good-bye, mistress, good-bye, bob," and throwing on his hat in a careless way, left the room. "stop," i shouted after him, when he had got about half-way down stair. "hallo! wot's wrong now?" "nothing, i only forgot to ask your name." "tom lokins," he bellowed, in the hoarse voice of a regular boatswain, "w'ich wos my father's name before me." so saying, he departed, whistling "rule britannia" with all his might. thus the matter was settled. six days afterwards, i rigged myself out in a blue jacket, white ducks, and a straw hat, and went to sea. chapter two. at sea. my first few days on the ocean were so miserable that i oftentimes repented of having left my native land. i was, as my new friend tom lokins said, as sick as a dog. but in course of time i grew well, and began to rejoice in the cool fresh breezes and the great rolling billows of the sea. many and many a time i used to creep out to the end of the bowsprit, when the weather was calm, and sit with my legs dangling over the deep blue water, and my eyes fixed on the great masses of rolling clouds in the sky, thinking of the new course of life i had just begun. at such times the thought of my mother was sure to come into my mind, and i thought of her parting words, "put your trust in the lord, robert, and read his word." i resolved to try to obey her, but this i found was no easy matter, for the sailors were a rough lot of fellows, who cared little for the bible. but, i must say, they were a hearty, good-natured set, and much better, upon the whole, than many a ship's crew that i afterwards sailed with. we were fortunate in having fair winds this voyage, and soon found ourselves on the other side of the _line_, as we jack-tars call the equator. of course the crew did not forget the old custom of shaving all the men who had never crossed the line before. our captain was a jolly old man, and uncommonly fond of "sky-larking." he gave us leave to do what we liked the day we crossed the line; so, as there were a number of wild spirits among us, we broke through all the ordinary rules, or, rather, we added on new rules to them. the old hands had kept the matter quiet from us greenhorns, so that, although we knew they were going to do some sort of mischief, we didn't exactly understand what it was to be. about noon of that day i was called on deck and told that old father neptune was coming aboard, and we were to be ready to receive him. a minute after, i saw a tremendous monster come up over the side of the ship and jump on the deck. he was crowned with sea-weed, and painted in a wonderful fashion; his clothes were dripping wet, as if he had just come from the bottom of the sea. after him came another monster with a petticoat made of sailcloth, and a tippet of a bit of old tarpaulin. this was neptune's wife, and these two carried on the most remarkable antics i ever saw. i laughed heartily, and soon discovered, from the tones of their voices, which of my shipmates neptune and his wife were. but my mirth was quickly stopped when i was suddenly seized by several men, and my face was covered over with a horrible mixture of tar and grease! six of us youngsters were treated in this way; then the lather was scraped off with a piece of old hoop-iron, and, after being thus shaved, buckets of cold water were thrown over us. at last, after a prosperous voyage, we arrived at our fishing-ground in the south seas, and a feeling of excitement and expectation began to show itself among the men, insomuch that our very eyes seemed brighter than usual. one night those of us who had just been relieved from watch on deck, were sitting on the lockers down below telling ghost stories. it was a dead calm, and one of those intensely dark, hot nights, that cause sailors to feel uneasy, they scarce know why. i began to feel so uncomfortable at last, listening to the horrible tales which tom lokins was relating to the men, that i slipt away from them with the intention of going on deck. i moved so quietly that no one observed me; besides, every eye was fixed earnestly on tom, whose deep low voice was the only sound that broke the stillness of all around. as i was going very cautiously up the ladder leading to the deck, tom had reached that part of his story where the ghost was just appearing in a dark churchyard, dressed in white, and coming slowly forward, one step at a time, towards the terrified man who saw it. the men held their breath, and one or two of their faces turned pale as tom went on with his description, lowering his voice to a hoarse whisper. just as i put my head up the hatchway the sheet of one of the sails, which was hanging loose in the still air, passed gently over my head and knocked my hat off. at any other time i would have thought nothing of this, but tom's story had thrown me into such an excited and nervous condition that i gave a start, missed my footing, uttered a loud cry, and fell down the ladder right in among the men with a tremendous crash, knocking over two or three oil-cans and a tin bread-basket in my fall, and upsetting the lantern, so that the place was instantly pitch dark. i never heard such a howl of terror as these men gave vent to when this misfortune befell me. they rushed upon deck with their hearts in their mouths, tumbling, and peeling the skin off their shins and knuckles in their haste; and it was not until they heard the laughter of the watch on deck that they breathed freely, and, joining in the laugh, called themselves fools for being frightened by a ghost story. i noticed, however, that, for all their pretended indifference, there was not one man among them--not even tom lokins himself--who would go down below to relight the lantern for at least a quarter of an hour afterwards! feeling none the worse for my fall, i went forward and leaned over the bow of the ship, where i was much astonished by the appearance of the sea. it seemed as if the water was on fire. every time the ship's bow rose and fell, the little belt of foam made in the water seemed like a belt of blue flame with bright sparkles in it, like stars or diamonds. i had seen this curious appearance before, but never so bright as it was on that night. "what is it, tom?" said i, as my friend came forward and leaned over the ship's bulwark beside me. "it's blue fire, bob," replied tom, as he smoked his pipe calmly. "come, you know i can't swallow that," said i; "everybody knows that fire, either blue or red, can't burn in the water." "maybe not," returned tom; "but it's blue fire for all that. leastwise if it's not, i don't know wot else it is." tom had often seen this light before, no doubt, but he had never given himself the trouble to find out what it could be. fortunately the captain came up just as i put the question, and he enlightened me on the subject. "it is caused by small animals," said he, leaning over the side. "small animals!" said i, in astonishment. "ay, many parts of the sea are full of creatures so small and so thin and colourless, that you can hardly see them even in a clear glass tumbler. many of them are larger than others, but the most of them are very small." "but how do they shine like that, sir?" i asked. "that i do not know, boy. god has given them the power to shine, just as he has given us the power to walk or speak; and they do shine brightly, as you see; but _how_ they do it is more than i can tell. i think, myself, it must be anger that makes them shine, for they generally do it when they are stirred up or knocked about by oars, or ships' keels, or tumbling waves. but i am not sure that that's the reason either, because, you know, we often sail through them without seeing the light, though of course they must be there." "p'raps, sir," said tom lokins; "p'raps, sir, they're sleepy sometimes, an' can't be bothered gettin' angry." "perhaps!" answered the captain, laughing. "but then again, at other times, i have seen them shining over the whole sea when it was quite calm, making it like an ocean of milk; and nothing was disturbing them at that time, d'ye see." "i don' know _that_," objected tom; "they might have bin a-fightin' among theirselves." "or playing, may be," said i. the captain laughed, and, looking up at the sky, said, "i don't like the look of the weather, tom lokins. you're a sharp fellow, and have been in these seas before, what say you?" "we'll have a breeze," replied tom, briefly. "more than a breeze," muttered the captain, while a look of grave anxiety overspread his countenance; "i'll go below and take a squint at the glass." "what does he mean by that, tom," said i, when the captain was gone, "i never saw a calmer or a finer night. surely there is no chance of a storm just now." "ay, that shows that you're a young feller, and han't got much experience o' them seas," replied my companion. "why, boy, sometimes the fiercest storm is brewin' behind the greatest calm. an' the worst o' the thing is that it comes so sudden at times, that the masts are torn out o' the ship before you can say jack robinson." "what! and without any warning?" said i. "ay, _almost_ without warnin'; but not _altogether_ without it. you heer'd the captain say he'd go an' take a squint at the glass?" "yes; what is the glass?" "it's not a glass o' grog, you may be sure; nor yet a lookin'-glass. it's the weather-glass, boy. shore-goin' chaps call it a barometer." "and what's the meaning of barometer?" i inquired earnestly. tom lokins stared at me in stupid amazement. "why, boy," said he, "you're too inquisitive. i once asked the doctor o' a ship that question, and says he to me, `tom,' says he, `a barometer is a glass tube filled with quicksilver or mercury, which is a metal in a soft or fluid state, like water, you know, and it's meant for tellin' the state o' the weather.' "`yes, sir,' i answers, `i know that, well enough.' "`then why did you ask?' says he, gettin' into a passion. "`i asked what was the meanin' o' the _word_ barometer, sir,' said i. "the doctor he looked grave at that, and shook his head. `tom,' says he, `if i was to go for to explain that word, and all about the instrument, in a scientific sort o' way, d'ye see, i'd have to sit here an' speak to you right on end for six hours or more.' "`oh, sir,' says i, `don't do it, then. _please_, don't do it.' "`no more i will,' says he; `but it'll serve your turn to know that a barometer is a glass for measurin' the weight o' the air, and, _somehow or other, that_ lets ye know wots a-coming. if the mercury in the glass rises high, all's right. if it falls uncommon low very sudden, look out for squalls; that's all. no matter how smooth the sea may be, or how sweetly all natur' may smile, don't you believe it; take in every inch o' canvas at once.'" "that was a queer explanation, tom." "ay, but it was a true one, as you shall see before long." as i looked out upon the calm sea, which lay like a sheet of glass, without a ripple on its surface, i could scarcely believe what he had said. but before many minutes had passed i was convinced of my error. while i was standing talking to my messmate, the captain rushed on deck, and shouted-- "all hands tumble up! shorten sail! take in every rag! look alive, boys, look alive." i was quite stunned for a moment by this, and by the sudden tumult that followed. the men, who seemed never to take thought about anything, and who had but one duty, namely, to _obey orders_, ran upon deck, and leaped up the rigging like cats; the sheets of nearly all the principal sails were clewed up, and, ere long, the canvas was made fast to the yards. a few of the smaller sails only were left exposed, and even these were close reefed. before long a loud roar was heard, and in another minute the storm burst upon us with terrific violence. the ship at first lay over so much that the masts were almost in the water, and it was as impossible for any one to walk the deck as to walk along the side of a wall. at the same time, the sea was lashed into white foam, and the blinding spray flew over us in bitter fury. "take in the topsails!" roared the captain. but his voice was drowned in the shriek of the gale. the men were saved the risk of going out on the yards, however, for in a few moments more all the sails, except the storm-try-sail, were burst and blown to ribbons. we now tried to put the ship's head to the wind and "_lay to_," by which landsmen will understand that we tried to face the storm, and remain stationary. but the gale was so fierce that this was impossible. the last rag of sail was blown away, and then there was nothing left for us but to show our stern to the gale, and "scud under bare poles." the great danger now was that we might be "pooped," which means that a huge wave might curl over our stern, fall with terrible fury on our deck, and sink us. many and many a good ship has gone down in this way; but we were mercifully spared. as our safety depended very much on good steering, the captain himself took the wheel, and managed the ship so well, that we weathered the gale without damage, farther than the loss of a few sails and light spars. for two days the storm howled furiously, the sky and sea were like ink, with sheets of rain and foam driving through the air, and raging billows tossing our ship about like a cork. during all this time my shipmates were quiet and grave, but active and full of energy, so that every order was at once obeyed without noise or confusion. every man watched the slightest motion of the captain. we all felt that everything depended on him. as for me, i gave up all hope of being saved. it seemed impossible to me that anything that man could build could withstand so terrible a storm. i do not pretend to say that i was not afraid. the near prospect of a violent death caused my heart to sink more than once; but my feelings did not unman me. i did my duty quietly, but quickly, like the rest; and when i had no work to do, i stood holding on to the weather stanchions, looking at the raging sea, and thinking of my mother, and of the words of kindness and counsel she had so often bestowed upon me in vain. the storm ceased almost as quickly as it began, and although the sea did not all at once stop the heavings of its angry bosom, the wind fell entirely in the course of a few hours, the dark clouds broke up into great masses that were piled up high into the sky, and out of the midst of these the glorious sun shone in bright rays down on the ocean, like comfort from heaven, gladdening our hearts as we busily repaired the damage that we had suffered from the storm. chapter three. our first battle. i shall never forget the surprise i got the first time i saw a whale. it was in the forenoon of a most splendid day, about a week after we arrived at that part of the ocean where we might expect to find fish. a light nor'-east breeze was blowing, but it scarcely ruffled the sea, as we crept slowly through the water with every stitch of canvas set. as we had been looking out for fish for some time past, everything was in readiness for them. the boats were hanging over the side ready to lower, tubs for coiling away the ropes, harpoons, lances, etcetera, all were ready to throw in, and start away at a moment's notice. the man in the "crow's nest," as they call the cask fixed up at the mast-head, was looking anxiously out for whales, and the crew were idling about the deck. tom lokins was seated on the windlass smoking his pipe, and i was sitting beside him on an empty cask, sharpening a blubber-knife. "tom," said i, "what like is a whale?" "why, it's like nothin' but itself," replied tom, looking puzzled. "why, wot a queer feller you are to ax questions." "i'm sure you've seen plenty of them. you might be able to tell what a whale is like." "wot it's like! well, it's like a tremendous big bolster with a head and a tail to it." "and how big is it?" "they're of all sizes, lad. i've seen one that was exactly equal to three hundred fat bulls, and its rate of goin' would take it round the whole world in twenty-three days." "i don't believe you," said i, laughing. "don't you?" cried tom; "it's a fact notwithstandin', for the captain himself said so, and that's how i came to know it." just as tom finished speaking, the man in the crow's nest roared at the top of his voice, "there she blows!" that was the signal that a whale was in sight, and as it was the first time we had heard it that season, every man in the ship was thrown into a state of tremendous excitement. "there she blows!" roared the man again. "where away?" shouted the captain. "about two miles right ahead." in another moment the utmost excitement prevailed on board. suddenly, while i was looking over the side, straining my eyes to catch a sight of the whale, which could not yet be seen by the men on deck, i saw a brown object appear in the sea, not twenty yards from the side of the ship; before i had time to ask what it was, a whale's head rose to the surface, and shot up out of the water. the part of the fish that was visible above water could not have been less than thirty feet in length. it just looked as if our longboat had jumped out of the sea, and he was so near that i could see his great mouth quite plainly. i could have tossed a biscuit on his back easily. sending two thick spouts of frothy water out of his blow-holes forty feet into the air with tremendous noise, he fell flat upon the sea with a clap like thunder, tossed his flukes, or tail, high into the air, and disappeared. i was so amazed at this sight that i could not speak. i could only stare at the place where the huge monster had gone down. "stand by to lower," shouted the captain. "ay, ay, sir," replied the men, leaping to their appointed stations; for every man in a whale-ship has his post of duty appointed to him, and knows what to do when an order is given. "lower away," cried the captain, whose face was now blazing with excitement. in a moment more three boats were in the water; the tubs, harpoons, etcetera, were thrown in, the men seized the oars, and away they went with a cheer. i was in such a state of flutter that i scarce knew what i did; but i managed somehow or other to get into a boat, and as i was a strong fellow, and a good rower, i was allowed to pull. "there she blows!" cried the man in the crow's nest, just as we shot from the side of the ship. there was no need to ask, "where away" this time. another whale rose and spouted not more than three hundred yards off, and before we could speak a third fish rose in another direction, and we found ourselves in the middle, of what is called a "school of whales." "now, lads," said the captain, who steered the boat in which i rowed, "bend your backs, my hearties; that fish right ahead of us is a hundred-barrel whale for certain. give way, boys; we _must_ have that fish." there was no need to urge the men, for their backs were strained to the utmost, their faces were flushed, and the big veins in their necks swelled almost to bursting, with the tremendous exertion. "hold hard," said the captain, in a low voice, for now that we were getting near our prey, we made as little noise as possible. the men at once threw their oars "apeak," as they say; that is, raised them straight up in the air, and waited for further orders. we expected the whale would rise near to where we were, and thought it best to rest and look out. while we were waiting, tom lokins, who was harpooner of the boat, sat just behind me with all his irons ready. he took this opportunity to explain to me that by a "hundred-barrel fish" is meant a fish that will yield a hundred-barrels of oil. he further informed me that such a fish was a big one, though he had seen a few in the north-west seas that had produced upwards of two hundred-barrels. i now observed that the other boats had separated, and each had gone after a different whale. in a few minutes the fish we were in chase of rose a short distance off, and sent up two splendid water-spouts high into the air, thus showing that he was what the whalers call a "right" whale. it is different from the sperm whale, which has only one blow-hole, and that a little one. we rowed towards it with all our might, and as we drew near, the captain ordered tom lokins to "stand up," so he at once laid in his oar, and took up the harpoon. the harpoon is an iron lance with a barbed point. a whale-line is attached to it, and this line is coiled away in a tub. when we were within a few yards of the fish, which was going slowly through the water, all ignorant of the terrible foes who were pursuing him, tom lokins raised the harpoon high above his head, and darted it deep into its fat side just behind the left fin, and next moment the boat ran aground on the whale's back. "stern all, for your lives!" roared the captain, who, before his order was obeyed, managed to give the creature two deep wounds with his lance. the lance has no barbs to its point, and is used only for wounding after the harpoon is fixed. the boat was backed off at once, but it had scarcely got a few yards away when the astonished fish whirled its huge body half out of the water, and, coming down with a tremendous clap, made off like lightning. the line was passed round a strong piece of wood called the "logger-head," and, in running out, it began to smoke, and nearly set the wood on fire. indeed, it would have done so, if a man had not kept constantly pouring water upon it. it was needful to be very cautious in managing the line, for the duty is attended with great danger. if any hitch should take place, the line is apt to catch the boat and drag it down bodily under the waves. sometimes a coil of it gets round a leg or an arm of the man who attends to it, in which case his destruction is almost certain. many a poor fellow has lost his life in this way. the order was now given to "hold on line." this was done, and in a moment our boat was cleaving the blue water like an arrow, while the white foam curled from her bows. i thought every moment we should be dragged under; but whenever this seemed likely to happen, the line was let run a bit, and the strain eased. at last the fish grew tired of dragging us, the line ceased to run out, and tom hauled in the slack, which another man coiled away in its tub. presently the fish rose to the surface, a short distance off our weather-bow. "give way, boys! spring your oars," cried the captain; "another touch or two with the lance, and that fish is ours." the boat shot ahead, and we were about to dart a second harpoon into the whale's side, when it took to "sounding,"--which means, that it went straight down, head foremost, into the depths of the sea. at that moment tom lokins uttered a cry of mingled anger and disappointment. we all turned round and saw our shipmate standing with the slack line in his hand, and such an expression on his weather-beaten face, that i could scarce help laughing. the harpoon had not been well fixed; it had lost its hold, and the fish was now free! "gone!" exclaimed the captain, with a groan. i remember even yet the feeling of awful disappointment that came over me when i understood that we had lost the fish after all our trouble! i could almost have wept with bitter vexation. as for my comrades, they sat staring at each other for some moments quite speechless. before we could recover from the state into which this misfortune had thrown us, one of the men suddenly shouted, "hallo! there's the mate's boat in distress." we turned at once, and, truly, there was no doubt of the truth of this, for, about half a mile off, we beheld our first mate's boat tearing over the sea like a small steamer. it was fast to a fish, and two oars were set up on end to attract our attention. when a whale is struck, it sometimes happens that the whole of the line in a boat is run out. when this is about to occur, it becomes necessary to hold on as much as can be done without running the boat under the water, and an oar is set up on end to show that assistance is required, either from the ship or from the other boats. as the line grows less and less, another and another oar is hoisted to show that help must be sent quickly. if no assistance can be sent, the only thing that remains to be done is to cut the line and lose the fish; but a whale-line, with its harpoon, is a very heavy loss, in addition to that of the fish, so that whalers are tempted to hold on a little too long sometimes. when we saw the mate's boat dashing away in this style, we forgot our grief at the loss of our whale in our anxiety to render assistance to our comrades, and we rowed towards them as fast as we could. fortunately the whale changed its course, and came straight towards us, so that we ceased pulling, and waited till they came up. as the boat came on i saw the foam curling up on her bows as she leaped and flew over the sea. i could scarcely believe it possible that wood and iron could bear such a strain. in a few minutes they were almost abreast of us. "you're holding too hard!" shouted the captain. "lines all out!" roared the mate. they were past almost before these short sentences could be spoken. but they had not gone twenty yards ahead of us when the water rushed in over the bow, and before we could utter a word the boat and crew were gone. not a trace of them remained! the horror of the moment had not been fully felt, however, when the boat rose to the surface keel up, and, one after another, the heads of the men appeared. the line had fortunately broken, otherwise the boat would have been lost, and the entire crew probably would have gone to the bottom with her. we instantly pulled to the rescue, and were thankful to find that not a man was killed, though some of them were a little hurt, and all had received a terrible fright. we next set to work to right the upset boat, an operation which was not accomplished without much labour and difficulty. now, while we were thus employed, our third boat, which was in charge of the second mate, had gone after the whale that had caused us so much trouble, and, when we had got the boat righted and began to look about us, we found that she was fast to the fish about a mile to leeward. "hurrah, lads!" cried the captain, "luck has not left us yet. give way, my hearties, pull like britons! we'll get that fish yet." we were all dreadfully done up by this time, but the sight of a boat fast to a whale restored us at once, and we pulled away as stoutly as if we had only begun the day's work. the whale was heading in the direction of the ship, and when we came up to the scene of action the second mate had just "touched the life"; in other words, he had driven the lance deep down into the whale's vitals. this was quickly known by jets of blood being spouted up through the blow-holes. soon after, our victim went into its dying agonies, or, as whalemen say, "his flurry." this did not last long. in a short time he rolled over dead. we fastened a line to his tail, the three boats took the carcass in tow, and, singing a lively song, we rowed away to the ship. thus ended our first battle with the whales. chapter four. "cutting-in the blubber" and "trying out the oil." the scene that took place on board ship after we caught our first fish was most wonderful. we commenced the operation of what is called "cutting-in," that is, cutting up the whale, and getting the fat or blubber hoisted in. the next thing we did was to "try out" the oil, or melt down the fat in large iron pots brought with us for this purpose; and the change that took place in the appearance of the ship and the men when this began was very remarkable. when we left port our decks were clean, our sails white, our masts well scraped; the brass-work about the quarter-deck was well polished, and the men looked tidy and clean. a few hours after our first whale had been secured alongside all this was changed. the cutting up of the huge carcass covered the decks with oil and blood, making them so slippery that they had to be covered with sand to enable the men to walk about. then the smoke of the great fires under the melting-pots begrimed the masts, sails, and cordage with soot. the faces and hands of the men got so covered with oil and soot that it would have puzzled any one to say whether they were white or black. their clothes, too, became so dirty that it was impossible to clean them. but, indeed, whalemen do not much mind this. in fact, they take a pleasure in all the dirt that surrounds them, because it is a sign of success in the main object of their voyage. the men in a _clean_ whale-ship are never happy. when everything is filthy, and dirty, and greasy, and smoky, and black-- decks, rigging, clothes, and person--it is then that the hearty laugh and jest and song are heard as the crew work busily, night and day, at their rough but profitable labour. the operations of "cutting-in" and "trying out" were matters of great interest to me the first time i saw them. after having towed our whale to the ship, cutting-in was immediately begun. first, the carcass was secured near the head and tail with chains, and made fast to the ship; then the great blocks and ropes fastened to the main and foremast for hoisting in the blubber were brought into play. when all was ready, the captain and the two mates, with tom lokins, got upon the whale's body, with long-handled sharp spades or digging-knives. with these they fell to work cutting off the blubber. i was stationed at one of the hoisting ropes, and while we were waiting for the signal to "hoist away," i peeped over the side, and for the first time had a good look at the great fish. when we killed it, so much of its body was down in the water that i could not see it very clearly, but now that it was lashed at full length alongside the ship, and i could look right down upon it, i began to understand more clearly what a large creature it was. one thing surprised me much; the top of its head, which was rough and knotty like the bark of an old tree, was swarming with little crabs and barnacles, and other small creatures. the whale's head seemed to be their regular home! this fish was by no means one of the largest kind, but being the first i had seen, i fancied it must be the largest fish in the sea. its body was forty feet long, and twenty feet round at the thickest part. its head, which seemed to me a great, blunt, shapeless thing, like a clumsy old boat, was eight feet long from the tip to the blow-holes or nostrils; and these holes were situated on the back of the head, which at that part was nearly four feet broad. the entire head measured about twenty-one feet round. its ears were two small holes, so small that it was difficult to discover them, and the eyes were also very small for so large a body, being about the same size as those of an ox. the mouth was very large, and the under jaw had great ugly lips. when it was dying, i saw these lips close in once or twice on its fat cheeks, which it bulged out like the leather sides of a pair of gigantic bellows. it had two fins, one on each side, just behind the head. with these, and with its tail, the whale swims and fights. its tail is its most deadly weapon. the flukes of this one measured thirteen feet across, and with one stroke of this it could have smashed our largest boat in pieces. many a boat has been sent to the bottom in this way. i remember hearing our first mate tell of a wonderful escape a comrade of his had in the greenland sea fishery. a whale had been struck, and, after its first run, they hauled up to it again, and rowed so hard that they ran the boat right against it. the harpooner was standing on the bow all ready, and sent his iron cleverly into the blubber. in its agony the whale reared its tail high out of the water, and the flukes whirled for a moment like a great fan just above the harpooner's head. one glance up was enough to show him that certain death was descending. in an instant he dived over the side and disappeared. next moment the flukes came down on the part of the boat he had just left, and cut it clean off; the other part was driven into the waves, and the men were left swimming in the water. they were all picked up, however, by another boat that was in company, and the harpooner was recovered with the rest. his quick dive had been the saving of his life. i had not much time given me to study the appearance of this whale before the order was given to "hoist away!" so we went to work with a will. the first part that came up was the huge lip, fastened to a large iron hook, called the blubber hook. it was lowered into the blubber-room between decks, where a couple of men were stationed to stow the blubber away. then came the fins, and after them the upper-jaw, with the whalebone attached to it. the "right" whale has no teeth like the sperm whale. in place of teeth it has the well-known substance called whalebone, which grows from the roof of its mouth in a number of broad thin plates, extending from the back of the head to the snout. the lower edges of these plates of whalebone are split into thousands of hairs like bristles, so that the inside roof of a whale's mouth resembles an enormous blacking brush! the object of this curious arrangement is to enable the whale to catch the little shrimps and small sea-blubbers, called "medusae," on which it feeds. i have spoken before of these last as being the little creatures that gave out such a beautiful pale-blue light at night. the whale feeds on them. when he desires a meal he opens his great mouth and rushes into the midst of a shoal of medusae; the little things get entangled in thousands among the hairy ends of the whalebone, and when the monster has got a large enough mouthful, he shuts his lower-jaw and swallows what his net has caught. the wisdom as well as the necessity of this arrangement is very plain. of course, while dashing through the sea in this fashion, with his mouth agape, the whale must keep his throat closed, else the water would rush down it and choke him. shutting his throat then, as he does, the water is obliged to flow out of his mouth as fast as it flows in; it is also spouted up through his blow-holes, and this with such violence that many of the little creatures would be swept out along with it, but for the hairy-ended whalebone which lets the sea-water out, but keeps the medusae in. well, let us return to our "cutting-in." after the upper-jaw came the lower-jaw and throat, with the tongue. this last was an enormous mass of fat, about as large as an ox, and it weighed fifteen hundred or two thousand pounds. after this was got in, the rest of the work was simple. the blubber of the body was peeled off in great strips, beginning at the neck and being cut spirally towards the tail. it was hoisted on board by the blocks, the captain and mates cutting, and the men at the windlass hoisting, and the carcass slowly turning round until we got an unbroken piece of blubber, reaching from the water to nearly as high as the mainyard-arm. this mass was nearly a foot thick, and it looked like fat pork. it was cut off close to the deck, and lowered into the blubber-room, where the two men stationed there attacked it with knives, cut it into smaller pieces, and stowed it away. then another piece was hoisted on board in the same fashion, and so on we went till every bit of blubber was cut off; and i heard the captain remark to the mate when the work was done, that the fish was a good fat one, and he wouldn't wonder if it turned out to be worth pounds sterling. now, when this process was going on, a new point of interest arose which i had not thought of before, although my messmate, tom lokins, had often spoken of it on the voyage out. this was the arrival of great numbers of sea-birds. tom had often told me of the birds that always keep company with whalers; but i had forgotten all about it, until i saw an enormous albatross come sailing majestically through the air towards us. this was the largest bird i ever saw, and no wonder, for it is the largest bird that flies. soon after that, another arrived, and although we were more than a thousand miles from any shore, we were speedily scented out and surrounded by hosts of gonies, stinkards, haglets, gulls, pigeons, petrels, and other sea-birds, which commenced to feed on pieces of the whale's carcass with the most savage gluttony. these birds were dreadfully greedy. they had stuffed themselves so full in the course of a short time, that they flew heavily and with great difficulty. no doubt they would have to take three or four days to digest that meal! sharks, too, came to get their share of what was going. but these savage monsters did not content themselves with what was thrown away; they were so bold as to come before our faces and take bites out of the whale's body. some of these sharks were eight and nine feet long, and when i saw them open their horrid jaws, armed with three rows of glistening white sharp teeth, i could well understand how easily they could bite off the leg of a man, as they often do when they get the chance. sometimes they would come right up on the whale's body with a wave, bite out great pieces of the flesh, turn over on their bellies, and roll off. while i was looking over the side during the early part of that day, i saw a very large shark come rolling up in this way close to tom lokins' legs. tom made a cut at him with his blubber-spade, but the shark rolled off in time to escape the blow. and after all it would not have done him much damage, for it is not easy to frighten or take the life out of a shark. "hand me an iron and line, bob," said tom, looking up at me. "i've got a spite agin that feller. he's been up twice already. ah! hand it down here, and two or three of ye stand by to hold on by the line. there he comes, the big villain!" the shark came close to the side of the whale at that moment, and tom sent the harpoon right down his throat. "hold on hard," shouted tom. "ay, ay," replied several of the men as they held on to the line, their arms jerking violently as the savage fish tried to free itself. we quickly reeved a line through a block at the fore yard-arm, and hauled it on deck with much difficulty. the scene that followed was very horrible, for there was no killing the brute. it threshed the deck with its tail, and snapped so fiercely with its tremendous jaws, that we had to keep a sharp look out lest it should catch hold of a leg. at last its tail was cut off, the body cut open, and all the entrails taken out, yet even after this it continued to flap and thresh about the deck for some time, and the heart continued to contract for twenty minutes after it was taken out and pierced with a knife. i would not have believed this had i not seen it with my own eyes. in case some of my readers may doubt its truth, i would remind them how difficult it is, to kill some of those creatures, with which we are all familiar. the common worm, for instance, may be cut into a number of small pieces, and yet each piece remains alive for some time after. the skin of the shark is valued by the whalemen, because, when cleaned and dry, it is as good as sand-paper, and is much used in polishing the various things they make, out of whales' bones and teeth. when the last piece of blubber had been cut off our whale, the great chain that held it to the ship's side was cast off, and the now useless carcass sank like a stone, much to the sorrow of some of the smaller birds, which, having been driven away by their bigger comrades, had not fed so heartily as they wished, perhaps! but what was loss to the gulls was gain to the sharks, which could follow the carcass down into the deep and devour it at their leisure. "now, lads," cried the mate, when the remains had vanished, "rouse up the fires, look alive, my hearties!" "ay, ay, sir," was the ready reply, cheerfully given, as every man sprang to his appointed duty. and so, having "cut in" our whale, we next proceeded to "try out" the oil. chapter five. a storm, a man overboard, and a rescue. the scenes in a whaleman's life are varied and very stirring. sometimes he is floating on the calm ocean, idling about the deck and whistling for a breeze, when all of a sudden the loud cry is heard, "there she blows!" and in a moment the boats are in the water, and he is engaged in all the toils of an exciting chase. then comes the battle with the great leviathan of the deep, with all its risks and dangers. sometimes he is unfortunate, the decks are clean, he has nothing to do. at other times he is lucky, "cutting-in" and "trying out" engage all his energies and attention. frequently storms toss him on the angry deep, and show him, if he will but learn the lesson, how helpless a creature he is, and how thoroughly dependent at all times for life, safety, and success, upon the arm of god. "trying out" the oil, although not so thrilling a scene as many a one in his career, is, nevertheless, extremely interesting, especially at night, when the glare of the fires in the try-works casts a deep red glow on the faces of the men, on the masts and sails, and even out upon the sea. the try-works consisted of two huge melting-pots fixed upon brick-work fireplaces between the fore and main masts. while some of the men were down in the blubber-room cutting the "blanket-pieces," as the largest masses are called, others were pitching the smaller pieces on deck, where they were seized by two men who stood near a block of wood, called a "horse," with a mincing knife, to slash the junks so as to make them melt easily. these were then thrown into the melting-pots by one of the mates, who kept feeding the fires with such "scraps" of blubber as remain after the oil is taken out. once the fires were fairly set agoing no other kind of fuel was required than "scraps" of blubber. as the boiling oil rose it was baled into copper cooling-tanks. it was the duty of two other men to dip it out of these tanks into casks, which were then headed up by our cooper, and stowed away in the hold. as the night advanced the fires became redder and brighter by contrast, the light shone and glittered on the decks, and, as we plied our dirty work, i could not help thinking, "what _would_ my mother say, if she could get a peep at me now?" the ship's crew worked and slept by watches, for the fires were not allowed to go out all night. about midnight i sat down on the windlass to take a short rest, and began talking to one of the men, fred borders by name. he was one of the quietest and most active men in the ship, and, being quite a young man, not more than nineteen, he and i drew to one another, and became very intimate. "i think we're goin' to have a breeze, bob," said he, as a sharp puff of wind crossed the deck, driving the black smoke to leeward, and making the fire flare up in the try-works. "i hope it won't be a storm, then," said i, "for it will oblige us to put out the fires." just then tom lokins came up, ordered fred to go and attend to the fires, sat down opposite to me on the windlass, and began to "lay down the law" in regard to storms. "you see, bob ledbury," said he, beginning to fill his pipe, "young fellers like you don't know nothin' about the weather--'cause why? you've got no experience. now, i'll put you up to a dodge consarning this very thing." i never found out what was the dodge that tom, in his wisdom, was to have put me up to, for at that moment the captain came on deck, and gave orders to furl the top-gallant sails. three or four of us ran up the rigging like monkeys, and in a few minutes the sails were lashed to the yards. the wind now began to blow steadily from the nor'-west; but not so hard as to stop our try-works for more than an hour. after that it blew stiff enough to raise a heavy sea, and we were compelled to slack the fires. this was all the harm it did to us, however, for although the breeze was stiffish, it was nothing like a gale. as the captain and the first mate walked the quarter-deck together, i heard the former say to the latter, "i think we had as well take in a reef in the topsails. all hereabouts the fishing-ground is good, we don't need to carry on." the order was given to reduce sail, and the men lay out on the topsail yards. i noticed that my friend fred borders was the first man to spring up the shrouds and lay out on the main-top-sail yard. it was so dark that i could scarcely see the masts. while i was gazing up, i thought i observed a dark object drop from the yard; at the same moment there was a loud shriek, followed by a plunge in the sea. this was succeeded by the sudden cry, "man overboard!" and instantly the whole ship was in an uproar. no one who has not heard that cry can understand the dreadful feelings that are raised in the human breast by it. my heart at first seemed to leap into my mouth, and almost choke me. then a terrible fear, which i cannot describe, shot through me, when i thought it might be my comrade fred borders. but these thoughts and feelings passed like lightning--in a far shorter time than it takes to write them down. the shriek was still ringing in my ears, when the captain roared-- "down your helm! stand by to lower away the boats." at the same moment he seized a light hen-coop and tossed it overboard, and the mate did the same with an oar in the twinkling of an eye. almost without knowing what i did, or why i did it, i seized a great mass of oakum and rubbish that lay on the deck saturated with oil, i thrust it into the embers of the fire in the try-works and hurled it blazing into the sea. the ship's head was thrown into the wind, and we were brought to as quickly as possible. a gleam of hope arose within me on observing that the mass i had thrown overboard continued still to burn; but when i saw how quickly it went astern, notwithstanding our vigorous efforts to stop the ship, my heart began to sink, and when, a few moments after, the light suddenly disappeared, despair seized upon me, and i gave my friend up for lost. at that moment, strange to say, thoughts of my mother came into my mind, but there was no time to be lost, and i threw myself, with a good deal of energy, into the first boat that was lowered, and pulled at the oar as if my own life depended on it. a lantern had been fastened to the end of an oar and set up in the boat, and by its faint light i could see that the men looked very grave. tom lokins was steering, and i sat near him, pulling the aft oar. "do you think we've any chance, tom?" said i. a shake of the head was his only reply. "it must have been here away," said the mate, who stood up in the bow with a coil of rope at his feet, and a boat-hook in his hand. "hold on, lads, did any one hear a cry?" no one answered. we all ceased pulling, and listened intently; but the noise of the waves and the whistling of the winds were all the sounds we heard. "what's that floating on the water?" said one of the men, suddenly. "where away?" cried every one eagerly. "right off the lee-bow--there, don't you see it?" at that moment a faint cry came floating over the black water, and died away in the breeze. the single word "hurrah!" burst from our throats with all the power of our lungs, and we bent to our oars till we well-nigh tore the rollocks out of the boat. "hold hard! stern all!" roared the mate, as we went flying down to leeward, and almost ran over the hen-coop, to which a human form was seen to be clinging with the tenacity of a drowning man. we had swept down so quickly that we shot past it. in an agony of fear lest my friend should be again lost in the darkness, i leaped up and sprang into the sea. tom lokins, however, had noticed what i was about; he seized me by the collar of my jacket, just as i reached the water, and held me with a grip like a vice till one of the men came to his assistance, and dragged me back into the boat. in a few moments more we reached the hen-coop, and fred was saved! he was half dead with cold and exhaustion, poor fellow, but in a few minutes he began to recover, and before we reached the ship he could speak. his first words were to thank god for his deliverance. then he added-- "and, thanks to the man that flung that light overboard. i should have gone down but for that. it showed me where the hen-coop was." i cannot describe the feeling of joy that filled my heart when he said this. "ay, who wos it that throw'd that fire overboard?" inquired one of the men. "don't know," replied another, "i think it wos the cap'n." "you'll find that out when we get aboard," cried the mate; "pull away, lads." in five minutes fred borders was passed up the side and taken down below. in two minutes more we had him stripped naked, rubbed dry, wrapped in hot blankets, and set down on one of the lockers, with a hot brick at his feet. chapter six. the whale--fighting bulls, etcetera. as the reader may, perhaps, have been asking a few questions about the whale in his own mind, i shall try to answer them, by telling a few things concerning that creature which, i think, are worth knowing. in the first place, the whale is not a fish! i have applied that name to it, no doubt, because it is the custom to do so; but there are great differences between the whales and the fishes. the mere fact that the whale lives in water is not sufficient to prove it to be a fish. the frog lives very much in water--he is born in the water, and, when very young, he lives in it altogether--would die, in fact, if he were taken out of it; yet a frog is not a fish. the following are some of the differences existing between a whale and a fish:-- the whale is a warm-blooded animal; the fish is cold-blooded. the whale brings forth its young alive; while most fishes lay eggs or spawn. moreover, the fish lives entirely under water, but the whale cannot do so. he breathes air through enormous lungs, not gills. if you were to hold a whale's head under water for much longer than an hour, it would certainly be drowned; and this is the reason why it comes so frequently to the surface of the sea to take breath. whales seldom stay more than an hour under water, and when they come up to breathe, they discharge the last breath they took through their nostrils or blow-holes, mixed with large quantities of water, which they have taken in while feeding. but the most remarkable point of difference between the whale and fishes of all kinds is, that it suckles its young. the calf of one kind of whale is about fourteen feet long when it is born, and it weighs about a ton. the cow-whale usually has only one calf at a time, and the manner in which she behaves to her gigantic baby shows that she is affected by feelings of anxiety and affection such as are never seen in fishes, which heartless creatures forsake their eggs when they are laid, and i am pretty sure they would not know their own children if they happened to meet with them. the whale, on the contrary, takes care of her little one, gives it suck, and sports playfully with it in the waves; its enormous heart throbbing all the while, no doubt, with satisfaction. i have heard of a whale which was once driven into shoal water with its calf and nearly stranded. the huge dam seemed to become anxious for the safety of her child, for she was seen to swim eagerly round it, embrace it with her fins, and roll it over in the waves, trying to make it follow her into deep water. but the calf was obstinate; it would not go, and the result was that the boat of a whaler pulled up and harpooned it. the poor little whale darted away like lightning on receiving the terrible iron, and ran out a hundred fathoms of line; but it was soon overhauled and killed. all this time the dam kept close to the side of its calf, and not until a harpoon was plunged into her own side would she move away. two boats were after her. with a single rap of her tail she cut one of the boats in two, and then darted off. but in a short time she turned and came back. her feelings of anxiety had returned, no doubt, after the first sting of pain was over, and she died at last, close to the side of her young one. there are various kinds of whales, but the two sorts that are most sought after are the common whale of the greenland seas, which is called the "right whale," and the sperm whale of the south sea. both kinds are found in the south; but the sperm whale never goes to the north seas. both kinds grow to an enormous size--sometimes to seventy feet in length, but there is considerable difference in their appearance, especially about the head. in a former chapter i have partly described the head of a _right_ whale, which has whalebone instead of teeth, with its blow-holes on the back of the head. the sperm whale has large white teeth in its lower-jaw and none at all in the upper. it has only one blow-hole, and that a little one, much farther forward on its head, so that sailors can tell, at a great distance, what kind of whales they see, simply by their manner of spouting. the most remarkable feature about the sperm whale is the bluntness of its clumsy head, which looks somewhat like a big log with the end sawn square off, and this head is about one-third of its entire body. the sperm whale feeds differently from the right whale. he seizes his prey with his powerful teeth, and lives, to a great extent, on large cuttlefish. some of them have been seen to vomit lumps of these cuttlefish as long as a whale-boat. he is much fiercer, too, than the right whale, which almost always takes to flight when struck, but the sperm whale will sometimes turn on its foes, and smash their boat with a blow of his blunt head or tail. fighting-whales, as they are called, are not uncommon. these are generally old bulls, which have become wise from experience, and give the whalers great trouble--sometimes carrying away several harpoons and lines. the lower-jaw of one old bull of this kind was found to be sixteen feet long, and it had forty-eight teeth, some of them a foot long. a number of scars about his head showed that this fellow had been in the wars. when two bull-whales take to fighting, their great effort is to catch each other by the lower-jaw, and, when locked together, they struggle with a degree of fury that cannot be described. it is not often that the sperm whale actually attacks a ship; but there are a few cases of this kind which cannot be doubted. the following story is certainly true; and while it shows how powerful a creature the whale is, it also shows what terrible risk and sufferings the whaleman has frequently to encounter. in the month of august , the american whale-ship _essex_ sailed from nantucket for the pacific ocean. she was commanded by captain pollard. late in the autumn of the same year, when in latitude degrees of the south pacific, a shoal, or "school," of sperm whales was discovered, and three boats were immediately lowered and sent in pursuit. the mate's boat was struck by one of the fish during the chase, and it was found necessary to return to the ship to repair damages. while the men were employed at this, an enormous whale suddenly rose quite close to the ship. he was going at nearly the same rate with the ship--about three miles an hour; and the men, who were good judges of the size of whales, thought that it could not have been less than eighty-five feet long. all at once he ran against the ship, striking her bows, and causing her to tremble like a leaf. the whale immediately dived and passed under the ship, and grazed her keel in doing so. this evidently hurt his back, for he suddenly rose to the surface about fifty yards off, and commenced lashing the sea with his tail and fins as if suffering great agony. it was truly an awful sight to behold that great monster lashing the sea into foam at so short a distance. in a short time he seemed to recover, and started off at great speed to windward. meanwhile the men discovered that the blow received by the ship had done her so much damage, that she began to fill and settle down at the bows; so they rigged the pumps as quickly as possible. while working them one of the men cried out-- "god have mercy! he comes again!" this was too true. the whale had turned, and was now bearing down on them at full speed, leaving a white track of foam behind him. rushing at the ship like a battering-ram, he hit her fair on the weather bow, and stove it in, after which he dived and disappeared. the horrified men took to their boats at once, and in _ten minutes_ the ship went down. the condition of the men thus left in three open boats far out upon the sea, without provisions or shelter, was terrible indeed. some of them perished, and the rest, after suffering the severest hardships, reached a low island called ducies, on the th of december. it was a mere sand-bank, which supplied them only with water and seafowl. still even this was a mercy, for which they had reason to thank god; for in cases of this kind one of the evils that seamen have most cause to dread is the want of water. three of the men resolved to remain on this sand-bank, for dreary and uninhabited though it was, they preferred to take their chance of being picked up by a passing ship rather than run the risks of crossing the wide ocean in open boats, so their companions bade them a sorrowful farewell, and left them. but this island is far out of the usual track of ships. the poor fellows have never since been heard of. it was the th of december when the three boats left the sand-bank with the remainder of the men, and began a voyage of two thousand miles, towards the island of juan fernandez. the mate's boat was picked up, about three months after, by the ship _indian_ of london, with only three living men in it. about the same time the captain's boat was discovered, by the _dauphin_ of nantucket, with only two men living; and these unhappy beings had only sustained life by feeding on the flesh of their dead comrades. the third boat must have been lost, for it was never heard of; and out of the whole crew of twenty men, only five returned home to tell their eventful story. before resuming the thread of my narrative, i must not omit to mention, that in the head of the sperm whale there is a large cavity or hole called the "case," which contains pure oil that does not require to be melted, but can be bailed at once into casks and stowed away. this is the valuable spermaceti from which the finest candles are made. one whale will sometimes yield fifteen barrels of spermaceti oil from the "case" of its head. a large fish will produce from eighty to a hundred-barrels of oil altogether, sometimes much more; and when whalemen converse with each other, about the size of whales, they speak of "eighty-barrel fish," and so on. although i have written much about the fighting powers of the sperm whale, it must not be supposed that whales are by nature fond of fighting. on the contrary, the "right" whale is a timid creature, and never shows fight, except in defence of its young. and the sperm whale generally takes to flight when pursued. in fact, most of the accidents that happen to whalemen occur when the wounded monster is lashing the water in blind terror and agony. the whale has three bitter enemies, much smaller, but much bolder than himself, and of these he is terribly afraid. they are the swordfish, the thrasher, and the killer. the first of these, the swordfish, has a strong straight horn or sword projecting from his snout, with which he boldly attacks and pierces the whale. the thrasher is a strong fish, twenty feet long, and of great weight. its method of attack is to leap out of the water on the whale's back, and deal it a tremendous blow with its powerful tail. the swordfish and thrasher sometimes act together in the attack; the first stabbing him below, and the second belabouring him above, while the whale, unable, or too frightened, to fight, rushes through the water, and even leaps its whole gigantic length into the air in its endeavours to escape. when a whale thus leaps his whole length out of the water, the sailors say he "breaches," and breaching is a common practice. they seem to do it often for amusement as well as from terror. but the most deadly of the three enemies is the killer. this is itself a kind of small whale, but it is wonderfully strong, swift, and bold. when one of the killers gets into the middle, of a school of whales, the frightened creatures are seen flying in all directions. his mode of attack is to seize his big enemy by the jaw, and hold on until he is exhausted and dies. chapter seven. tom's wisdom--another great battle. one day i was standing beside the windlass, listening to the conversation of five or six of the men, who were busy sharpening harpoons and cutting-knives, or making all kinds of toys and things out of whales' bones. we had just finished cutting-in and trying out our third whale, and as it was not long since we reached the fishing-ground, we were in high hopes of making a good thing of it that season; so that every one was in good spirits, from the captain down to the youngest man in the ship. tom lokins was smoking his pipe, and tom's pipe was an uncommonly black one, for he smoked it very often. moreover, tom's pipe was uncommonly short, so short that i always wondered how he escaped burning the end of his nose. indeed, some of the men said that the redness of the end of tom's nose was owing to its being baked like a brick by the heat of his pipe. tom took this pipe from his mouth, and while he was pushing down the tobacco with the end of his little finger, he said-- "d'ye know, lads, i've been thinkin'--" "no, have ye?" cried one of the men, interrupting him with a look of pretended surprise. "well now, i do think, messmates, that we should ax the mate to make a note o' that in the log, for it's not often that tom lokins takes to thinkin'." there was a laugh at this, but tom, turning with a look of contempt to the man who interrupted him, replied-- "i'll tell you wot it is, bill blunt, if all the thoughts that _you_ think, and especially the jokes that you utter, wos put down in the log, they'd be so heavy that i do believe they would sink the ship!" "well, well," cried bill, joining in the laugh against himself, "if they did, _your_ jokes would be so light and triflin' that i do believe they'd float her again. but what have you been a-thinkin' of, tom?" "i've been thinkin'," said tom slowly, "that if a whale makes his breakfast entirely off them little things that you can hardly see when you get 'em into a tumbler--i forget how the captain calls 'em--wot a _tree-mendous_ heap of 'em he must eat in the course of a year!" "thousands of 'em, i suppose," said one of the men. "thousands!" cried tom, "i should rather say billions of them." "how much is billions, mate?" inquired bill. "i don't know," answered tom. "never could find out. you see it's heaps upon heaps of thousands, for the thousands come first and the billions afterwards; but when i've thought uncommon hard, for a long spell at a time, i always get confused, because millions comes in between, d'ye see, and that's puzzlin'." "i think i could give you some notion about these things," said fred borders, who had been quietly listening all the time, but never putting in a word, for, as i have said, fred was a modest bashful man and seldom spoke much. but we had all come to notice that when fred spoke, he had always something to say worth hearing; and when he did speak he spoke out boldly enough. we had come to have feelings of respect for our young shipmate, for he was a kind-hearted lad, and we saw by his conversation that he had been better educated than the most of us, so all our tongues stopped as the eyes of the party turned on him. "come, fred, let's hear it then," said tom. "it's not much i have to tell," began fred, "but it may help to make your minds clearer on this subject. on my first voyage to the whale-fishery (you know, lads, this is my second voyage) i went to the greenland seas. we had a young doctor aboard with us--quite a youth; indeed he had not finished his studies at college, but he was cleverer, for all that, than many an older man that had gone through his whole course. i do believe that the reason of his being so clever was, that he was for ever observing things, and studying them, and making notes, and trying to find out reasons. he was never satisfied with knowing a thing; he must always find out _why_ it was. one day i heard him ask the captain what it was that made the sea so green in some parts of those seas. our captain was an awfully stupid man. so long as he got plenty of oil he didn't care two straws for the reason of anything. the young doctor had been bothering him that morning with a good many questions, so when he asked him what made the sea green, he answered sharply, `i suppose it makes itself green, young man,' and then he turned from him with a fling. "the doctor laughed, and came forward among the men, and began to tell us stories and ask questions. ah! he was a real hearty fellow; he would tell you all kinds of queer things, and would pump you dry of all you knew in no time. well, but the thing i was going to tell you was this. one of the men said to him he had heard that the greenness of the greenland sea, was caused by the little things like small bits of jelly, on which the whales feed. as soon as he heard this he got a bucket and hauled some sea-water aboard, and for the next ten days he was never done working away with the sea-water; pouring it into tumblers and glasses; looking through it by daylight and by lamplight; tasting it, and boiling it, and examining it with a microscope." "what's a microscope?" inquired one of the men. "don't you know?" said tom lokins, "why it's a glass that makes little things seem big, when ye look through it. i've heerd say that beasts that are so uncommon small that you can't see them at all are made to come into sight, and look quite big, by means o' this glass. but i can't myself say that it's true." "but i can," said fred, "for i have seen it with my own eyes. well, after a good while, i made bold to ask the young doctor what he had found out. "`i've found,' said he, `that the greenness of these seas is in truth caused by uncountable numbers of medusae--'" "ha! that's the word," shouted tom lokins, "medoosy, that's wot the captain calls 'em. heave ahead, fred." "well, then," continued fred, "the young doctor went on to tell me that he had been counting the matter to himself very carefully, and he found that in every square mile of sea-water there were living about eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions of these little creatures!" "oh! hallo! come now!" we all cried, opening our eyes very wide indeed. "but, i say, how much is that?" inquired tom lokins. "ah! that's just what i said to the young doctor, and he said to me, `i'll tell you what, fred borders, no man alive understands how much that is, and what's more, no man ever will; but i'll give you _some notion_ of what it means;' and so he told me how long it would take forty thousand men to count that number of eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions, each man of the forty thousand beginning `one,' `two,' `three,' and going on till the sum of the whole added together would make it up. now, how long d'ye think it would take them?--guess." fred borders smiled as he said this, and looked round the circle of men. "i know," cried one, "it would take the whole forty thousand a _week_ to do it." "oh! nonsense, they could do it easy in two days," said another. "that shows how little you know about big numbers," observed tom lokins, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "i'm pretty sure it couldn't be done in much less than six months; workin' hard all day, and makin' allowance for only one hour off for dinner." "you're all wrong, shipmates," said fred borders. "that young doctor told me that if they'd begun work at the day of creation they would only have just finished the job last year!" "oh! gammon, you're jokin'," cried bill blunt. "no, i'm not," said fred, "for i was told afterwards by an old clergyman that the young doctor was quite right, and that any one who was good at 'rithmetic could work the thing out for himself in less than half-an-hour." just as fred said this there came a loud cry from the mast-head that made us all spring to our feet like lightning. "there she blows! there she breaches!" the captain was on deck in a moment. "where away?" he cried. "on the lee beam, sir. sperm whale, about two miles off. there she blows!" every man was at his station in a moment; for, after being some months out, we became so used to the work, that we acted together like a piece of machinery. but our excitement never abated in the least. "sing out when the ship heads for her." "ay, ay, sir." "keep her away!" said the captain to the man at the helm. "bob ledbury, hand me the spyglass." "steady," from the mast-head. "steady it is," answered the man at the helm. while we were all looking eagerly out ahead we heard a thundering snore behind us, followed by a heavy splash. turning quickly round, we saw the flukes of an enormous whale sweeping through the air not more than six hundred yards astern of us. "down your helm," roared the captain; "haul up the mainsail, and square the yards. call all hands." "all hands, ahoy!" roared bill blunt, in a voice of thunder, and in another moment every man in the ship was on deck. "hoist and swing the boats," cried the captain. "lower away." down went the boats into the water; the men were into their places almost before you could wink, and we pulled away from the ship just as the whale rose the second time, about half a mile away to leeward. from the appearance of this whale we felt certain that it was one of the largest we had yet seen, so we pulled after it with right good will. i occupied my usual place in the captain's boat, next the bow-oar, just beside tom lokins, who was ready with his harpoons in the bow. young borders pulled the oar directly in front of me. the captain himself steered, and, as our crew was a picked one, we soon left the other two boats behind us. presently a small whale rose close beside us, and, sending a shower of spray over the boat, went down in a pool of foam. before we had time to speak, another whale rose on the opposite side of the boat, and then another on our starboard bow. we had got into the middle of a shoal of whales, which commenced leaping and spouting all round us, little aware of the dangerous enemy that was so near. in a few minutes more, up comes the big one again that we had first seen. he seemed very active and wild. after blowing on the surface once or twice, about a quarter of a mile off, he peaked his flukes, and pitched down head foremost. "now then, lads, he's down for a long dive," said the captain; "spring your oars like men, we'll get that fish for certain, if you'll only pull." the captain was mistaken; the whale had only gone down deep in order to come up and breach, or spring out of the water, for the next minute he came up not a hundred yards from us, and leaped his whole length into the air. a shout of surprise broke from the men, and no wonder, for this was the largest fish i ever saw or heard of, and he came up so clear of the water, that we could see him from head to tail, as he turned over in the air, exposing his white belly to view, and came down on his great side with a crash like thunder, that might have been heard six miles off. a splendid mass of pure white spray burst from the spot where he fell, and in another moment he was gone. "i do believe it's _new zealand tom_," cried bill blunt, referring to an old bull whale that had become famous among the men who frequented these seas, for its immense size and fierceness, and for the great trouble it had given them, smashing some of their boats, and carrying away many of their harpoons. "i don't know whether it's new zealand tom or not," said the captain, "but it's pretty clear that he's an old sperm bull. give way, lads, we must get that whale, whatever it should cost us." we did not need a second bidding; the size of the fish was so great that we felt more excited than we had yet been during the voyage, so we bent our oars till we almost pulled the boat out of the water. the other boats had got separated, chasing the little whales, so we had this one all to ourselves. "there she blows!" said tom lokins, in a low voice, as the fish came up a short distance astern of us. we had overshot our mark, so, turning about, we made for the whale, which kept for a considerable time near the top of the water, spouting now and then, and going slowly to windward. we at last got within a few feet of the monster, and the captain suddenly gave the word, "stand up." this was to our harpooner, tom lokins, who jumped up on the instant, and buried two harpoons deep in the blubber. "stern all!" was the next word, and we backed off with all our might. it was just in time, for, in his agony, the whale tossed his tail right over our heads, the flukes were so big that they could have completely covered the boat, and he brought them down flat on the sea with a clap that made our ears tingle, while a shower of spray drenched us to the skin. for one moment i thought it was all over with us, but we were soon out of immediate danger, and lay on our oars watching the writhings of the wounded monster as he lashed the ocean into foam. the water all round us soon became white like milk, and the foam near the whale was red with blood. suddenly this ceased, and, before we could pull up to lance him, he went down, taking the line out at such a rate that the boat spun round, and sparks of fire flew from the logger-head, from the chafing of the rope. "hold on!" cried the captain, and next moment we were tearing over the sea at a fearful rate, with a bank of white foam rolling before us, high above our bows, and away on each side of us like the track of a steamer, so that we expected it every moment to rush in-board and swamp us. i had never seen anything like this before. from the first i had a kind of feeling that some evil would befall us. while we were tearing over the water in this way, we saw the other whales coming up every now and then, and blowing quite near to us, and presently we passed close enough to the first mate's boat to see that he was fast to a fish, and unable, therefore, to render us help if we should need it. in a short time the line began to slack, so we hauled it in hand over hand, and tom lokins coiled it away in the tub in the stern of the boat, while the captain took his place in the bow to be ready with the lance. the whale soon came up, and we pulled with all our might towards him. instead of making off again, however, he turned round and made straight at the boat. i now thought that destruction was certain, for, when i saw his great blunt forehead coming down on us like a steamboat, i felt that we could not escape. i was mistaken. the captain received him on the point of his lance, and the whale has such a dislike to pain, that even a small prick will sometimes turn him. for some time we kept dodging round this fellow; but he was so old and wise, that he always turned his head to us, and prevented us from getting a chance to lance him. at last he turned a little to one side, and the captain plunged the lance deep into his vitals. "ha! that's touched his life," cried tom, as a stream of blood flew up from his blow-holes, a sure sign that he was mortally wounded. but he was not yet conquered. after receiving the cruel stab with the lance, he pitched right down, head foremost, and once more the line began to fly out over the bow. we tried to hold on, but he was going so straight down that the boat was almost swamped, and we had to slack off to prevent our being pulled under water. before many yards of the line had run out, one of the coils in the tub became entangled. "look out, lads," cried tom, and at once throwing the turn off the logger-head, he made an attempt to clear it. the captain, in trying to do the same thing, slipped and fell. seeing this, i sprang up, and, grasping the coil as it flew past, tried to clear it. before i could think, a turn whipped round my left wrist. i felt a wrench as if my arm had been torn out of the socket, and in a moment i was overboard, [see frontispiece] going down with almost lightning speed into the depths of the sea. strange to say, i did not lose my presence of mind. i knew exactly what had happened. i felt myself rushing down, down, down, with terrific speed; a stream of fire seemed to be whizzing past my eyes; there was a dreadful pressure on my brain, and a roaring, as if of thunder, in my ears. yet, even in that dread moment, thoughts of eternity, of my sins, and of meeting with my god, flashed into my mind, for thought is quicker than the lightning flash. of a sudden the roaring ceased, and i felt myself buffeting the water fiercely in my efforts to reach the surface. i know not how i got free, but i suppose the turn of the line must have slackened off somehow. all this happened within the space of a few brief moments; but oh! they seemed fearfully long to me. i do not think i could have held my breath a second longer. when i came to the surface, and tried to look about me, i saw the boat not more than fifty yards off, and, being a good swimmer, i struck out for it, although i felt terribly exhausted. in a few minutes my comrades saw me, and, with a cheer put out the oars and began to row towards me. i saw that the line was slack, and that they were hauling it in--a sign that the whale had ceased running and would soon come to the surface again. before they had pulled half-a-dozen strokes i saw the water open close beside the boat, and the monstrous head of the whale shot up like a great rock rising out of the deep. he was not more than three feet from the boat, and he came up with such force, that more than half his gigantic length came out of the water right over the boat. i heard the captain's loud cry--"_stern all_!" but it was too late, the whole weight of the monster's body fell upon the boat; there was a crash and a terrible cry, as the whale and boat went down together. for a few moments he continued to lash the sea in his fury, and the fragments of the boat floated all round him. i thought that every man, of course, had been killed; but one after another their heads appeared in the midst of blood and foam, and they struck out for oars and pieces of the wreck. providentially, the whale, in his tossings, had shot a little away from the spot, else every man must certainly have been killed. a feeling of horror filled my heart, as i beheld all this, and thought upon my position. fortunately, i had succeeded in reaching a broken plank; for my strength was now so much exhausted, that i could not have kept my head above water any longer without its assistance. just then i heard a cheer, and the next time i rose on the swell, i looked quickly round and saw the mate's boat making for the scene of action as fast as a stout and willing crew could pull. in a few minutes more i was clutched by the arm, and hauled into it. my comrades were next rescued, and we thanked god when we found that none were killed, although one of them had got a leg broken, and another an arm twisted out of joint. they all, however, seemed to think that my escape was much more wonderful than theirs; but i cannot say that i agreed with them in this. we now turned our attention to the whale, which had dived again. as it was now loose, we did not know, of course, where it would come up, so we lay still awhile. very soon up he came, not far from us, and as fierce as ever. "now, lads, we _must_ get that whale," cried the mate; "give way with a will." the order was obeyed. the boat almost leaped over the swell, and, before long, another harpoon was in the whale's back. "fast again, hurrah!" shouted the mate, "now for the lance." he gave the monster two deep stabs while he spoke, and spouting the red stream of life, it rolled on the sea in agony, obliging us to keep well out of its way. i could not look upon the dying struggles of this enormous fish without feelings of regret and self-reproach, for helping to destroy it. i felt almost as if i were a murderer, and that the creator would call me to account for taking part in the destruction of one of his grandest living creatures. but the thought passed quickly from my mind as the whale became more violent and went into its flurry. it began to lash the sea with such astonishing violence, that all the previous struggles seemed as nothing. the water all round became white like milk, with great streaks of red blood running through it, and the sound of the quick blows of its tail and fins resembled that of dull hollow thunder. we gazed at this scene in deep silence and with beating hearts. all at once the struggles ceased. the great carcass rolled over belly up, and lay extended on the sea in death. to me it seemed as if a dead calm had suddenly fallen around us, after a long and furious storm, so great was the change when that whale at length parted with its huge life. the silence was suddenly broken by three hearty cheers, and then, fastening a rope to our prize, we commenced towing it to the ship, which operation occupied us the greater part of the night, for we had no fewer than eight miles to pull. chapter eight. death on the sea. the whale which we had taken, as i have related in the last chapter, was our largest fish of that season. it produced ninety barrels of oil, and was worth about pounds sterling, so that we did not grieve much over the loss of our boat. but our next loss was of a kind that could not be made up for by oil or money, for it was the loss of a human life. in the whale-fishery men must, like soldiers, expect to risk their lives frequently, and they have too often, alas! to mourn over the loss of a shipmate or friend. up to this time our voyage had gone prosperously. we had caught so many fish that nearly half our cargo was already completed, and if we should be as lucky the remainder of the voyage, we should be able to return home to old england much sooner than we had expected. of course, during all this time we had met with some disappointments, for i am not describing everything that happened on that voyage. it would require a much thicker volume than this to tell the half of our adventures. we lost five or six fish by their sinking before we could get them made fast to the ship, and one or two bolted so fast that they broke loose and carried away a number of harpoons, and many a fathom of line. but such misfortunes were what we had to look for. every whaler meets with similar changes of luck, and we did not expect to fare differently from our neighbours. these things did not cause us much regret beyond the time of their occurrence. but it was far otherwise with the loss that now befell us. it happened one forenoon. i was standing close to the starboard gangway early that morning, looking over the side into the calm water, for there was not a breath of wind, and talking to the first mate, who was a gruff, surly man, but a good officer, and kind enough in his way when everything went smooth with him. but things don't go very smooth generally in whaling life, so the mate was oftener gruff than sweet. "bob ledbury," said he, "have you got your cutting-in gear in order? i've got a notion that we'll `raise the oil' this day." "all right, sir," said i, "you might shave yourself with the blubber-spades. that was a good fish we got last, sir, wasn't it?" "pretty good, though i've seen bigger." "he gave us a deal of trouble too," said i. "not so much as i've seen others give," said he. "when i was fishing in the greenland seas we made fast to a whale that cost us i don't know how many hundred dollars." (you must know the first mate was a yankee, and he reckoned everything in dollars.) "how was that, sir?" asked i. "well, it was something in this fashion. we were floating about in the north atlantic one calm, hot day, just something like this, only it was the afternoon, not the morning. we were doing nothing, and whistling for a breeze, when, all of a sudden, up comes five or six whales all round the ship, as if they had spied her from the bottom of the sea, and had come up to have a squint at her. of course the boats were manned at once, and in less than no time we were tearing after them like all alive. but them whales were pretty wildish, i guess. they kept us pullin' the best part of five hours before we got a chance at them. my boat was out of sight of the ship before we made fast to a regular snorer, a hundred-barreller at the least. the moment he felt the iron, away he went like the shot out of a gun; but he didn't keep it up long, for soon after, another of our boats came up and made fast. well, for some two or three hours we held fast, but could not haul on to him to use the lance, for the moment we came close up alongside of his tail he peaked flukes and dived, then up again, and away as fast as ever. it was about noon before we touched him again; but by that time two more harpoons were made fast, and two other boats cast tow-lines aboard of us, and were hauled along. that was four boats, and more than sixteen hundred fathoms of line, besides four harpoons that was fast to that whale, and yet, for all that, he went ahead as fast as we could have rowed, takin' us along with him quite easy. "a breeze having sprung up, our ship overhauled us in the course of the afternoon, and towards evening we sent a line on board, to see if that would stop the big fish, and the topsails were lowered, so as to throw some of the ship's weight on him, but the irons drew out with the strain. however, we determined to try it again. another line was sent aboard about eight o'clock, and the topsails were lowered, but the line snapped immediately. well, we held on to that whale the whole of that night, and at four o'clock next morning, just thirty-six hours after he was first struck, two fast lines were taken aboard the ship. the breeze was fresh, and against us, so the top-gallant sails were taken in, the courses hauled up, and the topsails clewed down, yet, i assure you, that whale towed the ship dead against the wind for an hour and a half at the rate of two miles an hour, and all the while beating the water with his fins and tail, so that the sea was in a continual foam. we did not kill that fish till after forty hours of the hardest work i ever went through." some of my shipmates seemed to doubt the truth of this story; but, for my part, i believed it, because the mate was a grave, truthful man, though he was gruff, and never told lies, as far as i knew. moreover, a case of the same kind happened some years afterwards, to a messmate of mine, while he was serving aboard the _royal bounty_, on the th of may . i know that some of the stories which i now tell must seem very wild and unlikely to landsmen; but those who have been to the whale-fishery will admit that i tell nothing but the truth, and if there are any of my readers who are still doubtful, i would say, go and read the works of captain scoresby. it is well known that this whaling captain was a truly religious man, who gave up the fishing, though it turned him in plenty of money, and became a minister of the gospel with a small income, so it is not likely that he would have told what was untrue. well, in his works we find stories that are quite as remarkable as the one i have just told, some of them more so. for instance, he tells us of one whale, in the greenland seas, which was not killed till it had drawn out ten thousand four hundred and forty yards, or about _six miles_ of line, fastened to fifteen harpoons, besides taking one of the boats entirely under water, which boat was never seen again. the mate told us two or three more stories, and a lot of us were gathered round him, listening eagerly, for there is nothing jack likes so much as a _good yarn_, when all of a sudden, the man at the mast-head sang out that a large sperm whale was spouting away two points off the lee-bow. of course we were at our posts in a moment. "there she blows! there she breaches!" sung the look-out. "lower away!" roared the captain. the boats were in the water, and the men on their seats in a moment. the whale we were after was a very large one; we could see that, for after two hours' hard pulling we got near enough to throw a harpoon, and after it was fixed he jumped clean out of the water. then there was the usual battle. it was fierce and long; so long that i began to fear we would have to return empty handed to the ship. we put ten harpoons into him, one after another, and had a stiff run between the fixing of each. it is astonishing the difference between the fish. one will give you no trouble at all. i have often seen a good big fellow killed in half an hour. another will take you half a day, and perhaps you may lose him after all. the whale we were now after, at last took to showing fight. he made two or three runs at the boat, but the mate, who was in command, pricked him off with the lance cleverly. at last we gave him a severe wound, and immediately he dived. "that was into his life," remarked tom lokins, as we sat waiting for him to come up again. the captain's boat was close to ours, about ten yards off. we had not to wait long. the sudden stoppage and slacking off of all the lines showed that the whale was coming up. all at once i saw a dark object rising directly under the captain's boat. before i could make out what it was, almost before i could think, the boat flew up into the air, as if a powder magazine had exploded beneath it. the whale had come up, and hit it with his head right on the keel, so that it was knocked into pieces, and the men, oars, harpoons, lances, and tackle shot up in confusion into the air. immediately after that the whale went into his flurry, but we paid no attention to him, in our anxiety to pick up our companions. they all came to the surface quickly enough, but while some made for the boats vigorously, others swam slowly and with pain, showing that they were hurt, while one or two floated, as if dead, upon the water. most of the men had escaped with only a few cuts and bruises, but one poor fellow was hauled out of the water with a leg broken, and another was so badly knocked about the head that it was a long time before he was again fit for duty. the worst case, however, was that of poor fred borders. he had a leg broken, and a severe wound in the side from a harpoon which had been forced into the flesh over the barbs, so that we could hardly get it drawn out. we laid him in the stern of the boat, where he lay for some time insensible; but in a short time he revived, and spoke to us in a faint voice. his first words were--"i'm dying, messmates." "don't say that, fred," said i, while my heart sank within me. "cheer up, my boy, you'll live to be the death of many a whale yet. see, put your lips to this can--it will do you good." he shook his head gently, being too weak to reply. we had killed a big fish that day, and we knew that when he was "tried in" we should have completed our cargo; but there was no cheer given when the monster turned over on his side, and the pull to the ship that evening seemed to us the longest and heaviest we ever had, for our hearts were very sad. next day fred was worse, and we all saw that his words would come true,--he was dying. i was permitted to nurse my poor messmate, and i spent much of my time in reading the bible to him, at his own request. he lived about a week after the accident and then he died. we buried our shipmate in the usual sailor fashion. we wrapped him in his hammock, with a cannon-ball at his feet to sink him. the captain read the burial-service at the gangway, and then, in deep silence, we committed his corpse to the deep. chapter nine. news from home--a gam. the death of poor fred borders cast a gloom over the ship for many days. every one had respected, and many of us had loved the lad, so that we mourned for him long and truly. but a sailor's life is such a rough one, requiring so much energy and hearty good-will to his work, that he cannot afford to allow the sorrows of his heart to sit long on his countenance. in a day or two after no one would have supposed we had lost one of our best men. whales appeared in great numbers around us. the old cry of "there she blows!" ran out frequently from the mast-head, and the answering cry from the captain, "where away?" was followed by the "stand by to lower!--lower away." then came the chase, with all its dangers and excitement--the driving of the harpoon, the sudden rush of the struck fish, the smoke and sparks of fire from the logger-head, the plunging of the lance, the spouting blood, the "flurry" at the end, and the wild cheer as we beheld our prize floating calmly on the sea. and in the midst of such work we forgot for a time the solemn scene we had so recently witnessed. but our hearts were not so light as before, and although we did not show it, i knew full well that many a joke was checked, and many a laugh repressed, for the memory of our dead shipmate. the man who was most affected by his death was the captain; but we were not prepared for the great change that soon appeared in his manner and conduct. after a time he laughed with the rest of us at a good joke, and cheered as loud as the best when a big fish turned belly up, but his behaviour to us became more gentle and kind, and he entirely gave up the habit of swearing. he also forbade working on sunday. many a whale have i seen sporting and spouting near us on that day, but never did we lower a boat or touch a harpoon on sunday. some of the men grumbled at this, and complained of it to each other, but they never spoke so as to let the captain hear, and they soon gave up their grumbling, for the most of us were well pleased with the change, and all of us had agreed to it. the first sunday after fred's death, the captain assembled the crew on the quarter-deck, and spoke to us about it. "my lads," said he, "i've called you aft to make a proposal that may perhaps surprise some of you. up to this time, you know very well, there has been little difference aboard this ship between saturday and sunday. since our poor shipmate died i have been thinkin' much on this matter, and i've come to the conclusion that we shall rest from all work on sunday, except such as must be done to work the ship. now, lads, you know me well enough by this time. i have never been a religious man all my life, and i don't pretend to say that i'm one now. i'm not very learned on this matter, and can't explain myself very well; but what think you, lads, shall we give the whales a rest on sundays?" we all agreed to this at once, for the effect of the captain's speech was great upon us. it was not so much what he said, as the way in which he said it. he was by nature a bold, determined man, who never flinched from danger or duty, and when we heard him talking in that way we could scarcely believe our ears. this was all that was said about the matter between us and the captain, but we had many a hot discussion in the forecastle amongst ourselves after that. some were in favour of the new move, and said, stoutly, that the captain was a sensible fellow. others said he was becoming an old wife, and that no luck would follow the ship. in the course of time, however, we found the benefit of the change in every way; and the grumblers were silenced, because in spite of their wise shakings of the head, we filled the ship with oil as full as she could hold, much sooner than we had expected. shoregoing people have but little notion of the ease with which the heart of a jack-tar is made to rejoice when he is out on a long voyage. his pleasures and amusements are so few that he is thankful to make the most of whatever is thrown in his way. in the whale-fisheries, no doubt, he has more than enough of excitement, but after a time he gets used to this, and begins to long for a little variety--and of all the pleasures that fall to his lot, that which delights him most is to have a gam with another ship. now, a gam is the meeting of two or more whale-ships, their keeping company for a time, and the exchanging of visits by the crews. it is neither more nor less than a jollification on the sea,--the inviting of your friends to feast and make merry in your floating house. there is this difference, however, between a gam at sea and a party on land, that your _friends_ on the ocean are men whom you perhaps never saw before, and whom you will likely never meet again. there is also another difference--there are no ladies at a gam. this is a great want, for man is but a rugged creature when away from the refining influence of woman; but, in the circumstances, of course, it can't be helped. we had a gam one day, on this voyage, with a yankee whale-ship, and a first-rate gam it was, for, as the yankee had gammed three days before with another english ship, we got a lot of news second-hand; and, as we had not seen a new face for many months, we felt towards those yankees like brothers, and swallowed all they had to tell us like men starving for news. it was on a fine calm morning, just after breakfast, that we fell in with this ship. we had seen no whales for a day or two, but we did not mind that, for our hold was almost full of oil-barrels. tom lokins and i were leaning over the starboard bulwarks, watching the small fish that every now and then darted through the clear-blue water like arrows, and smoking our pipes in silence. tom looked uncommonly grave, and i knew that he was having some deep and knowing thoughts of his own, which would leak out in time. all at once he took his pipe from his mouth and stared earnestly at the horizon. "bob," said he, speaking very slowly, "if there ain't a ship right off the starboard beam, i'm a dutchman." "you don't mean it!" said i, starting with a feeling of excitement. before another word could be uttered, the cry of "sail ho!" came ringing down from the mast-head. instantly the quiet of the morning was broken; sleepers sprang up and rubbed their eyes, the men below rushed wildly up the hatchway, the cook came tearing out of his own private den, flourishing a soup-ladle in one hand and his tormentors in the other, the steward came tumbling up with a lump of dough in his fist that he had forgot to throw down in his haste, and the captain bolted up from the cabin without his hat. "where away?" cried he, with more than his usual energy. "right off the starboard beam, sir." "square the yards! look alive, my hearties," was the next order; for although the calm sea was like a sheet of glass, a light air, just sufficient to fill our top-gallant sails, enabled us to creep through the water. "hurrah!" shouted the men as we sprang to obey. "what does she look like?" roared the captain. "a big ship, sir, i think," replied the look-out, "but i can only just make out the top of her main t-gallan' s'l."--(sailors scorn to speak of _top-gallant sails_). gradually, one by one, the white sails of the stranger rose up like cloudlets out of the sea, and our hearts beat high with hope and expectation as we beheld the towering canvas of a full-rigged ship rise slowly into view. "show our colours," said the captain. in a moment the union jack of old england was waving at the mast-head in the gentle breeze, and we watched anxiously for a reply. the stranger was polite; his colours flew up a moment after, and displayed the stripes and stars of america. "a yankee!" exclaimed some of the men in a tone of slight disappointment. i may remark, that our disappointment arose simply from the fact that there was no chance, as we supposed, of getting news from "home" out of a ship that must have sailed last from america. for the rest, we cared not whether they were yankees or britons--they were men who could speak the english tongue, that was enough for us. "never mind, boys," cried one, "we'll have a jolly gam; that's a fact." "so we will," said another, "and i'll get news of my mad irish cousin, terrence o'flannagan, who went out to seek his fortin in ameriky with two shillin's and a broken knife in his pocket, and it's been said he's got into a government situation o' some sort connected with the jails,-- whether as captain, or leftenant o' police, or turnkey, i'm not rightly sure." "more likely as a life-tenant of one of the cells," observed bill blunt, laughing. "don't speak ill of a better man than yerself behind his back," retorted the owner of the irish cousin. "stand by to lower the jolly-boat," cried the captain. "ay, ay, sir." "lower away!" in a few minutes we were leaping over the calm sea in the direction of the strange ship, for the breeze had died down, and we were too eager to meet with new faces, and to hear the sound of new voices, to wait for the wind. to our joy we found that the yankee had had a gam (as i have already said) with an english ship a few days before, so we returned to our vessel loaded with old newspapers from england, having invited the captain and crew of the yankee to come aboard of us and spend the day. while preparation was being made for the reception of our friends, we got hold of two of the old newspapers, and tom lokins seized one, while bill blunt got the other, and both men sat down on the windlass to retail the news to a crowd of eager men who tried hard to listen to both at once, and so could make nothing out of either. "hold hard, tom lokins," cried one. "what's that you say about the emperor, bill?" "the emperor of roosia," said bill blunt, reading slowly, and with difficulty, "is--stop a bit, messmates, wot _can_ this word be?--the emperor of roosia is--" "blowed up with gunpowder, and shattered to a thousand pieces," said tom lokins, raising his voice with excitement, as he read from _his_ paper an account of the blowing up of a mountain fortress in india. "oh! come, i say, one at a time, if you please," cried a harpooner; "a feller can't git a word of sense out of sich a jumble." "come, messmates," cried two or three voices, as tom stopped suddenly, and looked hard at the paper, "go ahead! wot have ye got there that makes ye look as wise as an owl? has war been and broke out with the french?" "i do believe he's readin' the births, marriages, and deaths," said one of the men, peeping over tom's shoulder. "read 'em out, then, can't ye?" cried another. "i say, bill blunt, i think this consarns _you_," cried tom: "isn't your sweetheart's name susan croft?" "that's a fact," said bill, looking up from his paper, "and who has got a word to say agin the prettiest lass in all liverpool?" "nobody's got a word to say against her," replied tom; "but she's married, that's all." bill blunt leaped up as if he had been shot, and the blood rushed to his face, as he seized the paper, and tried to find the place. "where is it, tom? let me see it with my own two eyes. oh, here it is!" the poor man's face grew paler and paler as he read the following words:-- "married at liverpool, on the th inst, by the reverend charles manson, edward gordon, esquire, to susan, youngest daughter of admiral croft--" a perfect roar of laughter drowned the remainder of the sentence. "well done, bill blunt--mister blunt, we'll have to call him hereafter," said tom, with a grim smile; "i had no notion you thought so much o' yourself as to aim at an admiral's daughter." "all right, my hearties, chaff away!" said bill, fetching a deep sigh of relief, while a broad grin played on his weather-beaten visage. "there's _two_ susan crofts, that's all; but i wouldn't give _my_ susan for all the admirals' daughters that ever walked in shoe-leather." "hallo! here come the yankees," cried the captain, coming on deck at that moment. our newspapers were thrown down at once, and we prepared to receive our guests, who, we could see, had just put off from their ship in two boats. but before they had come within a mile of us, their attention, as well as ours, was riveted on a most extraordinary sight. not more than a hundred yards ahead of our ship, a whale came suddenly to the surface of the water, seeming, by its wild motions, to be in a state of terror. it continued for some time to struggle, and lash the whole sea around it into a white foam. at once the boats were lowered from both ships, and we went after this fish, but his motions were so violent, that we found it utterly impossible to get near enough to throw a harpoon. when we had approached somewhat closely, we discovered that it had been attacked by a killer fish, which was fully twenty feet long, and stuck to it like a leech. the monster's struggles were made in trying to shake itself free of this tremendous enemy, but it could not accomplish this. the killer held him by the under jaw, and hung on there, while the whale threw himself out of the water in his agony, with his great mouth open like a huge cavern, and the blood flowing so fast from the wound that the sea was dyed for a long distance round. the killer fought like a bulldog. it held on until the whale was exhausted, but they passed away from us in such a confused struggle, that a harpoon could not be fixed for an hour after we first saw them. on this being done, the killer let go, and the whale, being already half dead, was soon killed. the yankee boats were the first to come up with this fish, so the prize belonged to them. we were well pleased at this, as we could afford to let them have it, seeing that we could scarcely have found room to stow away the oil in our hold. it was the yankees' first fish, too, so they were in great spirits about it, and towed it to their ship, singing "yankee-doodle" with all their might. as they passed our boat the captain hailed them. "i wish you joy of your first fish, sir," said he to the yankee captain. "thank you, stranger. i guess we're in luck, though it ain't a big one. i say, what sort o' brute was that, that had hold of him? never seed sich a crittur in all my life." "he's a killer," said our captain. "a killer! guess he just is, and no mistake: if we hadn't helped him, he'd have done the job for himself! what does he kill him for?" "to eat him, but i'm told he only eats the tongue. you'll not forget that you've promised to gam with us to-night," cried our captain, as they were about to commence pulling again. "all right, stranger, one half will come to-night, before sundown; t'other half to-morrow, if the calm holds. good-day. give way, lads." the men dipped their oars, and resumed their song, while we pulled back to our ship. we did not offer to help them, because the fish was a small one, and the distance they had to go not great. it was near sunset when, according to promise, the yankees came on board, and spent a long evening with us. they were a free, open-hearted, boastful, conceited, good-humoured set of fellows, and a jolly night we had of it in the forecastle, while the mates and captains were enjoying themselves and spinning their yarns in the cabin. of course, we began with demands for home news, and, when we had pumped out of them every drop they had, we began to sing songs and to spin yarns. and it was now that my friend tom lokins came out strong, and went on at such a rate, that he quite won the hearts of our guests. tom was not noisy, and he was slow in his talk, but he had the knack of telling a good story; he never used a wrong word, or a word too many, and, having a great deal of humour, men could not help listening when he began to talk. after this we had a dance, and here i became useful, being able to play scotch reels and irish jigs on the fiddle. then we had songs and yarns again. some could tell of furious fights with whales that made our blood boil; others could talk of the green fields at home, until we almost fancied we were boys again; and some could not tell stories at all. they had little to say, and that little they said ill; and i noticed that many of those who were perfect bores would cry loudest to be heard, though none of us wanted to hear them. we used to quench such fellows by calling loudly for a song with a rousing chorus. it was not till the night was far spent, and the silver moon was sailing through the starry sky, that the yankees left us, and rowed away with a parting cheer. chapter ten. return home. six months after our "gam" with the yankees tom lokins and i found ourselves seated once more in the little garret beside my dear old mother. "deary me, robert, how changed ye are!" "changed, mother! i should think so! if you'd gone through all that i've done and seen since we last sat together in this room you'd be changed too." "and have ye really seen the whales, my boy?" continued my mother, stroking my face with her old hand. "seen them? ay, and killed them too--many of them." "you've been in danger, my son," said my mother earnestly, "but god has preserved you safe through it all." "ay, mother, he has preserved my life in the midst of many dangers," said i, "for which i am most thankful." there was a short silence after this, during which my mother and i gazed earnestly at each other, and tom lokins smoked his pipe and stared at the fire. "robert, how big is a whale?" inquired my mother suddenly. "how big? why, it's as big as a small ship, only it's longer, and not quite so fat." "robert," replied my mother gravely, "ye didn't used to tell untruths; ye must be jokin'." "joking, mother, i was never more in earnest in my life. why, i tell you that i've seen, ay, and helped to cut up, whales that were more than sixty feet long, with heads so big that their mouths could have taken in a boat. why, mother, i declare to you that you could put this room into a whale's mouth, and you and tom and i could sit round this table and take our tea upon his tongue quite comfortable. isn't that true, tom?" my mother looked at tom, who removed his pipe, puffed a cloud of smoke, and nodded his head twice very decidedly. "moreover," said i, "a whale is so big and strong, that it can knock a boat right up into the air, and break in the sides of a ship. one day a whale fell right on top of one of our boats, and smashed it all to bits. now that's a real truth!" again my mother looked at tom lokins, and again that worthy man puffed an immense cloud of smoke, and nodded his head more decidedly than before. being anxious to put to flight all her doubts at once, he said solemnly, "old ooman, that's a fact!" "robert," said my mother, "tell me something about the whales." just as she said this the door opened, and in came the good old gentleman with the nose like his cane-knob, and with as kind a heart as ever beat in a human breast. my mother had already told me that he came to see her regularly once a week, ever since i went to sea, except in summer, when he was away in the country, and that he had never allowed her to want for anything. i need scarcely say that there was a hearty meeting between us three, and that we had much to say to each other. but in the midst of it all my mother turned to the old gentleman and said-- "robert was just going to tell me something about his adventures with the whales." "that's capital!" cried the old gentleman, rubbing his hands. "come, bob, my boy, let's hear about 'em." being thus invited, i consented to spin them a yarn. the old gentleman settled himself in his chair, my mother smoothed her apron, folded her hands, and looked meekly into my face. tom lokins filled his pipe, stretched out his foot to poke the fire with the toe of his shoe, and began to smoke like a steam-engine; then i cleared my throat and began my tale, and before i had done talking that night, i had told them all that i have told in this little book, almost word for word. thus ended my first voyage to the south seas. many and many a trip have i made since then, and many a wonderful sight have i seen, both in the south and in the north. but if i were to write an account of all my adventures, my little book would grow into a big one; i must therefore come to a close. the profits of this voyage were so great, that i was enabled to place my mother in a position of comfort for the rest of her life, which, alas! was very short. she died about six months after my return. i nursed her to the end, and, when i laid her dear head in the grave, my heart seemed to die within me, for i felt that i had lost one of god's most precious gifts--an honest, gentle, pious mother. i'm getting to be a old man now, but i am comfortable and happy, and as i have more than enough of this world's goods, and no family to care for, my chief occupation is to look after the poor, and particularly the old women who live in my neighbourhood. after the work of the day is done, i generally go and spend the evening with tom lokins, who lives near by, and is stout and hearty still; or he comes and spends it with me, and, while we smoke our pipes together, we often fall to talking about those stirring days when, in the strength and hope of youth, we sailed together to the south seas, and took to--_fighting the whales_. the end. the cruise of the "cachalot" round the world after sperm whales frank t. bullen, f.r.g.s. first mate to miss emily hensley in grateful remembrance of thirty years' constant friendship and practical help this work is affectionately dedicated by her humble pupil. preface in the following pages an attempt has been made--it is believed for the first time--to give an account of the cruise of a south sea whaler from the seaman's standpoint. two very useful books have been published--both of them over half a century ago--on the same subject; but, being written by the surgeons of whale-ships for scientific purposes, neither of them was interesting to the general reader. ["narrative of a whaling voyage round the globe," by f debell bennett, f.r.c.s. ( vols). bentley, london ( ). "the sperm whale fishery," by thomas beale, m.r.c.s. london ( ).] they have both been long out of print; but their value to the student of natural history has been, and still is, very great, dr. beale's book, in particular, being still the authority on the sperm whale. this book does not pretend to compete with either of the above valuable works. its aims is to present to the general reader a simple account of the methods employed, and the dangers met with, in a calling about which the great mass of the public knows absolutely nothing. pending the advent of some great writer who shall see the wonderful possibilities for literature contained in the world-wide wanderings of the south sea whale-fishers, the author has endeavoured to summarize his experiences so that they may be read without weariness, and, it is hoped, with profit. the manifold shortcomings of the work will not, it is trusted, be laid to the account of the subject, than which none more interesting could well be imagined, but to the limitations of the writer, whose long experience of sea life has done little to foster the literary faculty. one claim may be made with perfect confidence--that if the manner be not all that could be wished, the matter is entirely trustworthy, being compiled from actual observation and experience, and in no case at second-hand. an endeavour has also been made to exclude such matter as is easily obtainable elsewhere--matters of common knowledge and "padding" of any sort--the object not being simply the making of a book, but the record of little-known facts. great care has been taken to use no names either of ships or persons, which could, by being identified, give annoyance or pain to any one, as in many cases strong language has been necessary for the expression of opinions. finally, the author hopes that, although in no sense exclusively a book for boys, the coming generation may find this volume readable and interesting; and with that desire he offers it confidently, though in all humility, to that great impartial jury, the public. f.t.b. dulwich, july, . contents chapter i--outward bound adrift in new bedford--i get a ship--a motley crowd--"built by the mile, and cut off as you want 'em"--mistah jones--greenies--off to sea. chapter ii--preparing for action primitive steering-gear--strange drill--misery below--short commons--goliath rigs the "crow's-nest"--useful information--preparing for war--strange weapons--a boat-load. chapter iii--fishing begins the cleanliness of a whale-ship--no skulking--porpoise-fishing--cannibals--cooking operations--boat-drill--a good look-out--"black-fishing"--roguery in all trades--plenty of fresh beef--the nursery of american whalemen. chapter iv--bad weather nautical routine--the first gale--comfort versus speed--a grand sea-boat--the sargasso sea--natural history pursuits--dolphin--unconventional fishing--rumours of a visit to the cape verdes--babel below--no allowance, but not "full and plenty"--queer washing--method of sharing rations--the "slop-shop" opened--our prospects. chapter v--actual warfare. our first whale premonitions--discussion on whaling from unknown premisses--i wake in a fright--sperm whales at last--the war begins--warning--we get fast--and get loose--in trouble--an uncomfortable situation--no pity-only one whale--rigging the "cutting-stage"--securing the whale alongside. chapter vi--"dirty work for clean money" goliath in trouble--commence "cutting-in"--a heavy head--a tank of spermaceti--decks running with oil--a "patent" mincing-machine--extensive cooking--dangerous work--three tuns of oil--a horrible mess--a thin-skinned monster--a fine mouth of teeth. chapter vii--getting southward captain slocum's amenities--expensive beer--st. paul's rocks--"bonito"--"showery" weather--waterspouts--calms--a friendly finback--a disquisition on whales by mistah jones--flying-fishing. chapter viii--abner's whale abner in luck--a big "fish" at last--a feat of endurance--a fighting whale--the sperm whale's food--ambergris--a good reception--hard labour--abner's reward--"scrimshaw". chapter ix--our first calling-place a forced march--tristan d'acunha--visitors--fresh provisions--a warm welcome--goliath's turn--a feathered host--good gear--a rough time--creeping north--uncertainty--"rule of thumb"--navigation--the mozambique channel. chapter x--a visit to some strange places tropical thunderstorms--a "record" day's fishing--cetacean frivolities--mistah jones moralizes--a snug harbour--wooding and watering--catching a turtle--catching a "tartar"--a violent death--a crooked jaw--aldabra island--primeval inhabitants--a strange steed--"pirate" birds--good eggs--green cocoa-nuts--more turtle--a school of "kogia". chapter xi--round the cocos and seychelles we encounter a "cyclone"--a tremendous gust--a foundering ship--to anchor for repairs--the cocos--repairing damages--around the seychelles--a "milk" sea--a derelict prahu--a ghastly freight--a stagnant sea. chapter xii--which treats of the kraken "eyes and no eyes" at sea--of big mollusca--the origin of sea-serpent stories--rediscovery of the "kraken"--a conflict of monsters--"the insatiable nightmares of the sea"--spermaceti running to waste--the east indian maze. chapter xiii--off to the japan grounds a whale off hong kong--the skipper and his "'bomb-gun"--injury to the captain--unwelcome visitors--the heathen chinee--we get safe off--"death of portagee jim"--the funeral--the coast of japan--port lloyd--meeting of whale-ships. chapter xiv--liberty day--and after liberty day--i foregather with a "beach-comber"--a big fight--goliath on the war-path--a court-martial--wholesale flogging--a miserable crowd--quite a fleet of whale-ships--i "raise" a sperm whale--severe competition--an unfortunate stroke--the skipper distinguishes himself. chapter xv--which comes uncomfortably near being the last i come to grief--emulating jonah--sharing a flurry--a long spell of sick-leave--the whale's "sixth sense"--off to the kuriles--prepare for "bowhead" fishing--the sea of okhotsk--abundant salmon--the "daintiness" of seamen. chapter xvi--"bowhead" fishing difference between whales--popular ideas exploded--the gentle mysticetus--very tame work--fond of tongue--goliath confides in me--an awful affair--captain slocum's death--"not amurath an amurath succeeds"--i am promoted. chapter xvii--visit to honolulu towards honolulu--missionaries and their critics--the happy kanaka--honolulu--a pleasant holiday. chapter xviii--on the "line" grounds i get my opportunity--a new harpooner--feats under the skipper's eye--two whales on one line--compliments heavy towage--a grand haul. chapter xix--edging southward monotony--a school of blackfish--a boat ripped in half--a multitude of sharks--a curious backbone--christmas day--a novel christmas dinner--a find of ambergris. chapter xx--"humpbacking" at vau vau "gamming" again--a whitechapel rover--arrive at vau vau--valuable friends--a sunday ashore--"hollingside"--the natives at church--full-dress--very "mishnally"--idyllic cruising--wonderful mother-love--a mighty feast. chapter xxi--progress of the "humpback" season a fruitless chase--placid times--a stirring adventure--a vast cave--unforeseen company--a night of terror--we provide a feast for the sharks--the death of abner--an impressive ceremony--an invitation to dinner--kanaka cookery. chapter xxii--farewell to vau vau ignorance of the habits of whales--a terrific encounter--vae victis--rewarding our "flems"--we leave van vau--the outward bounder--sailors' "homes"--a night of horror--sudden death--futuna. chapter xxiii--at futuna, recruiting a fleet of nondescripts--"tui tongoa" otherwise sam--eager recruits--devout catholics--a visit to sunday island--a crusoe family--their eviction--maori cabbage--fine fishing--away for new zealand--sight the "three kings"--the bay of islands. chapter xxiv--the bay of islands and new zealand coast sleepy hollow--wood and water--liberty day--a plea for the sailors' recreation--our picnic--a a whiff of "may"--a delightful excursion--to the southward again--wintry weather--enter foveaux straits. chapter xxv--on the solander grounds firstfruits of the solander--an easy catch--delights of the solander--port william--the old chance--"paddy gilroy"--barbarians from the east end--barracouta-fishing--wind-bound--an enormous school of cachalots--misfortune--a bursting whale--back on the solander again--cutting-in at port william--studying anatomy--badly battered yankees--paddy in luck again. chapter xxvi--paddy's latest exploit we try preservation inlet--an astounding feat of paddy gilroy's. chapter xxvii--port pegasus port pegasus--among old acquaintances--"mutton birds"--skilled auxiliaries--a gratifying catch--leave port again--back to the solander--a grim escape--our last whales--into port william again--paddy's assistance--we part with our kanakas--sam's plans of conquest. chapter xxviii--to the bluff, and home and last--in high-toned company--another picnic--depart from the bluff--hey for the horn!--among the icebergs--"scudding"--favouring trades--a narrow escape from collision--home at last. introduction without attempting the ambitious task of presenting a comprehensive sketch of the origin, rise, and fall of whale-fishing as a whole, it seems necessary to give a brief outline of that portion of the subject bearing upon the theme of the present book before plunging into the first chapter. this preliminary is the more needed for the reason alluded to in the preface--the want of knowledge of the subject that is apparent everywhere. the greenland whale fishery has been so popularized that most people know something about it; the sperm whale fishery still awaits its scoresby and a like train of imitators and borrowers. cachalots, or sperm whales, must have been captured on the coasts of europe in a desultory way from a very early date, by the incidental allusions to the prime products spermaceti and ambergris which are found in so many ancient writers, shakespeare's reference--"the sovereign'st thing on earth was parmaceti for an inward bruise"--will be familiar to most people, as well as milton's mention of the delicacies at satan's feast--"grisamber steamed"--not to carry quotation any further. but in the year the brave and hardy fishermen of the north-east coasts of north america established that systematic pursuit of the cachalot which has thriven so wonderfully ever since, although it must be confessed that the last few years have witnessed a serious decline in this great branch of trade. for many years the american colonists completely engrossed this branch of the whale fishery, contentedly leaving to great britain and the continental nations the monopoly of the northern or arctic fisheries, while they cruised the stormy, if milder, seas around their own shores. for the resultant products, their best customer was the mother country, and a lucrative commerce steadily grew up between the two countries. but when the march of events brought the unfortunate and wholly unnecessary war of independence, this flourishing trade was the first to suffer, and many of the daring fishermen became our fiercest foes on board their own men-of-war. the total stoppage of the importation of sperm oil and spermaceti was naturally severely felt in england, for time had not permitted the invention of substitutes. in consequence of this, ten ships were equipped and sent out to the sperm whale fishery from england in , most of them owned by one london firm, the messrs. enderby. the next year, in order to encourage the infant enterprise, a government bounty, graduated from l to l per ship, was granted. under this fostering care the number of ships engaged in the sperm whale fishery progressively increased until , when it attained its maximum. this method of whaling being quite new to our whalemen, it was necessary, at great cost, to hire american officers and harpooners to instruct them in the ways of dealing with these highly active and dangerous cetacea. naturally, it was by-and-by found possible to dispense with the services of these auxiliaries; but it must be confessed that the business never seems to have found such favour, or to have been prosecuted with such smartness, among our whalemen as it has by the americans. something of an exotic the trade always was among us, although it did attain considerable proportions at one time. at first the fishing was confined to the atlantic ocean; nor for many years was it necessary to go farther afield, as abundance of whales could easily be found. as, however, the number of ships engaged increased, it was inevitable that the known grounds should become exhausted, and in messrs. enderby's ship, the emilia, first ventured round cape horn, as the pioneer of a greater trade than ever. the way once pointed out, other ships were not slow to follow, until, in , the british whale-ship syren opened up the till then unexplored tract of ocean in the western part of the north pacific, afterwards familiarly known as the "coast of japan." from these teeming waters alone, for many years an average annual catch of , barrels of oil was taken, which, at the average price of l per barrel, will give some idea of the value of the trade generally. the australian colonists, early in their career, found the sperm whale fishery easy of access from all their coasts, and especially lucrative. at one time they bade fair to establish a whale fishery that should rival the splendid trade of the americans; but, like the mother country, they permitted the fishery to decline, so that even bounties could not keep it alive. meanwhile, the americans added to their fleet continually, prospering amazingly. but suddenly the advent of the civil war let loose among those peaceable cruisers the devastating alabama, whose course was marked in some parts of the world by the fires of blazing whale-ships. a great part, of the geneva award was on this account, although it must be acknowledged that many pseudo-owners were enriched who never owned aught but brazen impudence and influential friends to push their fictitious claims. the real sufferers, seamen especially, in most cases never received any redress whatever. from this crushing blow the american sperm whale fishery has never fully recovered. when the writer was in the trade, some twenty-two years ago, it was credited with a fleet of between three and four hundred sail; now it may be doubted whether the numbers reach an eighth of that amount. a rigid conservatism of method hinders any revival of the industry, which is practically conducted to-day as it was fifty, or even a hundred years ago; and it is probable that another decade will witness the final extinction of what was once one of the most important maritime industries in the world. the cruise of the "cachalot" chapter i. outward bound at the age of eighteen, after a sea-experience of six years from the time when i dodged about london streets, a ragged arab, with wits sharpened by the constant fight for food, i found myself roaming the streets of new bedford, massachusetts. how i came to be there, of all places in the world, does not concern this story at all, so i am not going to trouble my readers with it; enough to say that i was there, and mighty anxious to get away. sailor jack is always hankering for shore when he is at sea, but when he is "outward bound"--that is, when his money is all gone--he is like a cat in the rain there. so as my money was all gone, i was hungry for a ship; and when a long, keen-looking man with a goat-like beard, and mouth stained with dry tobacco-juice, hailed me one afternoon at the street-corner, i answered very promptly, scenting a berth. "lookin' fer a ship, stranger?" said he. "yes; do you want a hand?" said i, anxiously. he made a funny little sound something like a pony's whinny, then answered, "wall, i should surmise that i want between fifty and sixty hands, ef yew kin lay me onto 'em; but, kem along, every dreep's a drop, an' yew seem likely enough." with that he turned and led the way until we reached a building around which were gathered one of the most nondescript crowds i had ever seen. there certainly did not appear to be a sailor among them. not so much by their rig, though that is not a great deal to go by, but by their actions and speech. one thing they all had in common, tobacco chewing but as nearly every male i met with in america did that, it was not much to be noticed. i had hardly done reckoning them up when two or three bustling men came out and shepherded us all energetically into a long, low room, where some form of agreement was read out to us. sailors are naturally and usually careless about the nature of the "articles" they sign, their chief anxiety being to get to sea, and under somebody's charge. but had i been ever so anxious to know what i was going to sign this time, i could not, for the language might as well have been chinese for all i understood of it. however, i signed and passed on, engaged to go i knew not where, in some ship i did not know even the name of, in which i was to receive i did not know how much, or how little, for my labour, nor how long i was going to be away. "what a young fool!" i hear somebody say. i quite agree, but there were a good many more in that ship, as in most ships that i have ever sailed in. from the time we signed the articles, we were never left to ourselves. truculent-looking men accompanied us to our several boarding-houses, paid our debts for us, finally bringing us by boat to a ship lying out in the bay. as we passed under her stern, i read the name cachalot, of new bedford; but as soon as we ranged alongside, i realized that i was booked for the sailor's horror--a cruise in a whaler. badly as i wanted to get to sea, i had not bargained for this, and would have run some risks to get ashore again; but they took no chances, so we were all soon aboard. before going forward, i took a comprehensive glance around, and saw that i was on board of a vessel belonging to a type which has almost disappeared off the face of the waters. a more perfect contrast to the trim-built english clipper-ships that i had been accustomed to i could hardly imagine. she was one of a class characterized by sailors as "built by the mile, and cut off in lengths as you want 'em," bow and stern almost alike, masts standing straight as broomsticks, and bowsprit soaring upwards at an angle of about forty-five degrees. she was as old-fashioned in her rig as in her hull; but i must not go into the technical differences between rigs, for fear of making myself tedious. right in the centre of the deck, occupying a space of about ten feet by eight, was a square erection of brickwork, upon which my wondering gaze rested longest, for i had not the slightest idea what it could be. but i was rudely roused from my meditations by the harsh voice of one of the officers, who shouted, "naow then, git below an' stow yer dunnage, 'n look lively up agin." i took the broad hint, and shouldering my traps, hurried forward to the fo'lk'sle, which was below deck. tumbling down the steep ladder, i entered the gloomy den which was to be for so long my home, finding it fairly packed with my shipmates. a motley crowd they were. i had been used in english ships to considerable variety of nationality; but here were gathered, not only the representatives of five or six nations, but 'long-shoremen of all kinds, half of whom had hardly ever set eyes on a ship before! the whole space was undivided by partition, but i saw at once that black men and white had separated themselves, the blacks taking the port side and the whites the starboard. finding a vacant bunk by the dim glimmer of the ancient teapot lamp that hung amidships, giving out as much smoke as light, i hurriedly shifted my coat for a "jumper" or blouse, put on an old cap, and climbed into the fresh air again. for a double reason, even my seasoned head was feeling bad with the villainous reek of the place, and i did not want any of those hard-featured officers on deck to have any cause to complain of my "hanging back." on board ship, especially american ships, the first requisite for a sailor who wants to be treated properly is to "show willing," any suspicion of slackness being noted immediately, and the backward one marked accordingly. i had hardly reached the deck when i was confronted by a negro, the biggest i ever saw in, my life. he looked me up and down for a moment, then opening his ebony features in a wide smile, he said, "great snakes! why, here's a sailor man for sure! guess thet's so, ain't it, johnny?" i said "yes" very curtly, for i hardly liked his patronizing air; but he snapped me up short with "yes, sir, when yew speak to me, yew blank lime-juicer. i'se de fourf mate ob dis yar ship, en my name's mistah jones, 'n yew, jest freeze on to dat ar, ef yew want ter lib long'n die happy. see, sonny." i saw, and answered promptly, "i beg your pardon, sir, i didn't know." "ob cawse yew didn't know, dat's all right, little britisher; naow jest skip aloft 'n loose dat fore-taupsle." "aye, aye, sir," i answered cheerily, springing at once into the fore-rigging and up the ratlines like a monkey, but not too fast to hear him chuckle, "dat's a smart kiddy, i bet." i had the big sail loose in double quick time, and sung out "all gone, the fore-taupsle," before any of the other sails were adrift. "loose the to-gantsle and staysles" came up from below in a voice like thunder, and i bounded up higher to my task. on deck i could see a crowd at the windlass heaving up anchor. i said to myself, "they don't waste any time getting this packet away." evidently they were not anxious to test any of the crew's swimming powers. they were wise, for had she remained at anchor that night i verily believe some of the poor wretches would have tried to escape. the anchor came aweigh, the sails were sheeted home, and i returned on deck to find the ship gathering way for the heads, fairly started on her long voyage. what a bear-garden the deck was, to be sure! the black portion of the crew--portuguese natives from the western and canary islands--were doing their work all right in a clumsy fashion; but the farmers, and bakers, and draymen were being driven about mercilessly amid a perfect hurricane of profanity and blows. and right here i must say that, accustomed as i had always been to bad language all my life, what i now heard was a revelation to me. i would not, if i could, attempt to give a sample of it, but it must be understood that it was incessant throughout the voyage. no order could be given without it, under the impression, apparently, that the more curses the more speed. before nightfall we were fairly out to sea, and the ceremony of dividing the crew into watches was gone through. i found myself in the chief mate's or "port" watch (they called it "larboard," a term i had never heard used before, it having long been obsolete in merchant ships), though the huge negro fourth mate seemed none too well pleased that i was not under his command, his being the starboard watch under the second mate. as night fell, the condition of the "greenies," or non-sailor portion of the crew, was pitiable. helpless from sea-sickness, not knowing where to go or what to do, bullied relentlessly by the ruthless petty officers--well, i never felt so sorry for a lot of men in my life. glad enough i was to get below into the fo'lk'sle for supper, and a brief rest and respite from that cruelty on deck. a bit of salt junk and a piece of bread, i.e. biscuit, flinty as a pantile, with a pot of something sweetened with "longlick" (molasses), made an apology for a meal, and i turned in. in a very few minutes oblivion came, making me as happy as any man can be in this world. chapter ii. preparing for action the hideous noise always considered necessary in those ships when calling the watch, roused me effectively at midnight, "eight bells." i hurried on deck, fully aware that no leisurely ten minutes would be allowed here. "lay aft the watch," saluted me as i emerged into the keen strong air, quickening my pace according to where the mate stood waiting to muster his men. as soon as he saw me, he said, "can you steer?" in a mocking tone; but when i quietly answered, "yes, sir," his look of astonishment was delightful to see. he choked it down, however, and merely telling me to take the wheel, turned forrard roaring frantically for his watch. i had no time to chuckle over what i knew was in store for him, getting those poor greenies collected from their several holes and corners, for on taking the wheel i found a machine under my hands such as i never even heard of before. the wheel was fixed upon the tiller in such a manner that the whole concern travelled backwards and forwards across the deck in the maddest kind of way. for the first quarter of an hour, in spite of the september chill, the sweat poured off me in streams. and the course--well, if was not steering, it was sculling; the old bumboat was wobbling all around like a drunken tailor with two left legs. i fairly shook with apprehension lest the mate should come and look in the compass. i had been accustomed to hard words if i did not steer within half a point each way; but here was a "gadget" that worked me to death, the result being a wake like a letter s. gradually i got the hang of the thing, becoming easier in my mind on my own account. even that was not an unmixed blessing, for i had now some leisure to listen to the goings-on around the deck. such brutality i never witnessed before. on board of english ships (except men-of-war) there is practically no discipline, which is bad, but this sort of thing was maddening. i knew how desperately ill all those poor wretches were, how helpless and awkward they would be if quite hale and hearty; but there was absolutely no pity for them, the officers seemed to be incapable of any feelings of compassion whatever. my heart sank within me as i thought of what lay before me, although i did not fear that their treatment would also be mine, since i was at least able to do my duty, and willing to work hard to keep out of trouble. then i began to wonder what sort of voyage i was in for, how long it would last, and what my earnings were likely to be, none of which things i had the faintest idea of. fortunately, i was alone in the world. no one, as far as i knew, cared a straw what became of me; so that i was spared any worry on that head. and i had also a very definite and well-established trust in god, which i can now look back and see was as fully justified as i then believed it to be. so, as i could not shut my ears to the cruelties being carried on, nor banish thought by hard work, i looked up to the stately stars, thinking of things not to be talked about without being suspected of cant. so swiftly passed the time that when four bells struck: (two o'clock) i could hardly believe my ears. i was relieved by one of the portuguese, and went forward to witness a curious scene. seven stalwart men were being compelled to march up and down on that tumbling deck, men who had never before trodden anything less solid than the earth. the third mate, a waspish, spiteful little yankee with a face like an angry cat, strolled about among them, a strand of rope-yarns in his hand, which he wielded constantly, regardless where he struck a man. they fell about, sometimes four or five at once, and his blows flew thick and fast, yet he never seemed to weary of his ill-doing. it made me quite sick, and i longed to be aft at the wheel again. catching sight of me standing irresolute as to what i had better do, he ordered me on the "look-out," a tiny platform between the "knight heads," just where the bowsprit joins the ship. gladly i obeyed him, and perched up there looking over the wide sea, the time passed quickly away until eight bells (four o'clock) terminated my watch. i must pass rapidly over the condition of things in the fo'lk'sle, where all the greenies that were allowed below, were groaning in misery from the stifling atmosphere which made their sickness so much worse, while even that dreadful place was preferable to what awaited them on deck. there was a rainbow-coloured halo round the flame of the lamp, showing how very bad the air was; but in spite of that i turned in and slept soundly till seven bells ( . a.m.) roused us to breakfast. american ships generally have an excellent name for the way they feed their crews, but the whalers are a notable exception to that good rule. the food was really worse than that on board any english ship i have ever sailed in, so scanty also in quantity that it kept all the foremast hands at starvation point. but grumbling was dangerous, so i gulped down the dirty mixture mis-named coffee, ate a few fragments of biscuit, and filled up (?) with a smoke, as many better men are doing this morning. as the bell struck i hurried on deck--not one moment too soon--for as i stepped out of the scuttle i saw the third mate coming forward with a glitter in his eye that boded no good to laggards. before going any farther i must apologize for using so many capital i's, but up till the present i had been the only available white member of the crew forrard. the decks were scrubbed spotlessly clean, and everything was neat and tidy as on board a man-of-war, contrary to all usual notions of the condition of a whaler. the mate was in a state of high activity, so i soon found myself very busily engaged in getting up whale-lines, harpoons, and all the varied equipment for the pursuit of whales. the number of officers carried would have been a good crew for the ship, the complete afterguard comprising captain, four mates, four harpooners or boat-steerers, carpenter, cooper, steward and cook. all these worthies were on deck and working with might and main at the preparations, so that the incompetence of the crowd forrard was little hindrance. i was pounced upon by "mistah" jones, the fourth mate, whom i heard addressed familiarly as "goliath" and "anak" by his brother officers, and ordered to assist him in rigging the "crow's-nest" at the main royal-mast head. it was a simple affair. there were a pair of cross-trees fitted to the mast, upon which was secured a tiny platform about a foot wide on each side of the mast, while above this foothold a couple of padded hoops like a pair of giant spectacles were secured at a little higher than a man's waist. when all was fast one could creep up on the platform, through the hoop, and, resting his arms upon the latter, stand comfortably and gaze around, no matter how vigorously the old barky plunged and kicked beneath him. from that lofty eyrie i had a comprehensive view of the vessel. she was about tons and full ship-rigged, that is to say, she carried square sails on all three masts. her deck was flush fore and aft, the only obstructions being the brick-built "try-works" in the waist, the galley, and cabin skylight right aft by the taffrail. her bulwarks were set thickly round with clumsy looking wooden cranes, from which depended five boats. two more boats were secured bottom up upon a gallows aft, so she seemed to be well supplied in that direction. mistah jones, finding i did not presume upon his condescension, gradually unbent and furnished me with many interesting facts about the officers. captain slocum, he said, was "de debbil hisself, so jess yew keeps yer lamps trim' fer him, sonny, taint helthy ter rile him." the first officer, or the mate as he is always called par excellence, was an older man than the captain, but a good seaman, a good whaleman, and a gentleman. which combination i found to be a fact, although hard to believe possible at the time. the second mate was a portuguese about forty years of age, with a face like one of vandyke's cavaliers, but as i now learned, a perfect fiend when angered. he also was a first-class whaleman, but an indifferent seaman. the third mate was nothing much but bad temper--not much sailor, nor much whaler, generally in hot water with the skipper, who hated him because he was an "owner's man." "an de fourf mate," wound up the narrator, straightening his huge bulk, "am de bes' man in de ship, and de bigges'. dey aint no whalemen in noo bedford caynt teach me nuffin, en ef it comes ter man-handlin'; w'y i jes' pick 'em two't a time 'n crack 'em togerrer like so, see!" and he smote the palms of his great paws against each other, while i nodded complete assent. the weather being fine, with a steady n.e. wind blowing, so that the sails required no attention, work proceeded steadily all the morning. the oars were sorted, examined for flaws, and placed in the boats; the whale-line, manilla rope like yellow silk, / inch round, was brought on deck, stretched and coiled down with the greatest care into tubs, holding, some fathoms, and others fathoms each. new harpoons were fitted to poles of rough but heavy wood, without any attempt at neatness, but every attention to strength. the shape of these weapons was not, as is generally thought, that of an arrow, but rather like an arrow with one huge barb, the upper part of which curved out from the shaft. the whole of the barb turned on a stout pivot of steel, but was kept in line with the shaft by a tiny wooden peg which passed through barb and shaft, being then cut off smoothly on both sides. the point of the harpoon had at one side a wedge-shaped edge, ground to razor keenness, the other side was flat. the shaft, about thirty inches long, was of the best malleable iron, so soft that it would tie into a knot and straighten out again without fracture. three harpoons, or "irons" as they were always called, were placed in each boat, fitted one above the other in the starboard bow, the first for use being always one unused before, opposite to them in the boat were fitted three lances for the purpose of killing whales, the harpoons being only the means by which the boat was attached to a fish, and quite useless to inflict a fatal wound. these lances were slender spears of malleable iron about four feet long, with oval or heart-shaped points of fine steel about two inches broad, their edges kept keen as a surgeon's lancet. by means of a socket at the other end they were attached to neat handles, or "lance-poles," about as long again, the whole weapon being thus about eight feet in length, and furnished with a light line, or "lance-warp," for the purpose of drawing it back again when it had been darted at a whale. each boat was fitted with a centre-board, or sliding keel, which was drawn up, when not in use, into a case standing in the boat's middle, very much in the way. but the american whalemen regard these clumsy contrivances as indispensable, so there's an end on't. the other furniture of a boat comprised five oars of varying lengths from sixteen to nine feet, one great steering oar of nineteen feet, a mast and two sails of great area for so small a craft, spritsail shape; two tubs of whale-line containing together feet, a keg of drinking water, and another long narrow one with a few biscuits, a lantern, candles and matches therein; a bucket and "piggin" for baling, a small spade, a flag or "wheft," a shoulder bomb-gun and ammunition, two knives and two small axes. a rudder hung outside by the stern. with all this gear, although snugly stowed, a boat looked so loaded that i could not help wondering how six men would be able to work in her; but like most "deep-water" sailors, i knew very little about boating. i was going to learn. all this work and bustle of preparation was so rapidly carried on, and so interesting, that before supper-time everything was in readiness to commence operations, the time having gone so swiftly that i could hardly believe the bell when it sounded four times, six o'clock. chapter iii. fishing begins during all the bustle of warlike preparation that had been going on, the greenhorns had not suffered from inattention on the part of those appointed to look after them. happily for them, the wind blew steadily, and the weather, thanks to the balmy influence of the gulf stream, was quite mild and genial. the ship was undoubtedly lively, as all good sea-boats are, but her motions were by no means so detestable to a sea-sick man as those of a driving steamer. so, in spite of their treatment, perhaps because of it, some of the poor fellows were beginning to take hold of things "man-fashion," although of course sea legs they had none, their getting about being indeed a pilgrimage of pain. some of them were beginning to try the dreadful "grub" (i cannot libel "food" by using it in such a connection), thereby showing that their interest in life, even such a life as was now before them, was returning. they had all been allotted places in the various boats, intermixed with the seasoned portuguese in such a way that the officer and harpooner in charge would not be dependant upon them entirely in case of a sudden emergency. every endeavour was undoubtedly made to instruct them in their duties, albeit the teachers were all too apt to beat their information in with anything that came to hand, and persuasion found no place in their methods. the reports i had always heard of the laziness prevailing on board whale-ships were now abundantly falsified. from dawn to dark work went on without cessation. everything was rubbed and scrubbed and scoured until no speck or soil could be found; indeed, no gentleman's yacht or man-of-war is kept more spotlessly clean than was the cachalot. a regular and severe routine of labour was kept up; and, what was most galling to me, instead of a regular four hours' watch on and off, night and day, all hands were kept on deck the whole day long, doing quite unnecessary tasks, apparently with the object of preventing too much leisure and consequent brooding over their unhappy lot. one result of this continual drive and tear was that all these landsmen became rapidly imbued with the virtues of cleanliness, which was extended to the den in which we lived, or i verily believe sickness would have soon thinned us out. on the fourth day after leaving port we were all busy as usual except the four men in the "crow's-nests," when a sudden cry of "porps! porps!" brought everything to a standstill. a large school of porpoises had just joined us, in their usual clownish fashion, rolling and tumbling around the bows as the old barky wallowed along, surrounded by a wide ellipse of snowy foam. all work was instantly suspended, and active preparations made for securing a few of these frolicsome fellows. a "block," or pulley, was hung out at the bowsprit end, a whale-line passed through it and "bent" (fastened) on to a harpoon. another line with a running "bowline," or slip-noose, was also passed out to the bowsprit end, being held there by one man in readiness. then one of the harpooners ran out along the backropes, which keep the jib-boom down, taking his stand beneath the bowsprit with the harpoon ready. presently he raised his iron and followed the track of a rising porpoise with its point until the creature broke water. at the same instant the weapon left his grasp, apparently without any force behind it; but we on deck, holding the line, soon found that our excited hauling lifted a big vibrating body clean out of the smother beneath. "'vast hauling!" shouted the mate, while as the porpoise hung dangling, the harpooner slipped the ready bowline over his body, gently closing its grip round the "small" by the broad tail. then we hauled on the noose-line, slacking away the harpoon, and in a minute had our prize on deck. he was dragged away at once and the operation repeated. again and again we hauled them in, until the fore part of the deck was alive with the kicking, writhing sea-pigs, at least twenty of them. i had seen an occasional porpoise caught at sea before, but never more than one at a time. here, however, was a wholesale catch. at last one of the harpooned ones plunged so furiously while being hauled up that he literally tore himself off the iron, falling, streaming with blood, back into the sea. away went all the school after him, tearing at him with their long well-toothed jaws, some of them leaping high in the air in their eagerness to get their due share of the cannibal feast. our fishing was over for that time. meanwhile one of the harpooners had brought out a number of knives, with which all hands were soon busy skinning the blubber from the bodies. porpoises have no skin, that is hide, the blubber or coating of lard which encases them being covered by a black substance as thin as tissue paper. the porpoise hide of the boot maker is really leather, made from the skin of the beluga, or "white whale," which is found only in the far north. the cover was removed from the "tryworks" amidships, revealing two gigantic pots set in a frame of brickwork side by side, capable of holding gallons each. such a cooking apparatus as might have graced a brobdingnagian kitchen. beneath the pots was the very simplest of furnaces, hardly as elaborate as the familiar copper-hole sacred to washing day. square funnels of sheet-iron were loosely fitted to the flues, more as a protection against the oil boiling over into the fire than to carry away the smoke, of which from the peculiar nature of the fuel there was very little. at one side of the try-works was a large wooden vessel, or "hopper," to contain the raw blubber; at the other, a copper cistern or cooler of about gallons capacity, into which the prepared oil was baled to cool off, preliminary to its being poured into the casks. beneath the furnaces was a space as large as the whole area of the try-works, about a foot deep, which, when the fires were lighted, was filled with water to prevent the deck from burning. it may be imagined that the blubber from our twenty porpoises made but a poor show in one of the pots; nevertheless, we got a barrel of very excellent oil from them. the fires were fed with "scrap," or pieces of blubber from which the oil had been boiled, some of which had been reserved from the previous voyage. they burnt with a fierce and steady blaze, leaving but a trace of ash. i was then informed by one of the harpooners that no other fuel was ever used for boiling blubber at any time, there being always amply sufficient for the purpose. the most interesting part of the whole business, though, to us poor half-starved wretches, was the plentiful supply of fresh meat. porpoise beef is, when decently cooked, fairly good eating to a landsman; judge, then, what it must have been to us. of course the tit-bits, such as the liver, kidneys, brains, etc., could not possibly fall to our lot; but we did not complain, we were too thankful to get something eatable, and enough of it. moreover, although few sailors in english ships know it, porpoise beef improves vastly by keeping, getting tenderer every day the longer it hangs, until at last it becomes as tasty a viand as one could wish to dine upon. it was a good job for us that this was the case, for while the porpoises lasted the "harness casks," or salt beef receptacles, were kept locked; so if any man had felt unable to eat porpoise--well, there was no compulsion, he could go hungry. we were now in the haunts of the sperm whale, or "cachalot," a brilliant look-out being continually kept for any signs of their appearing. one officer and a foremast hand were continually on watch during the day in the main crow's-nest, one harpooner and a seaman in the fore one. a bounty of ten pounds of tobacco was offered to whoever should first report a whale, should it be secured, consequently there were no sleepy eyes up there. of course none of those who were inexperienced stood much chance against the eagle-eyed portuguese; but all tried their best, in the hope of perhaps winning some little favour from their hard taskmasters. every evening at sunset it was "all hands shorten sail," the constant drill rapidly teaching even these clumsy landsmen how to find their way aloft, and do something else besides hold on to anything like grim death when they got there. at last, one beautiful day, the boats were lowered and manned, and away went the greenies on their first practical lesson in the business of the voyage. as before noticed, there were two greenies in each boat, they being so arranged that whenever one of them "caught a crab," which of course was about every other stroke, his failure made little difference to the boat's progress. they learned very fast under the terrible imprecations and storm of blows from the iron-fisted and iron-hearted officers, so that before the day was out the skipper was satisfied of our ability to deal with a "fish" should he be lucky enough to "raise" one. i was, in virtue of my experience, placed at the after-oar in the mate's boat, where it was my duty to attend to the "main sheet" when the sail was set, where also i had the benefit of the lightest oar except the small one used by the harpooner in the bow. the very next day after our first exhaustive boat drill, a school of "black fish" was reported from aloft, with great glee the officers prepared for what they considered a rattling day's fun. the black fish (phocaena sp.) is a small toothed whale, not at all unlike a miniature cachalot, except that its head is rounded at the front, while its jaw is not long and straight, but bowed. it is as frolicsome as the porpoise, gambolling about in schools of from twenty to fifty or more, as if really delighted to be alive. its average size is from ten to twenty feet long, and seven or eight feet in girth, weight from one to three tons. blubber about three inches thick, while the head is almost all oil, so that a good rich specimen will make between one and two barrels of oil of medium quality. the school we were now in sight of was of middling size and about average weight of individuals, and the officers esteemed it a fortunate circumstance that we should happen across them as a sort of preliminary to our tackling the monarchs of the deep. all the new harpoons were unshipped from the boats, and a couple of extra "second" irons, as those that have been used are called, were put into each boat for use if wanted. the sails were also left on board. we lowered and left the ship, pulling right towards the school, the noise they were making in their fun effectually preventing them from hearing our approach. it is etiquette to allow the mate's boat first place, unless his crew is so weak as to be unable to hold their own; but as the mate always has first pick of the men this seldom happens. so, as usual, we were first, and soon i heard the order given, "stand up, louey, and let 'em have it!" sure enough, here we were right among them. louis let drive, "fastening" a whopper about twenty feet long. the injured animal plunged madly forward, accompanied by his fellows, while louis calmly bent another iron to a "short warp," or piece of whale-line, the loose end of which he made a bowline with around the main line which was fast to the "fish." then he fastened another "fish," and the queer sight was seen of these two monsters each trying to flee in opposite directions, while the second one ranged about alarmingly as his "bridle" ran along the main line. another one was secured in the same way, then the game was indeed great. the school had by this time taken the alarm and cleared out, but the other boats were all fast to fish, so that didn't matter. now, at the rate our "game" were going it would evidently be a long while before they died, although, being so much smaller than a whale proper, a harpoon will often kill them at a stroke. yet they were now so tangled or "snarled erp," as the mate said, that it was no easy matter to lance them without great danger of cutting the line. however, we hauled up as close to them as we dared, and the harpooner got a good blow in, which gave the biggest of the three "jesse," as he said, though why "jesse" was a stumper. anyhow, it killed him promptly, while almost directly after another one saved further trouble by passing in his own checks. but he sank at the same time, drawing the first one down with him, so that we were in considerable danger of having to cut them adrift or be swamped. the "wheft" was waved thrice as an urgent signal to the ship to come to our assistance with all speed, but in the meantime our interest lay in the surviving black fish keeping alive. should he die, and, as was most probable, sink, we should certainly have to cut and lose the lot, tools included. we waited in grim silence while the ship came up, so slowly, apparently, that she hardly seemed to move, but really at a good pace of about four knots an hour, which for her was not at all bad. she got alongside of us at last, and we passed up the bight of our line, our fish all safe, very much pleased with ourselves, especially when we found that the other boats had only five between the three of them. the fish secured to the ship, all the boats were hoisted except one, which remained alongside to sling the bodies. during our absence the ship-keepers had been busy rigging one of the cutting falls, an immense fourfold tackle from the main lowermast-head, of four-inch rope through great double blocks, large as those used at dockyards for lifting ships' masts and boilers. chain-slings were passed around the carcases, which gripped the animal at the "small," being prevented from slipping off by the broad spread of the tail. the end of the "fall," or tackle-rope, was then taken to the windlass, and we hove away cheerily, lifting the monsters right on deck. a mountainous pile they made. a short spell was allowed, when the whole eight were on board, for dinner; then all hands turned to again to "flench" the blubber, and prepare for trying-out. this was a heavy job, keeping all hands busy until it was quite dark, the latter part of the work being carried on by the light of a "cresset," the flames of which were fed with "scrap," which blazed brilliantly, throwing a big glare over all the ship. the last of the carcases was launched overboard by about eight o'clock that evening, but not before some vast junks of beef had been cut off and hung up in the rigging for our food supply. the try-works were started again, "trying-out" going on busily all night, watch and watch taking their turn at keeping the pots supplied with minced blubber. the work was heavy, while the energetic way in which it was carried on made us all glad to take what rest was allowed us, which was scanty enough, as usual. by nightfall the next day the ship had resumed her normal appearance, and we were a tun and a quarter of oil to the good. black fish oil is of medium quality, but i learned that, according to the rule of "roguery in all trades," it was the custom to mix quantities such as we had just obtained with better class whale-oil, and thus get a much higher price than it was really worth. up till this time we had no sort of an idea as to where our first objective might be, but from scraps of conversation i had overheard among the harpooners, i gathered that we were making for the cape verde islands or the acores, in the vicinity of which a good number of moderate-sized sperm whales are often to be found. in fact, these islands have long been a nursery for whale-fishers, because the cachalot loves their steep-to shores, and the hardy natives, whenever and wherever they can muster a boat and a little gear, are always ready to sally forth and attack the unwary whale that ventures within their ken. consequently more than half of the total crews of the american whaling fleet are composed of these islanders. many of them have risen to the position of captain, and still more are officers and harpooners; but though undoubtedly brave and enterprising, they are cruel and treacherous, and in positions of authority over men of teutonic or anglo-saxon origin, are apt to treat their subordinates with great cruelty. chapter iv. bad weather nautical routine in its essential details is much the same in all ships, whether naval, merchant, or whaling vessels. but while in the ordinary merchantman there are decidedly "no more cats than can catch mice," hardly, indeed, sufficient for all the mousing that should be done, in men-of-war and whaleships the number of hands carried, being far more than are wanted for everyday work, must needs be kept at unnecessary duties in order that they may not grow lazy and discontented. for instance, in the cachalot we carried a crew of thirty-seven all told, of which twenty-four were men before the mast, or common seamen, our tonnage being under tons. many a splendid clipper-ship carrying an enormous spread of canvas on four masts, and not overloaded with tons of cargo on board, carries twenty-eight or thirty all told, or even less than that. as far as we were concerned, the result of this was that our landsmen got so thoroughly drilled, that within a week of leaving port they hardly knew themselves for the clumsy clodhoppers they at first appeared to be. we had now been eight days out, and in our leisurely way were making fair progress across the atlantic, having had nothing, so far, but steady breezes and fine weather. as it was late autumn the first week in october--i rather wondered at this, for even in my brief experience i had learned to dread a "fall" voyage across the "western ocean." gradually the face of the sky changed, and the feel of the air, from balmy and genial, became raw and cheerless. the little wave tops broke short off and blew backwards, apparently against the wind, while the old vessel had an uneasy, unnatural motion, caused by a long, new swell rolling athwart the existing set of the sea. then the wind became fitful and changeable, backing half round the compass, and veering forward again as much in an hour, until at last in one tremendous squall it settled in the n.w. for a business-like blow, unlike the hurried merchantman who must needs "hang on" till the last minute, only shortening the sail when absolutely compelled to do so, and at the first sign of the gales relenting, piling it on again, we were all snug long before the storm burst upon us, and now rode comfortably under the tiniest of storm staysails. we were evidently in for a fair specimen of western ocean weather, but the clumsy-looking, old-fashioned cachalot made no more fuss over it than one of the long-winged sea-birds that floated around, intent only upon snapping up any stray scraps that might escape from us. higher rose the wind, heavier rolled the sea, yet never a drop of water did we ship, nor did anything about the deck betoken what a heavy gale was blowing. during the worst of the weather, and just after the wind had shifted back into the n.e., making an uglier cross sea than ever get up, along comes an immense four-masted iron ship homeward bound. she was staggering under a veritable mountain of canvas, fairly burying her bows in the foam at every forward drive, and actually wetting the clews of the upper topsails in the smothering masses of spray, that every few minutes almost hid her hull from sight. it was a splendid picture; but--for the time--i felt glad i was not on board of her. in a very few minutes she was out of our ken, followed by the admiration of all. then came, from the other direction, a huge steamship, taking no more notice of the gale than as if it were calm. straight through the sea she rushed, dividing the mighty rollers to the heart, and often bestriding three seas at once, the centre one spreading its many tons of foaming water fore and aft, so that from every orifice spouted the seething brine. compared with these greyhounds of the wave, we resembled nothing so much as some old lightship bobbing serenely around, as if part and parcel of the mid-atlantic. our greenies were getting so well seasoned by this time that even this rough weather did not knock any of them over, and from that time forward they had no more trouble from sea-sickness. the gale gradually blew itself out, leaving behind only a long and very heavy swell to denote the deep-reaching disturbance that the ocean had endured. and now we were within the range of the sargasso weed, that mysterious fucus that makes the ocean look. like some vast hayfield, and keeps the sea from rising, no matter how high the wind. it fell a dead calm, and the harpooners amused themselves by dredging up great masses of the weed, and turning out the many strange creatures abiding therein. what a world of wonderful life the weed is, to be sure! in it the flying fish spawn and the tiny cuttle-fish breed, both of them preparing bounteous provision for the larger denizens of the deep that have no other food. myriads of tiny crabs and innumerable specimens of less-known shell-fish, small fish of species as yet unclassified in any work on natural history, with jelly-fish of every conceivable and inconceivable shape, form part of this great and populous country in the sea. at one haul there was brought on board a mass of flying-fish spawn, about ten pounds in weight, looking like nothing so much as a pile of ripe white currants, and clinging together in a very similar manner. such masses of ova i had often seen cast up among the outlying rocks on the shores of the caribbean sea, when as a shipwrecked lad i wandered idly about unburying turtle eggs from their snug beds in the warm sand, and chasing the many-hued coral fish from one hiding-place to another. while loitering in these smooth waters, waiting for the laggard wind, up came a shoal of dolphin, ready as at all times to attach themselves for awhile to the ship. nothing is more singular than the manner in which deep-sea fish will accompany a vessel that is not going too fast--sometimes for days at a time. most convenient too, and providing hungry jack with many a fresh mess he would otherwise have missed. of all these friendly fish, none is better known than the "dolphin," as from long usage sailors persist in calling them, and will doubtless do so until the end of the chapter. for the true dolphin (delphinidae) is not a fish at all, but a mammal a warm-blooded creature that suckles its young, and in its most familiar form is known to most people as the porpoise. the sailor's "dolphin," on the other hand, is a veritable fish, with vertical tail fin instead of the horizontal one which distinguishes all the whale family, scales and gills. it is well known to literature, under its sea-name, for its marvellous brilliancy of colour, and there are few objects more dazzling than a dolphin leaping out of a calm sea into the sunshine. the beauty of a dying dolphin, however, though sanctioned by many generations of writers, is a delusion, all the glory of the fish departing as soon as he is withdrawn from his native element. but this habit of digression grows upon one, and i must do my best to check it, or i shall never get through my task. to resume then: when this school of dolphin (i can't for the life of me call them coriphaena hippuris) came alongside, a rush was made for the "granes"--a sort of five-pronged trident, if i may be allowed a baby bull. it was universally agreed among the fishermen that trying a hook and line was only waste of time and provocative of profanity! since every sailor knows that all the deep-water big fish require a living or apparently living bait. the fish, however, sheered off, and would not be tempted within reach of that deadly fork by any lure. then did i cover myself with glory. for he who can fish cleverly and luckily may be sure of fairly good times in a whaler, although he may be no great things at any other work. i had a line of my own, and begging one of the small fish that had been hauled up in the gulf weed, i got permission to go aft and fish over the taffrail. the little fish was carefully secured on the hook, the point of which just protruded near his tail. then i lowered him into the calm blue waters beneath, and paid out line very gently, until my bait was a silvery spot about a hundred feet astern. only a very short time, and my hopes rose as i saw one bright gleam after another glide past the keel, heading aft. then came a gentle drawing at the line, which i suffered to slip slowly through my fingers until i judged it time to try whether i was right or wrong, a long hard pull, and my heart beat fast as i felt the thrill along the line that fishermen love. none of your high art here, but haul in hand over hand, the line being strong enough to land a pound fish. up he came, the beauty, all silver and scarlet and blue, five feet long if an inch, and weighing pounds. well, such a lot of astonished men i never saw. they could hardly believe their eyes. that such a daring innovation should be successful was hardly to be believed, even with the vigorous evidence before them. even grim captain slocum came to look and turned upon me as i thought a less lowering brow than usual, while mr. count, the mate, fairly chuckled again at the thought of how the little britisher had wiped the eyes of these veteran fishermen. the captive was cut open, and two recent flying-fish found in his maw, which were utilized for new bait, with the result that there was a cheerful noise of hissing and spluttering in the galley soon after, and a mess of fish for all hands. shortly afterwards a fresh breeze sprang up, which proved to be the beginning of the n.e. trades, and fairly guaranteed us against any very bad weather for some time to come. somehow or other it had leaked out that we were to cruise the cape verd islands for a spell before working south, and the knowledge seemed to have quite an enlivening effect upon our portuguese shipmates. most of them belonged there, and although there was but the faintest prospect of their getting ashore upon any pretext whatever, the possibility of seeing their island homes again seemed to quite transform them. hitherto they had been very moody and exclusive, never associating with us on the white side, or attempting to be at all familiar. a mutual atmosphere of suspicion, in fact, seemed to pervade our quarters, making things already uncomfortable enough, still more so. now, however, they fraternized with us, and in a variety of uncouth ways made havoc of the english tongue, as they tried to impress us with the beauty, fertility and general incomparability of their beloved cape verds. of the eleven white men besides myself in the forecastle, there were a middle-aged german baker, who had bolted from buffalo; two hungarians, who looked like noblemen disguised--in dirt; two slab-sided yankees of about from farms in vermont; a drayman from new york; a french canadian from the neighbourhood of quebec; two italians from genoa; and two nondescripts that i never found out the origin of. imagine, then, the babel of sound, and think--but no, it is impossible to think, what sort of a jargon was compounded of all these varying elements of language. one fortunate thing, there was peace below. indeed, the spirit seemed completely taken out of all of them, and by some devilish ingenuity the afterguard had been able to sow distrust between them all, while treating them like dogs, so that the miseries of their life were never openly discussed. my position among them gave me at times some uneasiness. though i tried to be helpful to all, and was full of sympathy for their undeserved sufferings, i could not but feel that they would have been more than human had they not envied me my immunity from the kicks and blows they all shared so impartially. however, there was no help for it, so i went on as cheerily as i could. a peculiarity of all these vessels, as i afterwards learned, was that no stated allowance of anything was made. even the water was not served out to us, but was kept in a great scuttle-butt by the cabin door, to which every one who needed a drink had to go, and from which none might be carried away. no water was allowed for washing except from the sea; and every one knows, or should know, that neither flesh nor clothes can be cleansed with that. but a cask with a perforated top was lashed by the bowsprit and kept filled with urine, which i was solemnly assured by goliath was the finest dirt-extractor in the world for clothes. the officers did not avail themselves of its virtues though, but were content with lye, which was furnished in plenty by the ashes from the galley fire, where nothing but wood was used as fuel. of course when rain fell we might have a good wash, if it was night and no other work was toward; but we were not allowed to store any for washing purposes. another curious but absolutely necessary custom prevailed in consequence of the short commons under which we lived. when the portion of meat was brought down in its wooden kid, or tub, at dinner-time, it was duly divided as fairly as possible into as many parts as there were mouths. then one man turned his back on the carver, who holding up each portion, called out, "who's this for?" whatever name was mentioned by the arbitrator, that man owning it received the piece, and had perforce to be satisfied therewith. thus justice was done to all in the only way possible, and without any friction whatever. as some of us were without clothes except what we stood upright in, when we joined, the "slop chest" was opened, and every applicant received from the steward what captain slocum thought fit to let him have, being debited with the cost against such wages as he might afterwards earn. the clothes were certainly of fairly good quality, if the price was high, and exactly suited to our requirements. soap, matches, and tobacco were likewise supplied on the same terms, but at higher prices than i had ever heard of before for these necessaries. after much careful inquiry i ascertained what, in the event of a successful voyage, we were likely to earn. each of us were on the two hundredth "lay" or share at $ per tun, which meant that for every two hundred barrels of oil taken on board, we were entitled to one, which we must sell to the ship at the rate of l per tun or l per barrel. truly a magnificent outlook for young men bound to such a business for three or four years. chapter v. actual warfare. our first whale simultaneous ideas occurring to several people, or thought transference, whatever one likes to call the phenomenon is too frequent an occurrence in most of our experience to occasion much surprise. yet on the occasion to which i am about to refer, the matter was so very marked that few of us who took part in the day's proceedings are ever likely to forget it. we were all gathered about the fo'lk'sle scuttle one evening, a few days after the gale referred to in the previous chapter, and the question of whale-fishing came up for discussion. until that time, strange as it may seem, no word of this, the central idea of all our minds, had been mooted. every man seemed to shun the subject, although we were in daily expectation of being called upon to take an active part in whale-fighting. once the ice was broken, nearly all had something to say about it, and very nearly as many addle-headed opinions were ventilated as at a colney hatch debating society. for we none of us knew anything about it. i was appealed to continually to support this or that theory, but as far as whaling went i could only, like the rest of them, draw upon my imagination for details. how did a whale act, what were the first steps taken, what chance was there of being saved if your boat got smashed, and so on unto infinity. at last, getting very tired of this "portugee parliament" of all talkers and no listeners, i went aft to get a drink of water before turning in. the harpooners and other petty officers were grouped in the waist, earnestly discussing the pros and cons of attack upon whales. as i passed i heard the mate's harpooner say, "feels like whale about. i bet a plug (of tobacco) we raise sperm whale to-morrow." nobody took his bet, for it appeared that they were mostly of the same mind, and while i was drinking i heard the officers in dignified conclave talking over the same thing. it was saturday evening, and while at home people were looking forward to a day's respite from work and care, i felt that the coming day, though never taken much notice of on board, was big with the probabilities of strife such as i at least had at present no idea of. so firmly was i possessed by the prevailing feeling. the night was very quiet. a gentle breeze was blowing, and the sky was of the usual "trade" character, that is, a dome of dark blue fringed at the horizon with peaceful cumulus clouds, almost motionless. i turned in at four a.m. from the middle watch and, as usual, slept like a babe. suddenly i started wide awake, a long mournful sound sending a thrill to my very heart. as i listened breathlessly other sounds of the same character but in different tones joined in, human voices monotonously intoning in long drawn-out expirations the single word "bl-o-o-o-o-w." then came a hurricane of noise overhead, and adjurations in no gentle language to the sleepers to "tumble up lively there, no skulking, sperm whales." at last, then, fulfilling all the presentiments of yesterday, the long dreaded moment had arrived. happily there was no time for hesitation, in less than two minutes we were all on deck, and hurrying to our respective boats. there was no flurry or confusion, and except that orders were given more quietly than usual, with a manifest air of suppressed excitement, there was nothing to show that we were not going for an ordinary course of boat drill. the skipper was in the main crow's-nest with his binoculars presently he shouted, "naow then, mr. count, lower away soon's y'like. small pod o'cows, an' one'r two bulls layin' off to west'ard of 'em." down went the boats into the water quietly enough, we all scrambled in and shoved off. a stroke or two of the oars were given to get clear of the ship, and one another, then oars were shipped and up went the sails. as i took my allotted place at the main-sheet, and the beautiful craft started off like some big bird, mr. count leant forward, saying impressively to me, "y'r a smart youngster, an' i've kinder took t'yer; but don't ye look ahead an' get gallied, 'r i'll knock ye stiff wi' th' tiller; y'hear me? n' don't ye dare to make thet sheet fast, 'r ye'll die so sudden y' won't know whar y'r hurted." i said as cheerfully as i could, "all right, sir," trying to look unconcerned, telling myself not to be a coward, and all sorts of things; but the cold truth is that i was scared almost to death because i didn't know what was coming. however, i did the best thing under the circumstances, obeyed orders and looked steadily astern, or up into the bronzed impassive face of my chief, who towered above me, scanning with eagle eyes the sea ahead. the other boats were coming flying along behind us, spreading wider apart as they came, while in the bows of each stood the harpooner with his right hand on his first iron, which lay ready, pointing over the bow in a raised fork of wood called the "crutch." all of a sudden, at a motion of the chief's hand, the peak of our mainsail was dropped, and the boat swung up into the wind, laying "hove to," almost stationary. the centre-board was lowered to stop her drifting to leeward, although i cannot say it made much difference that ever i saw. now what's the matter, i thought, when to my amazement the chief addressing me said, "wonder why we've hauled up, don't ye?" "yes, sir, i do," said i. "wall," said he, "the fish hev sounded, an' 'ef we run over 'em, we've seen the last ov'em. so we wait awhile till they rise agin, 'n then we'll prob'ly git thar' 'r thareabonts before they sound agin." with this explanation i had to be content, although if it be no clearer to my readers than it then was to me, i shall have to explain myself more fully later on. silently we lay, rocking lazily upon the gentle swell, no other word being spoken by any one. at last louis, the harpooner, gently breathed "blo-o-o-w;" and there, sure enough, not half a mile away on the lee beam, was a little bushy cloud of steam apparently rising from the sea. at almost the same time as we kept away all the other boats did likewise, and just then, catching sight of the ship, the reason for this apparently concerted action was explained. at the main-mast head of the ship was a square blue flag, and the ensign at the peak was being dipped. these were signals well understood and promptly acted upon by those in charge of the boats, who were thus guided from a point of view at least one hundred feet above the sea. "stand up, louey," the mate murmured softly. i only just stopped myself in time from turning my head to see why the order was given. suddenly there was a bump, at the same moment the mate yelled, "give't to him, louey, give't to him!" and to me, "haul that main sheet, naow haul, why don't ye?" i hauled it flat aft, and the boat shot up into the wind, rubbing sides as she did so with what to my troubled sight seemed an enormous mass of black india-rubber floating. as we crawled up into the wind, the whale went into convulsions befitting his size and energy. he raised a gigantic tail on high, threshing the water with deafening blows, rolling at the same time from side to side until the surrounding sea was white with froth. i felt in an agony lest we should be crushed under one of those fearful strokes, for mr. count appeared to be oblivious of possible danger, although we seemed to be now drifting back on to the writhing leviathan. in the agitated condition of the sea, it was a task of no ordinary difficulty to unship the tall mast, which was of course the first thing to be done. after a desperate struggle, and a narrow escape from falling overboard of one of the men, we got the lone "stick," with the sail bundled around it, down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured by the simple means of sticking the "heel" under the after thwart, two-thirds of the mast extending out over the stern. meanwhile, we had certainly been in a position of the greatest danger, our immunity from damage being unquestionably due to anything but precaution taken to avoid it. by the time the oars were handled, and the mate had exchanged places with the harpooner, our friend the enemy had "sounded," that is, he had gone below for a change of scene, marvelling no doubt what strange thing had befallen him. agreeably to the accounts which i, like most boys, had read of the whale fishery, i looked for the rushing of the line round the logger-head (a stout wooden post built into the boat aft), to raise a cloud of smoke with occasional bursts of flame; so as it began to slowly surge round the post, i timidly asked the harpooner whether i should throw any water on it. "wot for?" growled he, as he took a couple more turns with it. not knowing "what for," and hardly liking to quote my authorities here, i said no more, but waited events. "hold him up, louey, bold him up, cain't ye?" shouted the mate, and to my horror, down went the nose of the boat almost under water, while at the mate's order everybody scrambled aft into the elevated stern sheets. the line sang quite a tune as it was grudgingly allowed to surge round the loggerhead, filling one with admiration at the strength shown by such a small rope. this sort of thing went on for about twenty minutes, in which time we quite emptied the large tub and began on the small one. as there was nothing whatever for us to do while this was going on, i had ample leisure for observing the little game that was being played about a quarter of a mile away. mr. cruce, the second mate, had got a whale and was doing his best to kill it; but he was severely handicapped by his crew, or rather had been, for two of them were now temporarily incapable of either good or harm. they had gone quite "batchy" with fright, requiring a not too gentle application of the tiller to their heads in order to keep them quiet. the remedy, if rough, was effectual, for "the subsequent proceedings interested them no more." consequently his manoeuvres were not so well or rapidly executed as he, doubtless, could have wished, although his energy in lancing that whale was something to admire and remember. hatless, his shirt tail out of the waist of his trousers streaming behind him like a banner, he lunged and thrust at the whale alongside of him, as if possessed of a destroying devil, while his half articulate yells of rage and blasphemy were audible even to us. suddenly our boat fell backward from her "slantindicular" position with a jerk, and the mate immediately shouted, "haul line, there! look lively, now, you--so on, etcetera, etcetera" (he seemed to invent new epithets on every occasion). the line came in hand over hand, and was coiled in a wide heap in the stern sheets, for silky as it was, it could not be expected in its wet state to lie very close. as it came flying in the mate kept a close gaze upon the water immediately beneath us, apparently for the first glimpse of our antagonist. when the whale broke water, however, he was some distance off, and apparently as quiet as a lamb. now, had mr. count been a prudent or less ambitious man, our task would doubtless have been an easy one, or comparatively so; but, being a little over-grasping, he got us all into serious trouble. we were hauling up to our whale in order to lance it, and the mate was standing, lance in hand, only waiting to get near enough, when up comes a large whale right alongside of our boat, so close, indeed, that i might have poked my finger in his little eye, if i had chosen. the sight of that whale at liberty, and calmly taking stock of us like that, was too much for the mate. he lifted his lance and hurled it at the visitor, in whose broad flank it sank, like a knife into butter, right up to the pole-hitches. the recipient disappeared like a flash, but before one had time to think, there was an awful crash beneath us, and the mate shot up into the air like a bomb from a mortar. he came down in a sitting posture on the mast-thwart; but as he fell, the whole framework of the boat collapsed like a derelict umbrella. louis quietly chopped the line and severed our connection with the other whale, while in accordance with our instructions we drew each man his oar across the boat and lashed it firmly down with a piece of line spliced to each thwart for the purpose. this simple operation took but a minute, but before it was completed we were all up to our necks in the sea. still in the boat, it is true, and therefore not in such danger of drowning as if we were quite adrift; but, considering that the boat was reduced to a mere bundle of loose planks, i, at any rate, was none too comfortable. now, had he known it, was the whale's golden opportunity; but he, poor wretch, had had quite enough of our company, and cleared off without any delay, wondering, no doubt, what fortunate accident had rid him of our very unpleasant attentions. i was assured that we were all as safe as if we were on board the ship, to which i answered nothing; but, like jack's parrot, i did some powerful thinking. every little wave that came along swept clean over our heads, sometimes coming so suddenly as to cut a breath in half. if the wind should increase--but no--i wouldn't face the possibility of such a disagreeable thing. i was cool enough now in a double sense, for although we were in the tropics, we soon got thoroughly chilled. by the position of the sun it must have been between ten a.m. and noon, and we, of the crew, had eaten nothing since the previous day at supper, when, as usual, the meal was very light. therefore, i suppose we felt the chill sooner than the better-nourished mate and harpooner, who looked rather scornfully at our blue faces and chattering teeth. in spite of all assurances to the contrary, i have not the least doubt in my own mind that a very little longer would have relieved us of all our burdens finally. because the heave of the sea had so loosened the shattered planks upon which we stood that they were on the verge of falling all asunder. had they done so we must have drowned, for we were cramped and stiff with cold and our constrained position. however, unknown to us, a bright look-out upon our movements had been kept from the crow's-nest the whole time. we should have been relieved long before, but that the whale killed by the second mate was being secured, and another boat, the fourth mate's, being picked up, having a hole in her bilge you could put you head through. with all these hindrances, especially securing the whale, we were fortunate to be rescued as soon as we were, since it is well known that whales are of much higher commercial value than men. however, help came at last, and we were hauled alongside. long exposure had weakened us to such an extent that it was necessary to hoist us on board, especially the mate, whose "sudden stop," when he returned to us after his little aerial excursion, had shaken his sturdy frame considerably, a state of body which the subsequent soaking had by no means improved. in my innocence i imagined that we should be commiserated for our misfortunes by captain slocum, and certainly be relieved from further duties until we were a little recovered from the rough treatment we had just undergone. but i never made a greater mistake. the skipper cursed us all (except the mate, whose sole fault the accident undoubtedly was) with a fluency and vigour that was, to put it mildly, discouraging. moreover, we were informed that he "wouldn't have no adjective skulking;" we must "turn to" and do something after wasting the ship's time and property in such a blanked manner. there was a limit, however, to our obedience, so although we could not move at all for awhile, his threats were not proceeded with farther than theory. a couple of slings were passed around the boat, by means of which she was carefully hoisted on board, a mere dilapidated bundle of sticks and raffle of gear. she was at once removed aft out of the way, the business of cutting in the whale claiming precedence over everything else just then. the preliminary proceedings consisted of rigging the "cutting stage." this was composed of two stout planks a foot wide and ten feet long, the inner ends of which were suspended by strong ropes over the ship's side about four feet from the water, while the outer extremities were upheld by tackles from the main rigging, and a small crane abreast the try-works. these planks were about thirty feet apart, their two outer ends being connected by a massive plank which was securely bolted to them. a handrail about as high as a man's waist, supported by light iron stanchions, ran the full length of this plank on the side nearest the ship, the whole fabric forming an admirable standing-place from whence the officers might, standing in comparative comfort, cut and carve at the great mass below to their hearts' content. so far the prize had been simply held alongside by the whale-line, which at death had been "rove" through a hole cut in the solid gristle of the tail; but now it became necessary to secure the carcase to the ship in some more permanent fashion. therefore, a massive chain like a small ship's cable was brought forward, and in a very ingenious way, by means of a tiny buoy and a hand-lead, passed round the body, one end brought through a ring in the other, and hauled upon until it fitted tight round the "small" or part of the whale next the broad spread of the tail. the free end of the fluke-chain was then passed in through a mooring-pipe forward, firmly secured to a massive bitt at the heel of the bowsprit (the fluke-chain-bitt), and all was ready. but the subsequent proceedings were sufficiently complicated to demand a fresh chapter. chapter vi. "dirty work for clean money" if in the preceding chapter too much stress has been laid upon the smashing of our own boat and consequent sufferings, while little or no notice was taken of the kindred disaster to mistah jones' vessel, my excuse must be that the experience "filled me right up to the chin," as the mate concisely, if inelegantly, put it. poor goliath was indeed to be pitied, for his well-known luck and capacity as a whaleman seemed on this occasion to have quite deserted him. not only had his boat been stove upon first getting on to the whale, but he hadn't even had a run for his money. it appeared that upon striking his whale, a small, lively cow, she had at once "settled," allowing the boat to run over her; but just as they were passing, she rose, gently enough, her pointed hump piercing the thin skin of half-inch cedar as if it had been cardboard. she settled again immediately, leaving a hole behind her a foot long by six inches wide, which effectually put a stop to all further fishing operations on the part of goliath and his merry men for that day, at any rate. it was all so quiet, and so tame and so stupid, no wonder mistah jones felt savage. when captain slocum's fluent profanity flickered around him, including vehemently all he might be supposed to have any respect for, he did not even look as if he would like to talk back; he only looked sick and tired of being himself. the third mate, again, was of a different category altogether. he had distinguished himself by missing every opportunity of getting near a whale while there was a "loose" one about, and then "saving" the crew of goliath's boat, who were really in no danger whatever. his iniquity was too great to be dealt with by mere bad language. he crept about like a homeless dog--much, i am afraid, to my secret glee, for i couldn't help remembering his untiring cruelty to the green hands on first leaving port. in consequence of these little drawbacks we were not a very jovial crowd forrard or aft. not that hilarity was ever particularly noticeable among us, but just now there was a very decided sense of wrong-doing over us all, and a general fear that each of us was about to pay the penalty due to some other delinquent. but fortunately there was work to be done. oh, blessed work! how many awkward situations you have extricated people from! how many distracted brains have you soothed and restored, by your steady irresistible pressure of duty to be done and brooking of no delay! the first thing to be done was to cut the whale's head off. this operation, involving the greatest amount of labour in the whole of the cutting in, was taken in hand by the first and second mates, who, armed with twelve-feet spades, took their station upon the stage, leaned over the handrail to steady themselves, and plunged their weapons vigorously down through the massive neck of the animal--if neck it could be said to have--following a well-defined crease in the blubber. at the same time the other officers passed a heavy chain sling around the long, narrow lower jaw, hooking one of the big cutting tackles into it, the "fall" of which was then taken to the windlass and hove tight, turning the whale on her back. a deep cut was then made on both sides of the rising jaw, the windlass was kept going, and gradually the whole of the throat was raised high enough for a hole to be cut through its mass, into which the strap of the second cutting tackle was inserted and secured by passing a huge toggle of oak through its eye. the second tackle was then hove taut, and the jaw, with a large piece of blubber attached, was cut off from the body with a boarding-knife, a tool not unlike a cutlass blade set into a three-foot-long wooden handle. upon being severed the whole piece swung easily inboard and was lowered on deck. the fast tackle was now hove upon while the third mate on the stage cut down diagonally into the blubber on the body, which the purchase ripped off in a broad strip or "blanket" about five feet wide and a foot thick. meanwhile the other two officers carved away vigorously at the head, varying their labours by cutting a hole right through the snout. this when completed received a heavy chain for the purpose of securing the head. when the blubber had been about half stripped off the body, a halt was called in order that the work of cutting off the head might be finished, for it was a task of incredible difficulty. it was accomplished at last, and the mass floated astern by a stout rope, after which the windlass pawls clattered merrily, the "blankets" rose in quick succession, and were cut off and lowered into the square of the main batch or "blubber-room." a short time sufficed to strip off the whole of the body-blubber, and when at last the tail was reached, the backbone was cut through, the huge mass of flesh floating away to feed the innumerable scavengers of the sea. no sooner was the last of the blubber lowered into the hold than the hatches were put on and the head hauled up alongside. both tackles were secured to it and all hands took to the windlass levers. this was a small cow whale of about thirty barrels, that is, yielding that amount of oil, so it was just possible to lift the entire head on board; but as it weighed as much as three full-grown elephants, it was indeed a heavy lift for even our united forces, trying our tackle to the utmost. the weather was very fine, and the ship rolled but little; even then, the strain upon the mast was terrific, and right glad was i when at last the immense cube of fat, flesh, and bone was eased inboard and gently lowered on deck. as soon as it was secured the work of dividing it began. from the snout a triangular mass was cut, which was more than half pure spermaceti. this substance was contained in spongy cells held together by layers of dense white fibre, exceedingly tough and elastic, and called by the whalers "white-horse." the whole mass, or "junk" as it is called, was hauled away to the ship's side and firmly lashed to the bulwarks for the time being, so that it might not "take charge" of the deck during the rest of the operations. the upper part of the head was now slit open lengthwise, disclosing an oblong cistern or "case" full of liquid spermaceti, clear as water. this was baled out with buckets into a tank, concreting as it cooled into a wax-like substance, bland and tasteless. there being now nothing more remaining about the skull of any value, the lashings were loosed, and the first leeward roll sent the great mass plunging overboard with a mighty splash. it sank like a stone, eagerly followed by a few small sharks that were hovering near. as may be imagined, much oil was running about the deck, for so saturated was every part of the creature with it that it really gushed like water during the cutting-up process. none of it was allowed to run to waste, though, for the scupper-holes which drain the deck were all carefully plugged, and as soon as the "junk" had been dissected all the oil was carefully "squeegeed" up and poured into the try-pots. two men were now told off as "blubber-room men," whose duty it became to go below, and squeezing themselves in as best they could between the greasy masses of fat, cut it up into "horse-pieces" about eighteen inches long and six inches square. doing this they became perfectly saturated with oil, as if they had taken a bath in a tank of it; for as the vessel rolled it was impossible to maintain a footing, and every fall was upon blubber running with oil. a machine of wonderful construction had been erected on deck in a kind of shallow trough about six feet long by four feet wide and a foot deep. at some remote period of time it had no doubt been looked upon as a triumph of ingenuity, a patent mincing machine. its action was somewhat like that of a chaff-cutter, except that the knife was not attached to the wheel, and only rose and fell, since it was not required to cut right through the "horse-pieces" with which it was fed. it will be readily understood that in order to get the oil quickly out of the blubber, it needs to be sliced as thin as possible, but for convenience in handling the refuse (which is the only fuel used) it is not chopped up in small pieces, but every "horse-piece" is very deeply scored as it were, leaving a thin strip to hold the slices together. this then was the order of work. two harpooners attended the try-pots, replenishing them with minced blubber from the hopper at the port side, and baling out the sufficiently boiled oil into the great cooling tank on the starboard. one officer superintended the mincing, another exercised a general supervision over all. there was no man at the wheel and no look-out, for the vessel was "hove-to" under two close-reefed topsails and fore-topmast-staysail, with the wheel lashed hard down. a look-out man was unnecessary, since we could not run anybody down, and if anybody ran us down, it would only be because all hands were asleep, for the glare of our try-works fire, to say nothing of the blazing cresset before mentioned, could have been seen for many miles. so we toiled watch and watch, six hours on and six off, the work never ceasing for an instant night or day. though the work was hard and dirty, and the discomfort of being so continually wet through with oil great, there was only one thing dangerous about the whole business. that was the job of filling and shifting the huge casks of oil. some of these were of enormous size, containing gallons when full, and the work of moving them about the greasy deck of a rolling ship was attended with a terrible amount of risk. for only four men at most could get fair hold of a cask, and when she took it into her silly old hull to start rolling, just as we had got one half-way across the deck, with nothing to grip your feet, and the knowledge that one stumbling man would mean a sudden slide of the ton and a half weight, and a little heap of mangled corpses somewhere in the lee scuppers--well one always wanted to be very thankful when the lashings were safely passed. the whale being a small one, as before noted, the whole business was over within three days, and the decks scrubbed and re-scrubbed until they had quite regained their normal whiteness. the oil was poured by means of a funnel and long canvas hose into the casks stowed in the ground tier at the bottom of the ship, and the gear, all carefully cleaned and neatly "stopped up," stowed snugly away below again. this long and elaborate process is quite different from that followed on board the arctic whaleships, whose voyages are of short duration, and who content themselves with merely cutting the blubber up small and bringing it home to have the oil expressed. but the awful putrid mass discharged from a greenlander's hold is of very different quality and value, apart from the nature of the substance, to the clear and sweet oil, which after three years in cask is landed from a south-seaman as inoffensive in smell and flavour as the day it was shipped. no attempt is made to separate the oil and spermaceti beyond boiling the "head matter," as it is called, by itself first, and putting it into casks which are not filled up with the body oil. spermaceti exists in all the oil, especially that from the dorsal hump; but it is left for the refiners ashore to extract and leave the oil quite free from any admixture of the wax-like substance, which causes it to become solid at temperatures considerably above the freezing-point. uninteresting as the preceding description may be, it is impossible to understand anything of the economy of a south-sea whaler without giving it, and i have felt it the more necessary because of the scanty notice given to it in the only two works published on the subject, both of them highly technical, and written for scientific purposes by medical men. therefore i hope to be forgiven if i have tried the patience of my readers by any prolixity. it will not, of course, have escaped the reader's notice that i have not hitherto attempted to give any details concerning the structure of the whale just dealt with. the omission is intentional. during this, our first attempt at real whaling, my mind was far too disturbed by the novelty and danger of the position in which i found myself for the first time, for me to pay any intelligent attention to the party of the second part. but i may safely promise that from the workman's point of view, the habits, manners, and build of the whales shall be faithfully described as i saw them during my long acquaintance with them, earnestly hoping that if my story be not as technical or scientific as that of drs. bennett and beale, it may be found fully as accurate and reliable; and perhaps the reader, being like myself a mere layman, so to speak, may be better able to appreciate description free from scientific formula and nine-jointed words. two things i did notice on this occasion which i will briefly allude to before closing this chapter. one was the peculiar skin of the whale. it was a bluish-black, and as thin as gold-beater's skin. so thin, indeed, and tender, that it was easily scraped off with the finger-nail. immediately beneath it, upon the surface of the blubber, was a layer or coating of what for want of a better simile i must call fine short fur, although unlike fur it had no roots or apparently any hold upon the blubber. neither was it attached to the skin which covered it; in fact, it seemed merely a sort of packing between the skin and the surface of the thick layer of solid fat which covered the whole area of the whale's body. the other matter which impressed me was the peculiarity of the teeth. for up till that time i had held, in common with most seamen, and landsmen, too, for that matter, the prevailing idea that a "whale" lived by "suction" (although i did not at all know what that meant), and that it was impossible for him to swallow a herring. yet here was a mouth manifestly intended for greater things in the way of gastronomy than herrings; nor did it require more than the most casual glances to satisfy one of so obvious a fact. then the teeth were heroic in size, protruding some four or five inches from the gum, and solidly set more than that into its firm and compact substance. they were certainly not intended for mastication, being, where thickest, three inches apart, and tapering to a short point, curving slightly backwards. in this specimen, a female, and therefore small as i have said, there were twenty of them on each side, the last three or four near the gullet being barely visible above the gum. another most convincing reason why no mastication could have been possible was that there were no teeth visible in the upper jaw. opposed to each of the teeth was a socket where a tooth should apparently have been, and this was conclusive evidence of the soft and yielding nature of the great creature's food. but there were signs that at some period of the development of the whale it had possessed a double row of teeth, because at the bottom of these upper sockets we found in a few cases what seemed to be an abortive tooth, not one that was growing, because they had no roots, but a survival of teeth that had once been perfect and useful, but from disuse, or lack of necessity for them, had gradually ceased to come to maturity. the interior of the mouth and throat was of a livid white, and the tongue was quite small for so large an animal. it was almost incapable of movement, being somewhat like a fowl's. certainly it could not have been protruded even from the angle of the mouth, much less have extended along the parapet of that lower mandible, which reminded one of the beak of some mighty albatross or stork. chapter vii. getting southward whether our recent experience had altered the captain's plans or not i do not know, but much to the dismay of the portuguese portion of the crew, we did but sight, dimly and afar off, the outline of the cape verde islands before our course was altered, and we bore away for the southward like any other outward-bounder. that is, as far as our course went; but as to the speed, we still retained the leisurely tactics hitherto pursued, shortening sail every night, and, if the weather was very fine, setting it all again at daybreak. the morose and sullen temper of the captain had been, if anything, made worse by recent events, and we were worked as hard as if the success of the voyage depended upon our ceaseless toil of scrubbing, scraping, and polishing. discipline was indeed maintained at a high pitch of perfection, no man daring to look awry, much less complain of any hardship, however great. even this humble submissiveness did not satisfy our tyrant, and at last his cruelty took a more active shape. one of the long yankee farmers from vermont, abner cushing by name, with the ingenuity which seems inbred in his 'cute countrymen, must needs try his hand at making a villainous decoction which he called "beer," the principal ingredients in which were potatoes and molasses. now potatoes formed no part of our dietary, so abner set his wits to work to steal sufficient for his purpose, and succeeded so far that he obtained half a dozen. i have very little doubt that one of the portuguese in the forecastle conveyed the information aft for some reason best known to himself, any more than we white men all had that in a similar manner all our sayings and doings, however trivial, became at once known to the officers. however, the fact that the theft was discovered soon became painfully evident, for we had a visit from the afterguard in force one afternoon, and abner with his brewage was haled to the quarter-deck. there, in the presence of all hands, he was arraigned, found guilty of stealing the ship's stores, and sentence passed upon him. by means of two small pieces of fishing line he was suspended by his thumbs in the weather rigging, in such a manner that when the ship was upright his toes touched the deck, but when she rolled his whole weight hung from his thumbs. this of itself one would have thought sufficient torture for almost any offence, but in addition to it he received two dozen lashes with an improvised cat-o'-nine-tails, laid on by the brawny arm of one of the harpooners. we were all compelled to witness this, and our feelings may be imagined. when, after what seemed a terribly long time to me (heaven knows what it must have been to him!), he fainted, although no chicken i nearly fainted too, from conflicting emotions of sympathy and impotent rage. he was then released in leisurely fashion, and we were permitted to take him forward and revive him. as soon as he was able to stand on his feet, he was called on deck again, and not allowed to go below till his watch was over. meanwhile captain slocum improved the occasion by giving us a short harangue, the burden of which was that we had now seen a little of what any of us might expect if we played any "dog's tricks" on him. but you can get used to anything, i suppose: so after the first shock of the atrocity was over, things went on again pretty much as usual. for the first and only time in my experience, we sighted st. paul's rocks, a tiny group of jagged peaks protruding from the atlantic nearly on the equator. stupendous mountains they must be, rising almost sheer for about four and a half miles from the ocean bed. although they appear quite insignificant specks upon the vast expanse of water, one could not help thinking how sublime their appearance would be were they visible from the plateau whence they spring. their chief interest to us at the time arose from the fact that, when within about three miles of them, we were suddenly surrounded by a vast school of bonito, these fish, so-named by the spaniards from their handsome appearance, are a species of mackerel, a branch of the scombridae family, and attain a size of about two feet long and forty pounds weight, though their average dimensions are somewhat less than half that. they feed entirely upon flying-fish and the small leaping squid or cuttle-fish, but love to follow a ship, playing around her, if her pace be not too great, for days together. their flesh resembles beef in appearance, and they are warm-blooded; but, from their habitat being mid-ocean, nothing is known with any certainty of their habits of breeding. the orthodox method of catching them on board ship is to cover a suitable hook with a piece of white rag a couple of inches long, and attach it to a stout line. the fisherman then takes his seat upon the jibboom end, having first, if he is prudent, secured a sack to the jibstay in such a manner that its mouth gapes wide. then he unrolls his line, and as the ship forges ahead the line, blowing out, describes a curve, at the end of which the bait, dipping to--the water occasionally, roughly represents a flying-fish. of course, the faster the ship is going, the better the chance of deceiving the fish, since they have less time to study the appearance of the bait. it is really an exaggerated and clumsy form of fly-fishing, and, as with that elegant pastime, much is due to the skill of the fisherman. as the bait leaps from crest to crest of the wavelets thrust aside by the advancing ship, a fish more adventurous or hungrier than the rest will leap at it, and in an instant there is a dead, dangling weight of from ten to forty pounds hanging at the end of your line thirty feet below. you haul frantically, for he may be poorly hooked, and you cannot play him. in a minute or two, if all goes well, he is plunged in the sack, and safe. but woe unto you if you have allowed the jeers of your shipmates to dissuade you from taking a sack out with you. the struggles of these fish are marvellous, and a man runs great risk of being shaken off the boom, unless his legs are firmly locked in between the guys. such is the tremendous vibration that a twenty-pound bonito makes in a man's grip, that it can be felt in the cabin at the other and of the ship; and i have often come in triumphantly with one, having lost all feeling in my arms and a goodly portion of skin off my breast and side, where i have embraced the prize in a grim determination to hold him at all hazards, besides being literally drenched with his blood. like all our fishing operations on board the cachalot, this day's fishing was conducted on scientific principles, and resulted in twenty-five fine fish being shipped, which were a welcome addition to our scanty allowance. happily for us, they would not take the salt in that sultry latitude soon enough to preserve them; for, when they can be salted, they become like brine itself, and are quite unfit for food. yet we should have been compelled to eat salt bonito, or go without meat altogether, if it had been possible to cure them. we were now fairly in the "horse latitudes," and, much to our relief, the rain came down in occasional deluges, permitting us to wash well and often. i suppose the rains of the tropics have been often enough described to need no meagre attempts of mine to convey an idea of them; yet i have often wished i could make home-keeping friends understand how far short what they often speak of as a "tropical shower" falls of the genuine article. the nearest i can get to it is the idea of an ocean suspended overhead, out, of which the bottom occasionally falls. nothing is visible or audible but the glare and roar of falling water, and a ship's deck, despite the many outlets, is full enough to swim about in in a very few minutes. at such times the whole celestial machinery of rain-making may be seen in full working order. five or six mighty waterspouts in various stages of development were often within easy distance of us; once, indeed, we watched the birth, growth, and death of one less than a mile away. first, a big, black cloud, even among that great assemblage of nimbi, began to belly downward, until the centre of it tapered into a stem, and the whole mass looked like a vast, irregularly-moulded funnel. lower and lower it reached, as if feeling for a soil in which to grow, until the sea beneath was agitated sympathetically, rising at last in a sort of pointed mound to meet the descending column. our nearness enabled us to see that both descending and rising parts were whirling violently in obedience to some invisible force, and when they had joined each other, although the spiral motion did not appear to continue, the upward rush of the water through what was now a long elastic tube was very plainly to be seen. the cloud overhead grew blacker and bigger, until its gloom was terrible. the pipe, or stem, got thinner gradually, until it became a mere thread; nor, although watching closely, could we determine when the connection between sea and sky ceased--one could not call it severed. the point rising from the sea settled almost immediately amidst a small commotion, as of a whirlpool. the tail depending from the cloud slowly shortened, and the mighty reservoir lost the vast bulge which had hung so threateningly above. just before the final disappearance of the last portion of the tube, a fragment of cloud appeared to break off. it fell near enough to show by its thundering roar what a body of water it must have been, although it looked like a saturated piece of dirty rag in its descent. for whole days and nights together we sometimes lay almost "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean," when the deep blue dome above matched the deep blue plain below, and never a fleck of white appeared in sky or sea. this perfect stop to our progress troubled none, although it aggravates a merchant skipper terribly. as for the objects of our search, they had apparently all migrated other-whither, for never a sign of them did we see. finbacks, a species of rorqual, were always pretty numerous, and as if they knew how useless they were to us, came and played around like exaggerated porpoises. one in particular kept us company for several days and nights. we knew him well, from a great triangular scar on his right side, near the dorsal fin. sometimes he would remain motionless by the side of the ship, a few feet below the surface, as distinctly in our sight as a gold-fish in a parlour globe; or he would go under the keel, and gently chafe his broad back to and fro along it, making queer tremors run through the vessel, as if she were scraping over a reef. whether from superstition or not i cannot tell, but i never saw any creature injured out of pure wantonness, except sharks, while i was on board the cachalot. of course, injuries to men do not count. had that finback attempted to play about a passenger ship in such a fashion, all the loungers on board would have been popping at him with their revolvers and rifles without ever a thought of compunction; yet here, in a vessel whose errand was whale-fishing, a whale enjoyed perfect immunity. it was very puzzling. at last my curiosity became too great to hear any longer, and i sought my friend mistah jones at what i considered a favourable opportunity. i found him very gracious and communicative, and i got such a lecture on the natural history of the cetacea as i have never forgotten--the outcome of a quarter-century's experience of them, and afterwards proved by me to be correct in every detail, which latter is a great deal more than can be said of any written natural history that ever i came across. but i will not go into that now. leaning over the rail, with the great rorqual laying perfectly still a few feet below, i was told to mark how slender and elegant were his proportions. "clipper-built," my mentor termed him. he was full seventy feet long, but his greatest diameter would not reach ten feet. his snout was long and pointed, while both top and bottom of his head were nearly flat. when he came up to breathe, which he did out of the top of his head, he showed us that, instead of teeth, he had a narrow fringe of baleen (whalebone) all around his upper jaws, although "i kaint see whyfor, kase he lib on all sort er fish, s'long's dey ain't too big. i serpose w'en he kaint get nary fish he do de same ez de 'bowhead'--go er siftin eout dem little tings we calls whale-feed wiv dat ar' rangement he carry in his mouf." "but why don't we harpoon him?" i asked. goliath turned on me a pitying look, as he replied, "sonny, ef yew wuz ter go on stick iron inter dat ar fish, yew'd fink de hole bottom fell eout kerblunk. w'en i uz young 'n foolish, a finback range 'longside me one day, off de seychelles. i just done gone miss' a spam whale, and i was kiender mad,--muss ha' bin. wall, i let him hab it blam 'tween de ribs. if i lib ten tousan year, ain't gwine ter fergit dat ar. wa'nt no time ter spit, tell ye; eberybody hang ober de side ob de boat. wiz--poof!--de line all gone. clar to glory, i neber see it go. ef it hab ketch anywhar, nobody eber see us too. fus, i t'ought i jump ober de side--neber face de skipper any mo'. but he uz er good ole man, en he only say, 'don't be sech blame jackass any more.' en i don't." from which lucid narration i gathered that the finback had himself to thank for his immunity from pursuit. "'sides," persisted goliath, "wa' yew gwine do wiv' him? ain't six inch uv blubber anywhere 'bout his long ugly carkiss; en dat, dirty lill' rag 'er whalebone he got in his mouf, 'taint worf fifty cents. en mor'n dat, we pick up, a dead one when i uz in de ole rainbow--done choke hisself, i spec, en we cut him in. he stink fit ter pison de debbil, en, after all, we get eighteen bar'l ob dirty oil out ob him. wa'nt worf de clean sparm scrap we use ter bile him. g' 'way!" which emphatic adjuration, addressed not to me, but to the unconscious monster below, closed the lesson for the time. the calm still persisted, and, as usual, fish began to abound, especially flying-fish. at times, disturbed by some hungry bonito or dolphin, a shoal of them would rise--a great wave of silver--and skim through the air, rising and falling for perhaps a couple of hundred yards before they again took to the water; or a solitary one of larger size than usual would suddenly soar into the air, a heavy splash behind him showing by how few inches he had missed the jaws of his pursuer. away he would go in a long, long curve, and, meeting the ship in his flight, would rise in the air, turn off at right angles to his former direction, and spin away again, the whir of his wing-fins distinctly visible as well as audible. at last he would incline to the water, but just as he was about to enter it there would be an eddy--the enemy was there waiting--and he would rise twenty, thirty feet, almost perpendicularly, and dart away fully a hundred yards on a fresh course before the drying of his wing membranes compelled him to drop. in the face of such a sight as this, which is of everyday occurrence in these latitudes, how trivial and misleading the statements made by the natural history books seem. they tell their readers that the exocetus volitans "does not fly; does not flutter its wings; can only take a prolonged leap," and so on. the misfortune attendant upon such books seems, to an unlearned sailor like myself, to be that, although posing as authorities, most of the authors are content to take their facts not simply at second-hand, but even unto twenty-second-hand. so the old fables get repeated, and brought up to date, and it is nobody's business to take the trouble to correct them. the weather continued calm and clear, and as the flying-fish were about in such immense numbers, i ventured to suggest to goliath that we might have a try for some of them. i verily believe he thought i was mad. he stared at me for a minute, and then, with an indescribable intonation, said, "how de ol' satan yew fink yew gwain ter get'm, hey? ef yew spects ter fool dis chile wiv any dem lime-juice yarns, 'bout lanterns 'n boats at night-time, yew's 'way off." i guessed he meant the fable current among english sailors, that if you hoist a sail on a calm night in a boat where flying-fish abound, and hang a lantern in the middle of it, the fish will fly in shoals at the lantern, strike against the sail, and fall in heaps in the boat. it may be true, but i never spoke to anybody who has seen it done, nor is it the method practised in the only place in the world where flying-fishing is followed for a living. so i told mr. jones that if we had some circular nets of small mesh made and stretched on wooden hoops, i was sure we should be able to catch some. he caught at the idea, and mentioned it to the mate, who readily gave his permission to use a boat. a couple of "guineamen" (a very large kind of flying-fish, having four wings) flew on board that night, as if purposely to provide us with the necessary bait. next morning, about four bells, the sea being like a mirror, unruffled by a breath of wind, we lowered and paddled off from the ship about a mile. when far enough away, we commenced operations by squeezing in the water some pieces of fish that had been kept for the purpose until they were rather high-flavoured. the exuding oil from this fish spread a thin film for some distance around the boat, through which, as through a sheet of glass, we could see a long way down. minute specks of the bait sank slowly through the limpid blue, but for at least an hour there was no sign of life. i was beginning to fear that i should be called to account for misleading all hands, when, to my unbounded delight, an immense shoal of flying-fish came swimming round the boat, eagerly picking up the savoury morsels. we grasped our nets, and, leaning over the gunwale, placed them silently in the water, pressing them downward and in towards the boat at the same time. our success was great and immediate. we lifted the wanderers by scores, while i whispered imploringly, "be careful not to scare them; don't make a sound." all hands entered into the spirit of the thing with great eagerness. as for mistah jones, his delight was almost more than he could bear. suddenly one of the men, in lifting his net, slipped on the smooth bottom of the boat, jolting one of the oars. there was a gleam of light below as the school turned--they had all disappeared instanter. we had been so busy that we had not noticed the dimensions of our catch; but now, to our great joy, we found that we had at least eight hundred fish nearly as large as herrings. we at once returned to the ship, having been absent only two hours, during which we had caught sufficient to provide all hands with three good meals. not one of the crew had ever seen or heard of such fishing before, so my pride and pleasure may be imagined. a little learning may be a dangerous thing at times, but it certainly is often handy to have about you. the habit of taking notice and remembering has often been the means of saving many lives in suddenly-met situations of emergency, at sea perhaps more than anywhere else, and nothing can be more useful to a sailor than the practice of keeping his weather-eye open. in barbadoes there is established the only regular flying-fishery in the world, and in just the manner i have described, except that the boats are considerably larger, is the whole town supplied with delicious fish at so trifling a cost as to make it a staple food among all classes. but i find that i am letting this chapter run to an unconscionable length, and it does not appear as if we were getting at the southward very fast either. truth to tell, our progress was mighty slow; but we gradually crept across the belt of calms, and a week after our never-to-be-forgotten haul of flying-fish we got the first of the south-east trades, and went away south at a good pace--for us. we made the island of trinidada with its strange conical-topped pillar, the ninepin rock, but did not make a call, as the skipper was beginning to get fidgety at not seeing any whales, and anxious to get down to where he felt reasonably certain of falling in with them. life had been very monotonous of late, and much as we dreaded still the prospect of whale-fighting (by "we," of course, i mean the chaps forward), it began to lose much of its terror for us, so greatly did we long for a little change. keeping, as we did, out of the ordinary track of ships, we hardly ever saw a sail. we had no recreations; fun was out of the question; and had it not been for a bible, a copy of shakespeare, and a couple of cheap copies of "david copperfield" and "bleak house," all of which were mine, we should have had no books. chapter viii. abner's whale in a previous chapter i have referred to the fact of a bounty being offered to whoever should first sight a useful whale, payable only in the event of the prize being secured by the ship. in consequence of our ill-success, and to stimulate the watchfulness of all, that bounty was now increased from ten pounds of tobacco to twenty, or fifteen dollars, whichever the winner chose to have. most of us whites regarded this as quite out of the question for us, whose untrained vision was as the naked eye to a telescope when pitted against the eagle-like sight of the portuguese. nevertheless, we all did our little best, and i know, for one, that when i descended from my lofty perch, after a two hours' vigil, my eyes often ached and burned for an hour afterwards from the intensity of my gaze across the shining waste of waters. judge, then, of the surprise of everybody, when one forenoon watch, three days after we had lost sight of trinidada, a most extraordinary sound was heard from the fore crow's-nest. i was, at the time, up at the main, in company with louis, the mate's harpooner, and we stared across to see whatever was the matter, the watchman was unfortunate abner cushing, whose trivial offence had been so severely punished a short time before, and he was gesticulating and howling like a madman. up from below came the deep growl of the skipper, "foremast head, there, what d'ye say?" "b-b-b-blow, s-s-sir," stammered abner; "a big whale right in the way of the sun, sir." "see anythin', louey?" roared the skipper to my companion, just as we had both "raised" the spout almost in the glare cast by the sun. "yessir," answered louis; "but i kaint make him eout yet, sir." "all right; keep yer eye on him, and lemme know sharp;" and away he went aft for his glasses. the course was slightly altered, so that we headed direct for the whale, and in less than a minute afterwards we saw distinctly the great black column of a sperm whale's head rise well above the sea, scattering a circuit of foam before it, and emitting a bushy, tufted burst of vapour into the clear air. "there she white-waters! ah bl-o-o-o-o-o-w, blow, blow!" sang louis; and then, in another tone, "sperm whale, sir; big, 'lone fish, headin' 'beout east-by-nothe." "all right. 'way down from aloft," answered the skipper, who was already half-way up the main-rigging; and like squirrels we slipped out of our hoops and down the backstays, passing the skipper like a flash as he toiled upwards, bellowing orders as he went. short as our journey down had been, when we arrived on deck we found all ready for a start. but as the whale was at least seven miles away, and we had a fair wind for him, there was no hurry to lower, so we all stood at attention by our respective boats, waiting for the signal. i found, to my surprise, that, although i was conscious of a much more rapid heart-beat than usual, i was not half so scared as i expected to be--that the excitement was rather pleasant than otherwise. there were a few traces of funk about some of the others still; but as for abner, he was fairly transformed; i hardly knew the man. he was one of goliath's boat's crew, and the big darkey was quite proud of him. his eyes sparkled, and he chuckled and smiled constantly, as one who is conscious of having done a grand stroke of business, not only for himself, but for all hands. "lower away boats!" came pealing down from the skipper's lofty perch, succeeded instantly by the rattle of the patent blocks as the falls flew through them, while the four beautiful craft took the water with an almost simultaneous splash. the ship-keepers had trimmed the yards to the wind and hauled up the courses, so that simply putting the helm down deadened our way, and allowed the boats to run clear without danger of fouling one another. to shove off and hoist sail was the work of a few moments, and with a fine working breeze away we went. as before, our boat, being the chief's, had the post of honour; but there was now only one whale, and i rather wondered why we had all left the ship. according to expectations, down he went when we were within a couple of miles of him, but quietly and with great dignity, elevating his tail perpendicularly in the air, and sinking slowly from our view. again i found mr. count talkative. "thet whale 'll stay down fifty minutes, i guess," said he, "fer he's every gill ov a hundred en twenty bar'l; and don't yew fergit it." "do the big whales give much more trouble than the little ones?" i asked, seeing him thus chatty. "wall, it's jest ez it happens, boy--just ez it happens. i've seen a fifty-bar'l bull make the purtiest fight i ever hearn tell ov--a fight thet lasted twenty hours, stove three boats, 'n killed two men. then, again, i've seen a hundred 'n fifty bar'l whale lay 'n take his grooel 'thout hardly wunkin 'n eyelid--never moved ten fathom from fust iron till fin eout. so yew may say, boy, that they're like peepul--got thair iudividooal pekyewlyarities, an' thars no countin' on 'em for sartin nary time." i was in great hopes of getting some useful information while his mood lasted; but it was over, and silence reigned. nor did i dare to ask any more questions; he looked so stern and fierce. the scene was very striking. overhead, a bright blue sky just fringed with fleecy little clouds; beneath, a deep blue sea with innumerable tiny wavelets dancing and glittering in the blaze of the sun; but all swayed in one direction by a great, solemn swell that slowly rolled from east to west, like the measured breathing of some world-supporting monster. four little craft in a group, with twenty-four men in them, silently waiting for battle with one of the mightiest of god's creatures--one that was indeed a terrible foe to encounter were he but wise enough to make the best use of his opportunities. against him we came with our puny weapons, of which i could not help reminding myself that "he laugheth at the shaking of a spear." but when the man's brain was thrown into the scale against the instinct of the brute, the contest looked less unequal than at first sight, for there is the secret of success. my musings were very suddenly interrupted. whether we had overrun our distance, or the whale, who was not "making a passage," but feeding, had changed his course, i do not know; but, anyhow, he broke water close ahead, coming straight for our boat. his great black head, like the broad bow of a dumb barge, driving the waves before it, loomed high and menacing to me, for i was not forbidden to look ahead now. but coolly, as if coming alongside the ship, the mate bent to the big steer-oar, and swung the boat off at right angles to her course, bringing her back again with another broad sheer as the whale passed foaming. this manoeuvre brought us side by side with him before he had time to realize that we were there. up till that instant he had evidently not seen us, and his surprise was correspondingly great. to see louis raise his harpoon high above his head, and with a hoarse grunt of satisfaction plunge it into the black, shining mass beside him up to the hitches, was indeed a sight to be remembered. quick as thought he snatched up a second harpoon, and as the whale rolled from us it flew from his hands, burying itself like the former one, but lower down the body. the great impetus we had when we reached the whale carried us a long way past him, out of all danger from his struggles. no hindrance was experienced from the line by which we were connected with the whale, for it was loosely coiled in a space for the purpose in the boat's bow to the extent of two hundred feet, and this was cast overboard by the harpooner as soon as the fish was fast. he made a fearful to-do over it, rolling completely over several times backward and forward, at the same time smiting the sea with his mighty tail, making an almost deafening noise and pother. but we were comfortable enough, while we unshipped the mast and made ready for action, being sufficiently far away from him to escape the full effect of his gambols. it was impossible to avoid reflecting, however, upon what would happen if, in our unprepared and so far helpless state, he were, instead of simply tumbling about in an aimless, blind sort of fury, to rush at the boat and try to destroy it. very few indeed would survive such an attack, unless the tactics were radically altered. no doubt they would be, for practices grow up in consequence of the circumstances with which they have to deal. after the usual time spent in furious attempts to free himself from our annoyance, he betook himself below, leaving us to await his return, and hasten it as much as possible by keeping a severe strain upon the line. our efforts in this direction, however, did not seem to have any effect upon him at all. flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate to splice his own on to. still it slipped away, and at last it was handed to the third mate, whose two tubs met the same fate. it was now mistah jones' turn to "bend on," which he did with many chuckles as of a man who was the last resource of the unfortunate. but his face grew longer and longer as the never-resting line continued to disappear. soon he signalled us that he was nearly out of line, and two or three minutes after he bent on his "drogue" (a square piece of plank with a rope tail spliced into its centre, and considered to hinder a whale's progress at least as much as four boats), and let go the end. we had each bent on our drogues in the same way, when we passed our ends to one another. so now our friend was getting along somewhere below with feet of / -inch rope, and weight additional equal to the drag of sixteen -feet boats. of course we knew that, unless he were dead and sinking, he could not possibly remain much longer beneath the surface. the exhibition of endurance we had just been favoured with was a very unusual one, i was told, it being a rare thing for a cachalot to take out two boats' lines before returning to the surface to spout. therefore, we separated as widely as was thought necessary, in order to be near him on his arrival. it was, as might be imagined, some time before we saw the light of his countenance; but when we did, we had no difficulty in getting alongside of him again. my friend goliath, much to my delight, got there first, and succeeded in picking up the bight of the line. but having done so, his chance of distinguishing himself was gone. hampered by the immense quantity of sunken line which was attached to the whale, he could do nothing, and soon received orders to cut the bight of the line and pass the whale's end to us. he had hardly obeyed, with a very bad grace, when the whale started off to windward with us at a tremendous rate. the other boats, having no line, could do nothing to help, so away we went alone, with barely a hundred fathoms of line, in case he should take it into his head to sound again. the speed at which he went made it appear as if a gale of wind was blowing and we flew along the sea surface, leaping from crest to crest of the waves with an incessant succession of cracks like pistol-shots. the flying spray drenched us and prevented us from seeing him, but i fully realized that it was nothing to what we should have to put up with if the wind freshened much. one hand was kept bailing the water out which came so freely over the bows, but all the rest hauled with all their might upon the line, hoping to get a little closer to the flying monster. inch by inch we gained on him, encouraged by the hoarse objurgations of the mate, whose excitement was intense. after what seemed a terribly long chase, we found his speed slackening, and we redoubled our efforts. now we were close upon him; now, in obedience to the steersman, the boat sheered out a bit, and we were abreast of his labouring flukes; now the mate hurls his quivering lance with such hearty good-will that every inch of its slender shaft disappears within the huge body. "layoff! off with her, louey!" screamed the mate; and she gave a wide sheer away from the whale, not a second too soon. up flew that awful tail, descending with a crash upon the water not two feet from us. "out oars! pull, two! starn, three!" shouted the mate; and as we obeyed our foe turned to fight. then might one see how courage and skill were such mighty factors in the apparently unequal contest. the whale's great length made it no easy job for him to turn, while our boat, with two oars a-side, and the great leverage at the stern supplied by the nineteen-foot steer-oar circled, backed, and darted ahead like a living thing animated by the mind of our commander. when the leviathan settled, we gave a wide berth to his probable place of ascent; when he rushed at us, we dodged him; when he paused, if only momentarily, in we flew, and got home a fearful thrust of the deadly lance. all fear was forgotten now--i panted, thirsted for his life. once, indeed, in a sort of frenzy, when for an instant we lay side by side with him, i drew my sheath-knife, and plunged it repeatedly into the blubber, as if i were assisting is his destruction. suddenly the mate gave a howl: "starn all--starn all! oh, starn!" and the oars bent like canes as we obeyed. there was an upheaval of the sea just ahead; then slowly, majestically, the vast body of our foe rose into the air. up, up it went, while my heart stood still, until the whole of that immense creature hung on high, apparently motionless, and then fell--a hundred tons of solid flesh--back into the sea. on either side of that mountainous mass the waters rose in shining towers of snowy foam, which fell in their turn, whirling and eddying around us as we tossed and fell like a chip in a whirlpool. blinded by the flying spray, baling for very life to free the boat from the water with which she was nearly full, it was some minutes before i was able to decide whether we were still uninjured or not. then i saw, at a little distance, the whale lying quietly. as i looked he spouted, and the vapour was red with his blood. "starn all!" again cried our chief, and we retreated to a considerable distance. the old warrior's practised eye had detected the coming climax of our efforts, the dying agony or "furry" of the great mammal. turning upon his side, he began to move in a circular direction, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until he was rushing round at tremendous speed, his great head raised quite out of water at times, clashing his enormous jaws. torrents of blood poured from his spout-hole, accompanied by hoarse bellowings, as of some gigantic bull, but really caused by the labouring breath trying to pass through the clogged air passages. the utmost caution and rapidity of manipulation of the boat was necessary to avoid his maddened rush, but this gigantic energy was short-lived. in a few minutes he subsided slowly in death, his mighty body reclined on one side, the fin uppermost waving limply as he rolled to the swell, while the small waves broke gently over the carcass in a low, monotonous surf, intensifying the profound silence that had succeeded the tumult of our conflict with the late monarch of the deep. hardly had the flurry ceased, when we hauled up alongside of our hard-won prize, in order to secure a line to him in a better manner than at present for hauling him to the ship. this was effected by cutting a hole through the tough, gristly substance of the flukes with the short "boat-spade," carried for the purpose. the end of the line, cut off from the faithful harpoon that had held it so long, was then passed through this hole and made fast. this done, it was "smoke-oh!" the luxury of that rest and refreshment was something to be grateful for, coming, as it did, in such complete contrast to our recent violent exertions. the ship was some three or four miles off to leeward, so we reckoned she would take at least an hour and a half to work up to us. meanwhile, our part of the performance being over, and well over, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, lazily rocking on the gentle swell by the side of a catch worth at least l . during the conflict i had not noticed what now claimed attention--several great masses of white, semi-transparent-looking substance floating about, of huge size and irregular shape. but one of these curious lumps came floating by as we lay, tugged at by several fish, and i immediately asked the mate if he could tell me what it was and where it came from. he told me that, when dying, the cachalot always ejected the contents of his stomach, which were invariably composed of such masses as we saw before us; that he believed the stuff to be portions of big cuttle-fish, bitten off by the whale for the purpose of swallowing, but he wasn't sure. anyhow, i could haul this piece alongside now, if i liked, and see. secretly wondering at the indifference shown by this officer of forty years' whaling experience to such a wonderful fact as appeared to be here presented, i thanked him, and, sticking the boat-hook into the lump, drew it alongside. it was at once evident that it was a massive fragment of cuttle-fish--tentacle or arm--as thick as a stout man's body, and with six or seven sucking-discs or acetabula on it. these were about as large as a saucer, and on their inner edge were thickly set with hooks or claws all round the rim, sharp as needles, and almost the shape and size of a tiger's. to what manner of awful monster this portion of limb belonged, i could only faintly imagine; but of course i remembered, as any sailor would, that from my earliest sea-going i had been told that the cuttle-fish was the biggest in the sea, although i never even began to think it might be true until now. i asked the mate if he had ever seen such creatures as this piece belonged to alive and kicking. he answered, languidly, "wall, i guess so; but i don't take any stock in fish, 'cept for provisions er ile--en that's a fact." it will be readily believed that i vividly recalled this conversation when, many years after, i read an account by the prince of monaco of his discovery of a gigantic squid, to which his naturalist gave the name of lepidoteuthis grimaldii! truly the indifference and apathy manifested by whalers generally to everything except commercial matters is wonderful--hardly to be credited. however, this was a mighty revelation to me. for the first time, it was possible to understand that, contrary to the usual notion of a whale's being unable to swallow a herring, here was a kind of whale that could swallow--well, a block four or five feet square apparently; who lived upon creatures as large as himself, if one might judge of their bulk by the sample to hand; but being unable, from only possessing teeth in one jaw, to masticate his food, was compelled to tear it in sizable pieces, bolt it whole, and leave his commissariat department to do the rest. while thus ruminating, the mate and louis began a desultory conversation concerning what they termed "ambergrease." i had never even heard the word before, although i had a notion that milton, in "paradise regained," describing the satanic banquet, had spoken of something being "grisamber steamed." they could by no means agree as to what this mysterious substance was, how it was produced, or under what conditions. they knew that it was sometimes found floating near the dead body of a sperm whale--the mate, in fact, stated that he had taken it once from the rectum of a cachalot--and they were certain that it was of great value--from one to three guineas per ounce. when i got to know more of the natural history of the sperm whale, and had studied the literature of the subject, i was so longer surprised at their want of agreement, since the learned doctors who have written upon the subject do not seem to have come to definite conclusions either. by some it is supposed to be the product of a diseased condition of the creature; others consider that it is merely the excreta, which, normally fluid, has by some means become concreted. it is nearly always found with cuttle-fish beaks imbedded in its substance, showing that these indigestible portions of the sperm whale's food have in some manner become mixed with it during its formation in the bowel. chemists have analyzed it with scanty results. its great value is due to its property of intensifying the power of perfumes, although, strange to say, it has little or no odour of its own, a faint trace of musk being perhaps detectable in some cases. the turks are said to use it for a truly turkish purpose, which need not be explained here, while the moors are credited with a taste for it in their cookery. about both these latter statements there is considerable doubt; i only give them for what they are worth, without, committing myself to any definite belief in them. the ship now neared us fast, and as soon as she rounded-to, we left the whale and pulled towards her, paying out line as we went. arriving alongside, the line was handed on board, and in a short time the prize was hauled to the gangway. we met with a very different reception this time. the skipper's grim face actually looked almost pleasant as he contemplated the colossal proportions of the latest addition to our stock. he was indeed a fine catch, being at least seventy feet long, and in splendid condition. as soon as he was secured alongside in the orthodox fashion, all hands were sent to dinner, with an intimation to look sharp over it. judging from our slight previous experience, there was some heavy labour before us, for this whale was nearly four times as large as the one caught off the cape verds. and it was so. verily those officers toiled like titans to get that tremendous head off even the skipper taking a hand. in spite of their efforts, it was dark before the heavy job was done. as we were in no danger of bad weather, the head was dropped astern by a hawser until morning, when it would be safer to dissect it. all that night we worked incessantly, ready to drop with fatigue, but not daring to suggest, the possibility of such a thing. several of the officers and harpooners were allowed a few hours off, as their special duty of dealing with the head at daylight would be so arduous as to need all their energies. when day dawned we were allowed a short rest, while the work of cutting up the head was undertaken by the rested men. at seven bells ( . ) it was "turn to" all hands again. the "junk" was hooked on to both cutting tackles, and the windlass manned by everybody who could get hold. slowly the enormous mass rose, canting the ship heavily as it came, while every stick and rope aloft complained of the great strain upon them. when at last it was safely shipped, and the tackles cast off, the size of this small portion of a full-grown cachalot's body could be realized, not before. it was hauled from the gangway by tackles, and securely lashed to the rail running round beneath the top of the bulwarks for that purpose--the "lash-rail"--where the top of it towered up as high as the third ratline of the main-rigging. then there was another spell, while the "case" was separated from the skull. this was too large to get on board, so it was lifted half-way out of water by the tackles, one hooked on each side; then they were made fast, and a spar rigged across them at a good height above the top of the case. a small block was lashed to this spar, through which a line was rove. a long, narrow bucket was attached to one end of this rope; the other end on deck was attended by two men. one unfortunate beggar was perched aloft on the above-mentioned spar, where his position, like the main-yard of marryatt's verbose carpenter was "precarious and not at all permanent." he was provided with a pole, with which he pushed the bucket down through a hole cut in the upper end of the "case," whence it was drawn out by the chaps on deck full of spermaceti. it was a weary, unsatisfactory process, wasting a great deal of the substance being baled out; but no other way was apparently possible. the grease blew about, drenching most of us engaged in an altogether unpleasant fashion, while, to mend matters, the old barky began to roll and tumble about in an aimless, drunken sort of way, the result of a new cross swell rolling up from the south-westward. as the stuff was gained, it was poured into large tanks in the blubber-room, the quantity being too great to be held by the try-pots at once. twenty-five barrels of this clear, wax-like substance were baled from that case; and when at last it was lowered a little, and cut away from its supports, it was impossible to help thinking that much was still remaining within which we, with such rude means, were unable to save. then came the task of cutting up the junk. layer after layer, eight to ten inches thick, was sliced off, cut into suitable pieces, and passed into the tanks. so full was the matter of spermaceti that one could take a piece as large as one's head in the hands, and squeeze it like a sponge, expressing the spermaceti in showers, until nothing remained but a tiny ball of fibre. all this soft, pulpy mass was held together by walls of exceedingly tough, gristly integrument ("white horse"), which was as difficult to cut as gutta-percha, and, but for the peculiar texture, not at all unlike it. when we had finished separating the junk, there was nearly a foot of oil on deck in the waist, and uproarious was the laughter when some hapless individual, losing his balance, slid across the deck and sat down with a loud splash in the deepest part of the accumulation. the lower jaw of this whale measured exactly nineteen feet in length from the opening of the mouth, or, say the last of the teeth, to the point, and carried twenty-eight teeth on each side. for the time, it was hauled aft out of the way, and secured to the lash-rail. the subsequent proceedings were just the same as before described, only more so. for a whole week our labours continued, and when they were over we had stowed below a hundred and forty-six barrels of mingled oil and spermaceti, or fourteen and a half tuns. it was really a pleasant sight to see abner receiving as if being invested with an order of merit, the twenty pounds of tobacco to which he was entitled. poor fellow! he felt as if at last he were going to be thought a little of, and treated a little better. he brought his bounty forrard, and shared it out as far as it would go with the greatest delight and good nature possible. whatever he might have been thought of aft, certainly, for the time, he was a very important personage forrard; even the portuguese, who were inclined to be jealous of what they considered an infringement of their rights, were mollified by the generosity shown. after every sign of the operations had been cleared away, the jaw was brought out, and the teeth extracted with a small tackle. they were set solidly into a hard white gum, which had to be cut away all around them before they would come out. when cleaned of the gum, they were headed up in a small barrel of brine. the great jaw-pans were sawn off, and placed at the disposal of anybody who wanted pieces of bone for "scrimshaw," or carved work. this is a very favourite pastime on board whalers, though, in ships such as ours, the crew have little opportunity for doing anything, hardly any leisure during daylight being allowed. but our carpenter was a famous workman at "scrimshaw," and he started half a dozen walking-sticks forthwith. a favourite design is to carve the bone into the similitude of a rope, with "worming" of smaller line along its lays. a handle is carved out of a whale's tooth, and insets of baleen, silver, cocoa-tree, or ebony, give variety and finish. the tools used are of the roughest. some old files, softened in the fire, and filed into grooves something like saw-teeth, are most used; but old knives, sail-needles, and chisels are pressed into service. the work turned out would, in many cases, take a very high place in an exhibition of turnery, though never a lathe was near it. of course, a long time is taken over it, especially the polishing, which is done with oil and whiting, if it can be got--powdered pumice if it cannot. i once had an elaborate pastry-cutter carved out of six whale's teeth, which i purchased for a pound of tobacco from a seaman of the coral whaler, and afterwards sold in dunedin, new zealand, for l s., the purchaser being decidedly of opinion that he had a bargain. chapter ix. our first calling-place perhaps it may hastily be assumed, from the large space already devoted to fishing operations of various kinds, that the subject will not bear much more dealing with, if my story is to avoid being monotonous. but i beg to assure you, dear reader, that while of course i have most to say in connection with the business of the voyage, nothing is farther from my plan than to neglect the very interesting portion of our cruise which relates to visiting strange, out-of-the-way corners of the world. if--which i earnestly deprecate--the description hitherto given of sperm whale-fishing and its adjuncts be found not so interesting as could be wished, i cry you mercy. i have been induced to give more space to it because it has been systematically avoided in the works upon whale-fishing before mentioned, which, as i have said, were not intended for popular reading. true, neither may my humble tome become popular either; but, if it does not, no one will be so disappointed as the author. we had made but little progress during the week of oil manufacture, very little attention being paid to the sails while that work was about; but, as the south-east trades blew steadily, we did not remain stationary altogether. so that the following week saw us on the south side of the tropic of capricorn, the south-east trade done, and the dirty weather and variable squalls, which nearly always precede the "westerlies," making our lives a burden to us. here, however, we were better off than in an ordinary merchantman, where doldrums are enough to drive you mad. the one object being to get along, it is incessant "pully-hauly," setting and taking in sail, in order, on the one hand, to lose no time, and, on the other, to lose no sails. now, with us, whenever the weather was doubtful or squally-looking, we shortened sail, and kept it fast till better weather came along, being quite careless whether we made one mile a day or one hundred. but just because nobody took any notice of our progress as the days passed, we were occasionally startled to find how far we had really got. this was certainly the case with all of us forward, even to me who had some experience, so well used had i now become to the leisurely way of getting along. to the laziest of ships, however, there comes occasionally a time when the bustling, hurrying wind will take no denial, and you've got to "git up an' git," as the yanks put it. such a time succeeded our "batterfanging" about, after losing the trades. we got hold of a westerly wind that, commencing quietly, gently, steadily, taking two or three days before it gathered force and volume, strengthened at last into a stern, settled gale that would brook no denial, to face which would have been misery indeed. to vessels bound east it came as a boon and blessing, for it would be a crawler that could not reel off her two hundred and fifty miles a day before the push of such a breeze. even the cachalot did her one hundred and fifty, pounding and bruising the ill-used sea in her path, and spreading before her broad bows a far-reaching area of snowy foam, while her wake was as wide as any two ordinary ships ought to make. five or six times a day the flying east india or colonial-bound english ships, under every stitch of square sail, would appear as tiny specks on the horizon astern, come up with us, pass like a flash, and fade away ahead, going at least two knots to our one. i could not help feeling a bit home-sick and tired of my present surroundings, in spite of their interest, when i saw those beautiful ocean-flyers devouring the distance which lay before them, and reflected that in little more than one month most of them would be discharging in melbourne, sydney, calcutta, or some other equally distant port, while we should probably be dodging about in our present latitude a little farther east. after a few days of our present furious rate of speed, i came on deck one morning, and instantly recognized an old acquaintance. right ahead, looking nearer than i had ever seen it before, rose the towering mass of tristan d'acunha, while farther away, but still visible, lay nightingale and inaccessible islands. their aspect was familiar, for i had sighted them on nearly every voyage i had made round the cape, but i had never seen them so near as this. there was a good deal of excitement among us, and no wonder. such a break in the monotony of our lives as we were about to have was enough to turn our heads. afterwards, we learned to view these matters in a more philosophic light; but now, being new and galled by the yoke, it was a different thing. near as the island seemed, it was six hours before we got near enough to distinguish objects on shore. i have seen the top of tristan peeping through a cloud nearly a hundred miles away, for its height is tremendous. st. helena looks a towering, scowling mass when you approach it closely but tristan d'acunha is far more imposing, its savage-looking cliffs seeming to sternly forbid the venturesome voyager any nearer familiarity with their frowning fastnesses. long before we came within working distance of the settlement, we were continually passing broad patches of kelp (fucus gigantea), whose great leaves and cable-laid stems made quite reef-like breaks in the heaving waste of restless sea. very different indeed were these patches of marine growth from the elegant wreaths of the gulf-weed with which parts of the north atlantic are so thickly covered. their colour was deep brown, almost black is some cases, and the size of many of the leaves amazing, being four to five feet long, by a foot wide, with stalks as thick as one's arm. they have their origin around these storm-beaten rocks, which lie scattered thinly over the immense area of the southern ocean, whence they are torn, in masses like those we saw, by every gale, and sent wandering round the world. when we arrived within about three miles of the landing-place, we saw a boat coming off, so we immediately hove-to and awaited her arrival. there was no question of anchoring; indeed, there seldom is in these vessels, unless they are going to make a long stay, for they are past masters in the art of "standing off and on." the boat came alongside--a big, substantially-built craft of the whale-boat type, but twice the size--manned by ten sturdy-looking fellows, as unkempt and wild-looking as any pirates. they were evidently put to great straits for clothes, many curious makeshifts being noticeable in their rig, while it was so patched with every conceivable kind of material that it was impossible to say which was the original or "standing part." they brought with them potatoes, onions, a few stunted cabbages, some fowls, and a couple of good-sized pigs, at the sight of which good things our eyes glistened and our mouths watered. alas! none of the cargo of that boat ever reached our hungry stomachs. we were not surprised, having anticipated that every bit of provision would be monopolized by our masters; but of course we had no means of altering such a state of things. the visitors had the same tale to tell that seems universal--bad trade, hard times, nothing doing. how very familiar it seemed, to be sure. nevertheless, it could not be denied that their sole means of communication with the outer world, as well as market for their goods, the calling whale-ships, were getting fewer and fewer every year; so that their outlook was not, it must be confessed, particularly bright. but their wants are few, beyond such as they can themselves supply. groceries and clothes, the latter especially, as the winters are very severe, are almost the only needs they require to be supplied with from without. they spoke of the "cape" as if it were only across the way, the distance separating them from that wonderful place being over thirteen hundred miles in reality. very occasionally a schooner from capetown does visit them; but, as the seals are almost exterminated, there is less and less inducement to make the voyage. like almost all the southern islets, this group has been in its time the scene of a wonderfully productive seal-fishery. it used to be customary for whaling and sealing vessels to land a portion of their crews, and leave them to accumulate a store of seal-skins and oil, while the ships cruised the surrounding seas for whales, which were exceedingly numerous, both "right" and sperm varieties. in those days there was no monotony of existence in these islands, ships were continually coming and going, and the islanders prospered exceedingly. when they increased beyond the capacity of the islands to entertain them, a portion migrated to the cape, while many of the men took service in the whale-ships, for which they were eminently suited. they are, as might be expected, a hybrid lot, the women all mulattoes, but intensely english in their views and loyalty. since the visit of h.m.s. galatea, in august, , with the duke of edinburgh on board, this sentiment had been intensified, and the little collection of thatched cottages, nameless till then, was called edinburgh, in honour of the illustrious voyager. they breed cattle, a few sheep, and pigs, although the sheep thrive but indifferently for some reason or another. poultry they have in large numbers, so that, could they commend a market, they would do very well. the steep cliffs, rising from the sea for nearly a thousand feet, often keep their vicinity in absolute calm, although a heavy gale may be raging on the other side of the island, and it would be highly dangerous for any navigator not accustomed to such a neighbourhood to get too near them. the immense rollers setting inshore, and the absence of wind combined, would soon carry a vessel up against the beetling crags, and letting go an anchor would not be of the slightest use, since the bottom, being of massive boulders, affords no holding ground at all. all round the island the kelp grows thickly, so thickly indeed as to make a boat's progress through it difficult. this, however, is very useful in one way here, as we found. wanting more supplies, which were to be had cheap, we lowered a couple of boats, and went ashore after them. on approaching the black, pebbly beach which formed the only landing-place, it appeared as if getting ashore would be a task of no ordinary danger and difficulty. the swell seemed to culminate as we neared the beach, lifting the boats at one moment high in air, and at the next lowering them into a green valley, from whence nothing could be seen but the surrounding watery summits. suddenly we entered the belt of kelp, which extended for perhaps a quarter of a mile seaward, and, lo! a transformation indeed. those loose, waving fronds of flexible weed, though swayed hither and thither by every ripple, were able to arrest the devastating rush of the gigantic swell, so that the task of landing, which had looked so terrible, was one of the easiest. once in among the kelp, although we could hardly use the oars, the water was quite smooth and tranquil. the islanders collected on the beach, and guided us to the best spot for landing, the huge boulders, heaped in many places, being ugly impediments to a boat. we were as warmly welcomed as if we had been old friends, and hospitable attentions were showered upon us from every side. the people were noticeably well-behaved, and, although there was something crusoe-like in their way of living, their manners and conversation were distinctly good. a rude plenty was evident, there being no lack of good food--fish, fowl, and vegetables. the grassy plateau on which the village stands is a sort of shelf jutting out from the mountain-side, the mountain being really the whole island. steep roads were hewn out of the solid rock, leading, as we were told, to the cultivated terraces above. these reached an elevation of about a thousand feet. above all towered the great, dominating peak, the summit lost in the clouds eight or nine thousand feet above. the rock-hewn roads and cultivated land certainly gave the settlement an old-established appearance, which was not surprising seeing that it has been inhabited for more than a hundred years. i shall always bear a grateful recollection of the place, because my host gave me what i had long been a stranger to--a good, old-fashioned english dinner of roast beef and baked potatoes. he apologized for having no plum-pudding to crown the feast. "but, you see," he said, "we kaint grow no corn hyar, and we'm clean run out ov flour; hev ter make out on taters 's best we kin." i sincerely sympathized with him on the lack of bread-stuff among them, and wondered no longer at the avidity with which they had munched our flinty biscuits on first coming aboard. his wife, a buxom, motherly woman of about fifty, of dark, olive complexion, but good features, was kindness itself; and their three youngest children, who were at home, could not, in spite of repeated warnings and threats, keep their eyes off me, as if i had been some strange animal dropped from the moon. i felt very unwilling to leave them so soon, but time was pressing, the stores we had come for were all ready to ship, and i had to tear myself away from these kindly entertainers. i declare, it seemed like parting with old friends; yet our acquaintance might have been measured by minutes, so brief it had been. the mate had purchased a fine bullock, which had been slaughtered and cut up for us with great celerity, four or five dozen fowls (alive), four or five sacks of potatoes, eggs, etc., so that we were heavily laden for the return journey to the ship. my friend had kindly given me a large piece of splendid cheese, for which i was unable to make him any return, being simply clad in a shirt and pair of trousers, neither of which necessary garments could be spared. with hearty cheers from the whole population, we shoved off and ploughed through the kelp seaweed again. when we got clear of it, we found the swell heavier than when we had come, and a rough journey back to the ship was the result. but, to such boatmen as we were, that was a trifle hardly worth mentioning, and after an hour's hard pull we got alongside again, and transhipped our precious cargo. the weather being threatening, we at once hauled off the land and out to sea, as night was falling and we did not wish to be in so dangerous a vicinity any longer than could be helped in stormy weather. altogether, a most enjoyable day, and one that i have ever since had a pleasant recollection of. by daybreak next morning the islands were out of sight, for the wind had risen to a gale, which, although we carried little sail, drove us along before it some seven or eight knots an hour. two days afterwards we caught another whale of medium size, making us fifty-four barrels of oil. as nothing out of the ordinary course marked the capture, it is unnecessary to do more than allude to it in passing, except to note that the honours were all with goliath. he happened to be close to the whale when it rose, and immediately got fast. so dexterous and swift were his actions that before any of the other boats could "chip in" he had his fish "fin out," the whole affair from start to finish only occupying a couple of hours. we were now in the chosen haunts of the great albatross, cape pigeons, and cape hens, but never in my life had i imagined such a concourse of them as now gathered around us. when we lowered there might have been perhaps a couple of dozen birds in sight, but no sooner was the whale dead than from out of the great void around they began to drift towards us. before we had got him fast alongside, the numbers of that feathered host were incalculable. they surrounded us until the sea surface was like a plain of snow, and their discordant cries were deafening. with the exception of one peculiar-looking bird, which has received from whalemen the inelegant name of "stinker," none of them attempted to alight upon the body of the dead monster. this bird, however, somewhat like a small albatross, but of dirty-grey colour, and with a peculiar excrescence on his beak, boldly took his precarious place upon the carcase, and at once began to dig into the blubber. he did not seem to make much impression, but he certainly tried hard. it was dark before we got our prize secured by the fluke-chain, so that we could not commence operations before morning. that night it blew hard, and we got an idea of the strain these vessels are sometimes subjected to. sometimes the ship rolled one way and the whale another, being divided by a big sea, the wrench at the fluke-chain, as the two masses fell apart down different hollows, making the vessel quiver from truck to keelson as if she was being torn asunder. then we would come together again with a crash and a shock that almost threw everybody out of their bunks. many an earnest prayer did i breathe that the chain would prove staunch, for what sort of a job it would be to go after that whale during the night, should he break loose, i could only faintly imagine. but all our gear was of the very best; no thieving ship-chandler had any hand in supplying our outfit with shoddy rope and faulty chain, only made to sell, and ready at the first call made upon it to carry away and destroy half a dozen valuable lives. there was one coil of rope on board which the skipper had bought for cordage on the previous voyage from a homeward-bound english ship, and it was the butt of all the officers' scurrilous remarks about britishers and their gear. it was never used but for rope-yarns, being cut up in lengths, and untwisted for the ignominious purpose of tying things up--"hardly good enough for that," was the verdict upon it. tired as we all were, very little sleep came to us that night--we were barely seasoned yet to the exigencies of a whaler's life--but afterwards i believe nothing short of dismasting or running the ship ashore would wake us, once we got to sleep. in the morning we commenced operations in a howling gale of wind, which placed the lives of the officers on the "cutting in" stage in great danger. the wonderful seaworthy qualities of our old ship shone brilliantly now. when an ordinary modern-built sailing-ship would have been making such weather of it as not only to drown anybody about the deck, but making it impossible to keep your footing anywhere without holding on, we were enabled to cut in this whale. true, the work was terribly exhausting and decidedly dangerous, but it was not impossible, for it was done. by great care and constant attention, the whole work of cutting in and trying out was got through without a single accident; but had another whale turned up to continue the trying time, i am fully persuaded that some of us would have gone under from sheer fatigue. for there was no mercy shown. all that i have ever read of "putting the slaves through for all they were worth" on the plantations was fully realized here, and our worthy skipper must have been a lineal descendent of the doughty simon legree. the men were afraid to go on to the sick-list. nothing short of total inability to continue would have prevented them from working, such was the terror with which that man had inspired us all. it may be said that we were a pack of cowards, who, without the courage to demand better treatment, deserved all we got. while admitting that such a conclusion is quite a natural one at which to arrive, i must deny its truth. there were men in that forecastle as good citizens and as brave fellows as you would wish to meet--men who in their own sphere would have commanded and obtained respect. but under the painful and abnormal circumstances in which they found themselves--beaten and driven like dogs while in the throes of sea-sickness, half starved and hopeless, their spirit had been so broken, and they were so kept down to that sad level by the display of force, aided by deadly weapons aft, that no other condition could be expected for them but that of broken-hearted slaves. my own case was many degrees better than that of the other whites, as i have before noted; but i was perfectly well aware that the slightest attempt on my part to show that i resented our common treatment would meet with the most brutal repression, and, in addition, i might look for a dreadful time of it for the rest of the voyage. the memory of that week of misery is so strong upon me even now that my hand trembles almost to preventing me from writing about it. weak and feeble do the words seem as i look at them, making me wish for the fire and force of carlyle or macaulay to portray our unnecessary sufferings. like all other earthly ills, however, they came to an end, at least for a time, and i was delighted to note that we were getting to the northward again. in making the outward passage round the cape, it is necessary to go well south, in order to avoid the great westerly set of the agulhas current, which for ever sweeps steadily round the southern extremity of the african continent at an average rate of three or four miles an hour. to homeward-bound ships this is a great boon. no matter what the weather may be--a stark calm or a gale of wind right on end in your teeth--that vast, silent river in the sea steadily bears you on at the same rate in the direction of home. it is perfectly true that with a gale blowing across the set of this great current, one of the very ugliest combinations of broken waves is raised; but who cares for that, when he knows that, as long as the ship holds together, some seventy or eighty miles per day nearer home must be placed to her credit? in like manner, it is of the deepest comfort to know that, storm or calm, fair or foul, the current of time, unhasting, unresting, bears us on to the goal that we shall surely reach--the haven of unbroken rest. not the least of the minor troubles on board the cachalot was the uncertainty of our destination; we never knew where we were going. it may seem a small point, but it is really not so unimportant as a landsman might imagine. on an ordinary passage, certain well-known signs are as easily read by the seaman as if the ship's position were given out to him every day. every alteration of the course signifies some point of the journey reached, some well-known track entered upon, and every landfall made becomes a new departure from whence to base one's calculations, which, rough as they are, rarely err more than a few days. say, for instance, you are bound for calcutta. the first of the north-east trades will give a fair idea of your latitude being about the edge of the tropics somewhere, or say from deg. to deg. n., whether you have sighted any of the islands or not. then away you go before the wind down towards the equator, the approach to which is notified by the loss of the trade and the dirty, changeable weather of the "doldrums." that weary bit of work over, along come the south-east trades, making you brace "sharp up," and sometimes driving you uncomfortably near the brazilian coast. presently more "doldrums," with a good deal more wind in them than in the "wariables" of the line latitude. the brave "westerly" will come along by-and-by and release you, and, with a staggering press of sail carried to the reliable gale, away you go for the long stretch of a hundred degrees or so eastward. you will very likely sight tristan d'acunha or gough island; but, if not, the course will keep you fairly well informed of your longitude, since most ships make more or less of a great circle track. instead of steering due east for the whole distance, they make for some southerly latitude by running along the arc of a great circle, then run due east for a thousand miles or so before gradually working north again. these alterations in the courses tell the foremast hand nearly all he wants to know, slight as they are. you will most probably sight amsterdam island or st. paul's in about deg. e.; but whether you do or not, the big change made in the course, to say nothing of the difference in the weather and temperature, say loudly that your long easterly run is over, and you are bound to the northward again. soon the south-east trades will take you gently in hand, and waft you pleasurably upward to the line again, unless you should be so unfortunate as to meet one of the devastating meteors known as "cyclones" in its gyration across the indian ocean. after losing the trade, which signals your approach to the line once more, your guides fluctuate muchly with the time of year. but it may be broadly put that the change of the monsoon in the bay of bengal is beastliness unadulterated, and the south-west monsoon itself, though a fair wind for getting to your destination, is worse, if possible. still, having got that far, you are able to judge pretty nearly when, in the ordinary course of events, you will arrive at saugor, and get a tug for the rest of the journey. but on this strange voyage i was quite as much in the dark concerning our approximate position as any of the chaps who had never seen salt water before they viewed it from the bad eminence of the cachalot's deck. of course, it was evident that we were bound eastward, but whether to the indian seas or to the south pacific, none knew but the skipper, and perhaps the mate. i say "perhaps" advisedly. in any well-regulated merchant ship there is an invariable routine of observations performed by both captain and chief officer, except in very big vessels, where the second mate is appointed navigating officer. the two men work out their reckoning independently of each other, and compare the result, so that an excellent check upon the accuracy of the positions found is thereby afforded. here, however, there might not have been, as far as appearances went, a navigator in the ship except the captain, if it be not a misuse of terms to call him a navigator. if the test be ability to take a ship round the world, poking into every undescribed, out-of-the-way corner you can think of, and return home again without damage to the ship of any kind except by the unavoidable perils of the sea, then doubtless he was a navigator, and a ripe, good one. but anything cruder than the "rule-of-thumb" way in which he found his positions, or more out of date than his "hog-yoke," or quadrant, i have never seen. i suppose we carried a chronometer, though i never saw it or heard the cry of "stop," which usually accompanies a.m. or p.m. "sights" taken for longitude. he used sometimes to make a deliberate sort of haste below after taking a sight, when he may have been looking at a chronometer perhaps. what i do know about his procedure is, that he always used a very rough method of equal altitudes, which would make a mathematician stare and gasp; that his nautical almanac was a ten-cent one published by some speculative optician is new york; that he never worked up a "dead reckoning;" and that the extreme limit of time that he took to work out his observations was ten minutes. in fact, all our operations in seamanship or navigation were run on the same happy-go-lucky principle. if it was required to "tack" ship, there was no formal parade and preparation for the manoeuvre, not even as much as would be made in a goole billy-boy. without any previous intimation, the helm would be put down, and round she would come, the yards being trimmed by whoever happened to be nearest to the braces. the old tub seemed to like it that way, for she never missed stays or exhibited any of that unwillingness to do what she was required that is such a frequent characteristic of merchantmen. even getting under way or coming to an anchor was unattended by any of the fuss and bother from which those important evolutions ordinarily appear inseparable. to my great relief we saw no more whales of the kind we were after during our passage round the cape. the weather we were having was splendid for making a passage, but to be dodging about among those immense rollers, or towed athwart them by a wounded whale in so small a craft as one of our whale-boats, did not have any attractions for me. there was little doubt in any of our minds that, if whales were seen, off we must go while daylight lasted, let the weather be what it might. so when one morning i went to the wheel, to find the course n.n.e. instead of e. by n., it may be taken for granted that the change was a considerable relief to me. it was now manifest that we were bound up into the indian ocean, although of course i knew nothing of the position of the districts where whales were to be looked for. gradually we crept northward, the weather improving every day as we left the "roaring forties" astern. while thus making northing we had several fine catches of porpoises, and saw many rorquals, but sperm whales appeared to have left the locality. however, the "old man" evidently knew what he was about, as we were not now cruising, but making a direct passage for some definite place. at last we sighted land, which, from the course which we had been steering, might have been somewhere on the east coast of africa, but for the fact that it was right ahead, while we were pointing at the time about n.n.w. by-and-by i came to the conclusion that it must be the southern extremity of madagascar, cape st. mary, and, by dint of the closest, attention to every word i heard uttered while at the wheel by the officers, found that my surmise was correct. we skirted this point pretty closely, heading to the westward, and, when well clear of it, bore up to the northward, again for the mozambique channel. another surprise. the very idea of whaling in the mozambique channel seemed too ridiculous to mention; yet here we were, guided by a commander who, whatever his faults, was certainly most keen in his attention to business, and the unlikeliest man imaginable to take the ship anywhere unless he anticipated a profitable return for his visit. chapter x. a visit to some strange places we had now entered upon what promised to be the most interesting part of our voyage. as a commercial speculation, i have to admit that the voyage was to me a matter of absolute indifference. never, from the first week of my being on board, had i cherished any illusions upon that score, for it was most forcibly impressed on my mind that, whatever might be the measure of success attending our operations, no one of the crew forward could hope to benefit by it. the share of profits was so small, and the time taken to earn it so long, such a number of clothes were worn out and destroyed by us, only to be replaced from the ship's slop-chest at high prices, that i had quite resigned myself to the prospect of leaving the vessel in debt, whenever that desirable event might happen. since, therefore, i had never made it a practice to repine at the inevitable, and make myself unhappy by the contemplation of misfortunes i was powerless to prevent, i tried to interest myself as far as was possible in gathering information, although at that time i had no idea, beyond a general thirst for knowledge, that what i was now learning would ever be of any service to me. yet i had been dull indeed not to have seen how unique were the opportunities i was now enjoying for observation of some of the least known and understood aspects of the ocean world and its wonderful inhabitants, to say nothing of visits to places unvisited, except by such free lances as we were, and about which so little is really known. the weather of the mozambique channel was fairly good, although subject to electric storms of the most terrible aspect, but perfectly harmless. on the second evening after rounding cape st. mary, we were proceeding, as usual, under very scanty sail, rather enjoying the mild, balmy air, scent-laden, from madagascar. the moon was shining in tropical splendour, paling the lustre of the attendant stars, and making the glorious milky way but a faint shadow of its usual resplendent road. gradually from the westward there arose a murky mass of cloud, fringed at its upper edges with curious tinted tufts of violet, orange, and crimson. these colours were not brilliant, but plainly visible against the deep blue sky. slowly and solemnly the intruding gloom overspread the sweet splendour of the shining sky, creeping like a death-shadow over a dear face, and making the most talkative feel strangely quiet and ill at ease. as the pall of thick darkness blotted out the cool light, it seemed to descend until at last we were completely over-canopied by a dome of velvety black, seemingly low enough to touch the mast-heads. a belated sea-bird's shrill scream but emphasized the deep silence which lent itself befittingly to the solemnity of nature. presently thin suggestions of light, variously tinted, began to thread the inky mass. these grew brighter and more vivid, until at last, in fantastic contortions, they appeared to rend the swart concave asunder, revealing through the jagged clefts a lurid waste of the most intensely glowing fire. the coming and going of these amazing brightnesses, combined with the egyptian dark between, was completely blinding. so loaded was the still air with electricity that from every point aloft pale flames streamed upward, giving the ship the appearance of a huge candelabrum with innumerable branches. one of the hands, who had been ordered aloft on some errand of securing a loose end, presented a curious sight. he was bareheaded, and from his hair the all pervading fluid arose, lighting up his features, which were ghastly beyond description. when he lifted his hand, each separate finger became at once an additional point from which light streamed. there was no thunder, but a low hissing and a crackling which did not amount to noise, although distinctly audible to all. sensations most unpleasant of pricking and general irritation were felt by every one, according to their degree of susceptibility. after about an hour of this state of things, a low moaning of thunder was heard, immediately followed by a few drops of rain large as dollars. the mutterings and grumblings increased until, with one peal that made the ship tremble as though she had just struck a rock at full speed, down came the rain. the windows of heaven were opened, and no man might stand against the steaming flood that descended by thousands of tons per minute. how long it continued, i cannot say; probably, in its utmost fierceness, not more than half an hour. then it slowly abated, clearing away as it did so the accumulation of gloom overhead, until, before midnight had struck, all the heavenly host were shedding their beautiful brilliancy upon us again with apparently increased glory, while the freshness and invigorating feel of the air was inexpressibly delightful. we did not court danger by hugging too closely any of the ugly reefs and banks that abound in this notably difficult strait, but gave them all a respectfully wide berth. it was a feature of our navigation that, unless we had occasion to go near any island or reef for fishing or landing purposes, we always kept a safe margin of distance away, which probably accounts for our continued immunity from accident while in tortuous waters. our anchors and cables were, however, always kept ready for use now, in case of an unsuspected current or sudden storm; but beyond that precaution, i could see little or no difference in the manner of our primitive navigation. we met with no "luck" for some time, and the faces of the harpooners grew daily longer, the great heat of those sultry waters trying all tempers sorely. but captain slocum knew his business, and his scowling, impassive face showed no signs of disappointment, or indeed any other emotion, as day by day we crept farther north. at last we sighted the stupendous peak of comoro mountain, which towers to nearly nine thousand feet from the little island which gives its name to the comoro group of four. on that same day a school of medium-sized sperm whales were sighted, which appeared to be almost of a different race to those with which we had hitherto had dealings. they were exceedingly fat and lazy, moving with the greatest deliberation, and, when we rushed in among them, appeared utterly bewildered and panic-stricken, knowing not which way to flee. like a flock of frightened sheep they huddled together, aimlessly wallowing in each other's way, while we harpooned them with the greatest ease and impunity. even the "old man" himself lowered the fifth boat, leaving the ship to the carpenter, cooper, cook, and steward, and coming on the scene as if determined to make a field-day of the occasion. he was no "slouch" at the business either. not that there was much occasion or opportunity to exhibit any prowess. the record of the day's proceedings would be as tame as to read of a day's work in a slaughter-house. suffice it to say, that we actually killed six whales, none of whom were less than fifty barrels, no boat ran out more than one hundred fathoms of line, neither was a bomb-lance used. not the slightest casualty occurred to any of the boats, and the whole work of destruction was over in less than four hours. then came the trouble. the fish were, of course somewhat widely separated when they died, and the task of collecting all those immense carcasses was one of no ordinary magnitude. had it not been for the wonderfully skilful handling of the ship, the task would, i should think, have been impossible, but the way in which she was worked compelled the admiration of anybody who knew what handling a ship meant. still, with all the ability manifested, it was five hours after the last whale died before we had gathered them all alongside, bringing us to four o'clock in the afternoon. a complete day under that fierce blaze of the tropical sun, without other refreshment than an occasional furtive drink of tepid water, had reduced us to a pitiable condition of weakness, so much so that the skipper judged it prudent, as soon as the fluke-chains were passed, to give us a couple of hours' rest. as soon as the sun had set we were all turned to again, three cressets were prepared, and by their blaze we toiled the whole night through. truth compels me to state, though, that none of us foremast hands had nearly such heavy work as the officers on the stage. what they had to do demanded special knowledge and skill; but it was also terribly hard work, constant and unremitting, while we at the windlass had many a short spell between the lifting of the pieces. even the skipper took a hand, for the first time, and right manfully did he do his share. by the first streak of dawn, three of the whales had been stripped of their blubber, and five heads were bobbing astern at the ends of as many hawsers. the sea all round presented a wonderful sight. there must have been thousands of sharks gathered to the feast, and their incessant incursions through the phosphorescent water wove a dazzling network of brilliant tracks which made the eyes ache to look upon. a short halt was called for breakfast, which was greatly needed, and, thanks to the cook, was a thoroughly good one. he--blessings on him!--had been busy fishing, as we drifted slowly, with savoury pieces of whale-beef for bait, and the result was a mess of fish which would have gladdened the heart of an epicure. our hunger appeased, it was "turn to" again, for there was now no time to be lost. the fierce heat soon acts upon the carcass of a dead whale, generating an immense volume of gas within it, which, in a wonderfully short space of time, turns the flesh putrid and renders the blubber so rotten that it cannot be lifted, nor, if it could, would it be of any value. so it was no wonder that our haste was great, or that the august arbiter of our destinies himself condescended to take his place among the toilers. by nightfall the whole of our catch was on board, excepting such toll as the hungry hordes of sharks had levied upon it in transit. a goodly number of them had paid the penalty of their rapacity with their lives, for often one would wriggle his way right up on to the reeking carcass, and, seizing a huge fragment of blubber, strive with might and main to tear it away. then the lethal spade would drop upon his soft crown, cleaving it to the jaws, and with one flap of his big tail he would loose his grip, roll over and over, and sink, surrounded by a writhing crowd of his fellows, by whom he was speedily reduced into digestible fragments. the condition of the cachalot's deck was now somewhat akin to chaos. from the cabin door to the tryworks there was hardly an inch of available space, and the oozing oil kept some of us continually baling it up, lest it should leak out through the interstices in the bulwarks. in order to avoid a breakdown, it became necessary to divide the crew into six-hour watches, as although the work was exceedingly urgent on account of the weather, there were evident signs that some of the crew were perilously near giving in. so we got rest none too soon, and the good effects of it were soon apparent. the work went on with much more celerity than one would have thought possible, and soon the lumbered-up decks began to resume their normal appearance. as if to exasperate the "old man" beyond measure on the third day of our operations a great school of sperm whales appeared, disporting all around the ship, apparently conscious of our helplessness to interfere with them. notwithstanding our extraordinary haul, captain slocum went black with impotent rage, and, after glowering at the sportive monsters, beat a retreat below, unable to bear the sight any longer. during his absence we had a rare treat. the whole school surrounded the ship, and performed some of the strangest evolutions imaginable. as if instigated by one common impulse, they all elevated their massive heads above the surface of the sea, and remained for some time in that position, solemnly bobbing up and down amid the glittering wavelets like movable boulders of black rock. then, all suddenly reversed themselves, and, elevating their broad flukes in the air, commenced to beat them slowly and rhythmically upon the water, like so many machines. being almost a perfect calm, every movement of the great mammals could be plainly seen; some of them even passed so near to us that we could see how the lower jaw hung down, while the animal was swimming in a normal position. for over an hour they thus paraded around us, and then, as if startled by some hidden danger, suddenly headed off to the westward, and in a few minutes were out of our sight. we cruised in the vicinity of the comoro islands for two months, never quite out of sight of the mountain while the weather was clear. during the whole of that time we were never clear of oil on deck, one catch always succeeding another before there had been time to get cleared up. eight hundred barrels of oil were added to our cargo, making the undisciplined hearts of all to whom whaling was a novel employment beat high with hopes of a speedy completion of the cargo, and consequent return. poor innocents that we were! how could we know any better? according to goliath, with whom i often had a friendly chat, this was quite out of the ordinary run to have such luck in the "channel." "'way back in de dark ages, w'en de whaleships war de pi'neers ob commerce, 'n day wan't no worryin', poofity-plukity steamboats a-poundin' along, 'nough ter galley ebery whale clean eout ob dere skin, dey war plenty whaleships fill up in twelve, fifteen, twenty monf' after leabin' home. 'n er man bed his pick er places, too--didn' hab ter go moseyin erroun' like some ol' hobo lookin' fer day's work, 'n prayin' de good lord not ter let um fine it. no, sah; roun yer china sea, coas' japan, on de line, off shore, vasquez, 'mong de islan's, ohmos' anywhar, you couldn' hardly git way from 'em. neow, i clar ter glory i kaint imagine war dey all gone ter, dough we bin eout only six seven monf' 'n got over tousan bar'l below. but i bin two year on er voy'ge and doan hardly see a sparm while, much less catch one. but"--and here he whispered mysteriously--"dish yer ole man's de bery debbil's own chile, 'n his farder lookin' after him well--dat's my 'pinion. only yew keep yer head tight shut, an' nebber say er word, but keep er lookin', 'n sure's death you'll see." this conversation made a deep and lasting impression upon me, for i had not before heard even so much as a murmur from an officer against the tyranny of the skipper. some of the harpooners were fluent enough, too. yet i had often thought that his treatment of them, considering the strenuous nature of their toil, and the willingness with which they worked as long as they had an ounce of energy left, was worth at least a little kindness and courtesy on his part. what the period may have been during which whales were plentiful here, i do not know, but it was now may, and for the last few days we had not seen a solitary spout of any kind. preparations, very slight it is true, were made for departure; but before we left those parts we made an interesting call for water at mohilla, one of the comoro group, which brought out, in unmistakable fashion, the wonderful fund of local knowledge possessed by these men. at the larger ports of johanna and mayotte there is a regular tariff of port charges, which are somewhat heavy, and no whaleman would be so reckless as to incur these unless driven thereto by the necessity of obtaining provisions; otherwise, the islands offer great inducements to whaling captains to call, since none but men hopelessly mad would venture to desert in such places. that qualification is the chief one for any port to possess in the eyes of a whaling captain. our skipper, however, saw no necessity for entering any port. running up under the lee of mohilla, we followed the land along until we came to a tiny bight on the western side of the island, an insignificant inlet which no mariner in charge of a vessel like ours could be expected even to notice, unless he were surveying. the approaches to this tiny harbour (save the mark) were very forbidding. ugly-looking rocks showed up here and there, the surf over them frequently blinding the whole entry. but we came along, in our usual leisurely fashion, under two topsails, spanker, and fore-topmast staysail, and took that ugly passage like a sailing barge entering the medway. there was barely room to turn round when we got inside, but all sail had been taken off her except the spanker, so that her way was almost stopped by the time she was fairly within the harbour. down went the anchor, and she was fast--anchored for the first time since leaving new bedford seven months before. here we were shut out entirely from the outer world, for i doubt greatly whether even a passing dhow could have seen us from seaward. we were not here for rest, however, but wood and water; so while one party was supplied with well-sharpened axes, and sent on shore to cut down such small trees as would serve our turn, another party was busily employed getting out a number of big casks for the serious business of watering. the cooper knocked off the second or quarter hoops from each of these casks, and drove them on again with two "beckets" or loops of rope firmly jammed under each of them in such a manner that the loops were in line with each other on each side of the bunghole. they were then lowered overboard, and a long rope rove through all the beckets. when this was done, the whole number of casks floated end to end, upright and secure. we towed them ashore to where, by the skipper's directions, at about fifty yards from high-water mark, a spring of beautiful water bubbled out of the side of a mass of rock, losing itself in a deep crevice below. lovely ferns, rare orchids, and trailing plants of many kinds surrounded this fairy-like spot in the wildest profusion, making a tangle of greenery that we had considerable trouble to clear away. having done so, we led a long canvas hose from the spot whence the water flowed down to the shore where the casks floated. the chief officer, with great ingenuity, rigged up an arrangement whereby the hose, which had a square month about a foot wide, was held up to the rock, saving us the labour of bailing and filling by hand. so we were able to rest and admire at our ease the wonderful variety of beautiful plants which grew here so lavishly, unseen by mortal eye from one year's end to another. i have somewhere read that the creator has delight in the beautiful work of his will, wherever it may be; and that while our egotism wonders at the waste of beauty, as we call it, there is no waste at all, since the infinite intelligence can dwell with complacency upon the glories of his handiwork, perfectly fulfilling their appointed ends. all too soon the pleasant occupation came to an end. the long row of casks, filled to the brim and tightly bunged, were towed off by us to the ship, and ranged alongside. a tackle and pair of "can-hooks" was overhauled to the water and hooked to a cask. "hoist away!" and as the cask rose, the beckets that had held it to the mother-rope were cut, setting it quite free to come on board, but leaving all the others still secure. in this way we took in several thousand gallons of water in a few hours, with a small expenditure of labour, free of cost; whereas, had we gone into mayotte or johanna, the water would have been bad, the price high, the labour great, with the chances of a bad visitation of fever in the bargain. the woodmen had a much more arduous task. the only wood they could find, without cutting down big trees, which would have involved far too much labour in cutting up, was a kind of iron-wood, which, besides being very heavy, was so hard as to take pieces clean out of their axe-edges, when a blow was struck directly across the grain. as none of them were experts, the condition of their tools soon made their work very hard. but that they had taken several axes in reserve, it is doubtful whether they would have been able to get sufficient fuel for our purpose. when they pitched the wood off the rocks into the harbour, it sank immediately, giving them a great deal of trouble to fish it up again. neither could they raft it as intended, but were compelled to load it into the boats and make several journeys to and fro before all they had cut was shipped. altogether, i was glad that the wooding had not fallen to my share. on board the ship fishing had been going on steadily most of the day by a few hands told off for the purpose. the result of their sport was splendid, over two hundred-weight of fine fish of various sorts, but all eatable, having been gathered in. we lay snugly anchored all night, keeping a bright look-out for any unwelcome visitors either from land or sea, for the natives are not to be trusted, neither do the arab mongrels who cruise about those waters in their dhows bear any too good a reputation. we saw none, however, and at daylight we weighed and towed the ship out to sea with the boats, there being no wind. while busy at this uninteresting pastime, one of the boats slipped away, returning presently with a fine turtle, which they had surprised during his morning's nap. one of the amphibious portuguese slipped over the boat's side as she neared the sleeping spharga, and, diving deep, came up underneath him, seizing with crossed hands the two hind flippers, and, with a sudden, dexterous twist, turned the astonished creature over on his back. thus rendered helpless, the turtle lay on the surface feebly waving his flippers, while his captor, gently treading water, held him in that position till the boat reached the pair and took them on board. it was a clever feat, neatly executed, as unlike the clumsy efforts i had before seen made with the same object as anything could possibly be. after an hour's tow, we had got a good offing, and a light air springing up, we returned on board, hoisted the boats, and made sail to the northward again. with the exception of the numerous native dhows that crept lazily about, we saw no vessels as we gradually drew out of the mozambique channel and stood away towards the line. the part of the indian ocean in which we now found ourselves is much dreaded by merchantmen, who give it a wide berth on account of the numerous banks, islets, and dangerous currents with which it abounds. we, however, seemed quite at home here, pursuing the even tenor of our usual way without any special precautions being taken. a bright look-out, we always kept, of course--none of your drowsy lolling about such as is all too common on the "fo'lk'sle head" of many a fine ship, when, with lights half trimmed or not shown at all, she is ploughing along blindly at twelve knots or so an hour. no; while we were under way during daylight, four pairs of keen eyes kept incessant vigil a hundred feet above the deck, noting everything, even to a shoal of small fish, that crossed within the range of vision. at night we scarcely moved, but still a vigilant lookout was always kept both fore and aft, so that it would have been difficult for us to drift upon a reef unknowingly. creeping steadily northward, we passed the cosmoledo group of atolls without paying them a visit, which was strange, as, from their appearance, no better fishing-ground would be likely to come in our way. they are little known, except to the wandering fishermen from reunion and rodriguez, who roam about these islets and reefs, seeking anything that may be turned into coin, from wrecks to turtle, and in nowise particular as to rights of ownership. when between the cosmoledos and astove, the next island to the northward, we sighted a "solitary" cachalot one morning just as the day dawned. it was the first for some time--nearly three weeks--and being all well seasoned to the work now, we obeyed the call to arms with great alacrity. our friend was making a passage, turning neither to the right hand nor the left as he went. his risings and number of spouts while up, as well as the time he remained below, were as regular as the progress of a clock, and could be counted upon with quite as much certainty. bearing in mind, i suppose, the general character of the whales we had recently met with, only two boats were lowered to attack the new-comer, who, all unconscious of our coming, pursued his leisurely course unheeding. we got a good weather gage of him, and came flying on as usual getting two irons planted in fine style. but a surprise awaited us. as we sheered up into the wind away from him, louis shouted, "fightin' whale, sir; look out for de rush!" look out, indeed? small use in looking out when, hampered as we always were at first with the unshipping of the mast, we could do next to nothing to avoid him. without any of the desperate flounderings generally indulged in on first feeling the iron, he turned upon us, and had it not been that he caught sight of the second mate's boat, which had just arrived, and turned his attentions to her, there would have been scant chance of any escape for us. leaping half out of water, he made direct for our comrades with a vigour and ferocity marvellous to see, making it a no easy matter for them to avoid his tremendous rush. our actions, at no time slow, were considerably hastened by this display of valour, so that before he could turn his attentions in our direction we were ready for him. then ensued a really big fight, the first, in fact, of my experience, for none of the other whales had shown any serious determination to do us an injury, but had devoted all their energies to attempts at escape. so quick were the evolutions, and so savage the appearance of this fellow, that even our veteran mate looked anxious as to the possible result. without attempting to "sound," the furious monster kept mostly below the surface; but whenever he rose, it was either to deliver a fearful blow with his tail, or, with jaws widespread, to try and bite one of our boats in half. well was it for us that he was severely handicapped by a malformation of the lower jaw. at a short distance from the throat it turned off nearly at right angles to his body, the part that thus protruded sideways being deeply fringed with barnacles, and plated with big limpets. had it not been for this impediment, i verily believe he would have beaten us altogether. as it was, he worked us nearly to death with his ugly rushes. once he delivered a sidelong blow with his tail, which, as we spun round, shore off the two oars on that side as if they had been carrots. at last the second mate got fast to him, and then the character of the game changed again. apparently unwearied by his previous exertions, he now started off to windward at top speed, with the two boats sheering broadly out upon either side of his foaming wake. doubtless because he himself was much fatigued, the mate allowed him to run at his will, without for the time attempting to haul any closer to him, and very grateful the short rest was to us. but he had not gone a couple of miles before he turned a complete somersault in the water, coming up behind us to rush off again in the opposite direction at undiminished speed. this move was a startler. for the moment it seemed as if both boats would be smashed like egg-shells against each other, or else that some of us would be impaled upon the long lances with which each boat's bow bristled. by what looked like a handbreadth, we cleared each other, and the race continued. up till now we had not succeeded in getting home a single lance, the foe was becoming warier, while the strain was certainly telling upon our nerves. so mr. count got out his bomb-gun, shouting at the same time to mr. cruce to do the same. they both hated these weapons, nor ever used them if they could help it; but what was to be done? our chief had hardly got his gun ready, before we came to almost a dead stop. all was silent for just a moment; then, with a roar like a cataract, up sprang the huge creature, head out, jaw wide open, coming direct for us. as coolly as if on the quarter-deck, the mate raised his gun, firing the bomb directly down the great livid cavern of a throat fronting him. down went that mountainous head not six inches from us, but with a perfectly indescribable motion, a tremendous writhe, in fact; up flew the broad tail in air, and a blow which might have sufficed to stave in the side of the ship struck the second mate's boat fairly amidships. it was right before my eyes, not sixty feet away, and the sight will haunt me to my death. the tub oarsman was the poor german baker, about whom i have hitherto said nothing, except to note that he was one of the crew. that awful blow put an end summarily to all his earthly anxieties. as it shore obliquely through the centre of the boat, it drove his poor body right through her timbers--an undistinguishable bundle of what was an instant before a human being. the other members of the crew escaped the blow, and the harpooner managed to cut the line, so that for the present they were safe enough, clinging to the remains of their boat, unless the whale should choose to rush across them. happily, his rushing was almost over. the bomb fired by mr. count, with such fatal result to poor bamberger, must have exploded right in the whale's throat. whether his previous titanic efforts had completely exhausted him, or whether the bomb had broken his massive backbone, i do not know, of course, but he went into no flurry, dying as peacefully as his course had been furious. for the first time in my life, i had been face to face with a violent death, and i was quite stunned with the awfulness of the experience. mechanically, as it seemed to me, we obeyed such orders as were given, but every man's thoughts were with the shipmate so suddenly dashed from amongst us. we never saw sign of him again. while the ship was running down to us, another boat had gone to rescue the clinging crew of the shattered boat, for the whole drama had been witnessed from the ship, although they were not aware of the death of the poor german. when the sad news was told on board, there was a deep silence, all work being carried on so quietly that we seemed like a crew of dumb men. with a sentiment for which i should not have given our grim skipper credit, the stars and stripes were hoisted half-mast, telling the silent sky and moaning sea, sole witnesses besides ourselves, of the sudden departure from among us of our poor shipmate. we got the whale cut in as usual without any incident worth mentioning, except that the peculiar shape of the jaw made it an object of great curiosity to all of us who were new to the whale-fishing. such malformations are not very rare. they are generally thought to occur when the animal is young, and its bones soft; but whether done in fighting with one another, or in some more mysterious way, nobody knows. cases have been known, i believe, where the deformed whale does not appear to have suffered from lack of food in consequence of his disability; but in each of the three instances which have come under my own notice, such was certainly not the case. these whales were what is termed by the whalers "dry-skins;" that is, they were in poor condition, the blubber yielding less than half the usual quantity of oil. the absence of oil makes it very hard to cut up, and there is more work in one whale of this kind than in two whose blubber is rich and soft. another thing which i have also noticed is, that these whales were much more difficult to tackle than others, for each of them gave us something special to remember them by. but i must not get ahead of my yarn. the end of the week brought us up to the aldabra islands, one of the puzzles of the world. for here, in these tiny pieces of earth, surrounded by thousands of miles of sea, the nearest land a group of islets like unto them, is found the gigantic tortoise, and in only one other place in the wide world, the galapagos group of islands in the south pacific. how, or by what strange freak of dame nature these curious reptiles, sole survivals of another age, should come to be found in this lonely spot, is a deep mystery, and one not likely to be unfolded now. at any rate, there they are, looking as if some of them might be coeval with noah, so venerable and storm-beaten do they appear. we made the island early on a sunday morning, and, with the usual celerity, worked the vessel into the fine harbour, called, from one of the exploring ships, euphrates bay or harbour. the anchor down, and everything made snug below and aloft, we were actually allowed a run ashore free from restraint. i could hardly believe my ears. we had got so accustomed to our slavery that liberty was become a mere name; we hardly knew what to do with it when we got it. however, we soon got used (in a very limited sense) to being our own masters, and, each following the bent of his inclinations, set out for a ramble. my companion and i had not gone far, when we thought we saw one of the boulders, with which the island was liberally besprinkled, on the move. running up to examine it with all the eagerness of children let out of school, we found it to be one of the inhabitants, a monstrous tortoise. i had some big turtle around the cays of the gulf of mexico, but this creature dwarfed them all. we had no means of actually measuring him, and had to keep clear of his formidable-looking jaws, but roughly, and within the mark, he was four feet long by two feet six inches wide. of course he was much more dome-shaped than the turtle are, and consequently looked a great deal bigger than a turtle of the same measurement would, besides being much thicker through. as he was loth to stay with us, we made up our minds to go with him, for he was evidently making for some definite spot, by the tracks he was following, which showed plainly how many years that same road had been used. well, i mounted on his back, keeping well astern, out of the reach of that serious-looking head, which having rather a long neck, looked as if it might be able to reach round and take a piece out of a fellow without any trouble. he was perfectly amicable, continuing his journey as if nothing had happened, and really getting over the ground at a good rate, considering the bulk and shape of him. except for the novelty of the thing, this sort of ride had nothing to recommend it; so i soon tired of it, and let him waddle along in peace. by following the tracks aforesaid, we arrived at a fine stream of water sparkling out of a hillside, and running down a little ravine. the sides of this gully were worn quite smooth by the innumerable feet of the tortoises, about a dozen of which were now quietly crouching at the water's edge, filling themselves up with the cooling fluid. i did not see the patriarch upon whom a sailor once reported that he had read the legend carved, "the ark, captain noah, ararat for orders"; perhaps he had at last closed his peaceful career. but strange, and quaint as this exhibition of ancient reptiles was, we had other and better employment for the limited time at our disposal. there were innumerable curious things to see, and, unless we were to run the risk of going on board again and stopping there, dinner must be obtained. eggs of various kinds were exceedingly plentiful; in many places the flats were almost impassable for sitting birds, mostly "boobies." but previous experience of boobies' eggs in other places had not disposed me to seek them where others were to be obtained, and as i had seen many of the well-known frigate or man-o'-war birds hovering about, we set out to the other side of the island in search of the breeding-place. these peculiar birds are, i think, misnamed. they should be called pirate or buccaneer birds, from their marauding habits. seldom or never do they condescend to fish for themselves, preferring to hover high in the blue, their tails opening and closing like a pair of scissors as they hang poised above the sea. presently booby--like some honest housewife who has been a-marketing--comes flapping noisily home, her maw laden with fish for the chicks. down comes the black watcher from above with a swoop like an eagle. booby puts all she knows into her flight, but vainly; escape is impossible, so with a despairing shriek she drops her load. before it has touched the water the graceful thief has intercepted it, and soared slowly aloft again, to repeat the performance as occasion serves. when we arrived on the outer shore of the island, we found a large breeding-place of these birds, but totally different to the haunt of the boobies. the nests, if they might be so called, being at best a few twigs, were mostly in the hollows of the rocks, the number of eggs being two to a nest, on an average. the eggs were nearly as large as a turkey's. but i am reminded of the range of size among turkeys' eggs, so i must say they were considerably larger than a small turkey's egg. their flavour was most delicate, as much so as the eggs of a moor-fed fowl. we saw no birds sitting, but here and there the gaunt skeleton forms of birds, who by reason of sickness or old age were unable to provide for themselves, and so sat waiting for death, appealed most mournfully to us. we went up to some of these poor creatures, and ended their long agony; but there were many of them that we were obliged to leave to nature. we saw no animals larger than a rat, but there were a great many of those eerie-looking land-crabs, that seemed as if almost humanly intelligent as they scampered about over the sand or through the undergrowth, busy about goodness knows what. the beautiful cocoa-nut palm was plentiful, so much so that i wondered why there were no settlers to collect "copra," or dried cocoa-nut, for oil. my west indian experience came in handy now, for i was able to climb a lofty tree in native fashion, and cut down a grand bunch of green nuts, which form one of the most refreshing and nutritious of foods, as well as a cool and delicious drink. we had no line with us, so we took off our belts, which, securely joined together, answered my purpose very well. with them i made a loop round the tree and myself; then as i climbed i pushed the loop up with me, so that whenever i wanted a rest, i had only to lean back in it, keeping my knees against the trunk, and i was almost as comfortable as if on the ground. after getting the nuts, we made a fire and roasted some of our eggs, which, with a biscuit or two, made a delightful meal. then we fell asleep under a shady tree, upon some soft moss; nor did we wake again until nearly time to go on board. a most enjoyable swim terminated our day's outing, and we returned to the beach abreast of the ship very pleased with the excursion. we had no adventures, found no hidden treasure or ferocious animals, but none the less we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. while we sat waiting for the boat to come and fetch us off, we saw a couple of good-sized turtle come ashore quite close to us. we kept perfectly still until we were sure of being able to intercept them. as soon as they had got far enough away from their native element, we rushed upon them, and captured them both, so that when the boat arrived we were not empty-handed. we had also a "jumper," or blouse, full of eggs, and a couple of immense bunches of cocoa-nuts. when we got on board we felt quite happy, and, for the first time since leaving america, we had a little singing. shall i be laughed at when i confess that our musical efforts were confined to sankey's hymns? maybe, but i do not care. cheap and clap-trap as the music may be, it tasted "real good," as abner said, and i am quite sure that that sunday night was the best that any of us had spent for a very long time. a long, sound sleep was terminated at dawn, when we weighed and stood out through a narrow passage by east island, which was quite covered with fine trees--of what kind i do not know, but they presented a beautiful sight. myriads of birds hovered about, busy fishing from the countless schools that rippled the placid sea. beneath us, at twenty fathoms, the wonderful architecture of the coral was plainly visible through the brilliantly-clear sea, while, wherever the tiny builders had raised their fairy domain near the surface, an occasional roller would crown it with a snowy garland of foam--a dazzling patch of white against the sapphire sea. altogether, such a panorama was spread out at our feet, as we stood gazing from the lofty crow's-nest, as was worth a year or two of city life to witness. i could not help pitying my companion, one of the portuguese harpooners, who stolidly munched his quid with no eyes for any of these glorious pictures, no thought of anything but a possible whale in sight. my silent rhapsodies were rudely interrupted by something far away on the horizon. hardly daring to breathe, i strained my eyes, and--yes, it was--"ah blow-w-w-w!" i bellowed at the top of my lung-power, never before had i had the opportunity of thus distinguishing myself, and i felt a bit sore about it. there was a little obliquity about the direction of the spout that made me hopeful, for the cachalot alone sends his spout diagonally upward, all the others spout vertically. it was but a school of kogia, or "short-headed" cachalots; but as we secured five of them, averaging seven barrels each, with scarcely any trouble, i felt quite pleased with myself. we had quite an exciting bit of sport with them, they were so lively; but as for danger--well, they only seemed like big "black fish" to us now, and we quite enjoyed the fun. they were, in all respects, miniature sperm whales, except that the head was much shorter and smaller in proportion to the body than their big relations. chapter xi. round the cocos and seychelles hitherto, with the exception of a couple of gales in the north and south atlantic, we had been singularly fortunate in our weather. it does happen so sometimes. i remember once making a round voyage from cardiff to hong kong and the philippines, back to london, in ten months, and during the whole of that time we did not have a downright gale. the worst weather we encountered was between beachy head and portland, going round from london to cardiff. and i once spoke the barque lutterworth, a companion ship to us from portland, oregon to falmouth, whose mate informed me that they carried their royals from port to port without ever furling them once, except to shift the suit of sails. but now a change was evidently imminent. of course, we forward had no access to the barometer; not that we should have understood its indications if we had seen it, but we all knew that something was going to be radically wrong with the weather. for instead of the lovely blue of the sky we had been so long accustomed to by day and night, a nasty, greasy shade had come over the heavens, which, reflected in the sea, made that look dirty and stale also. that well-known appearance of the waves before a storm was also very marked, which consists of an undecided sort of break in their tops. instead of running regularly, they seemed to hunch themselves up in little heaps, and throw off a tiny flutter of spray, which generally fell in the opposite direction to what little wind there was. the pigs and fowls felt the approaching change keenly, and manifested the greatest uneasiness, leaving their food and acting strangely. we were making scarcely any headway, so that the storm was longer making its appearance than it would have been had we been a swift clipper ship running down the indian ocean. for two days we were kept in suspense; but on the second night the gloom began to deepen, the wind to moan, and a very uncomfortable "jobble" of a sea got up. extra "gaskets" were put upon the sails, and everything movable about the decks was made as secure as it could be. only the two close-reefed topsails and two storm stay-sails were carried, so that we were in excellent trim for fighting the bad weather when it did come. the sky gradually darkened and assumed a livid green tint, the effect of which was most peculiar. the wind blew fitfully in short, gusts, veering continually back and forth over about a quarter of the compass. although it was still light, it kept up an incessant mournful moan not to be accounted for in any way. darker and darker grew the heavens, although no clouds were visible, only a general pall of darkness. glimmering lightnings played continually about the eastern horizon, but not brilliant enough to show us the approaching storm-cloud. and so came the morning of the third day from the beginning of the change. but for the clock we should hardly have known that day had broken, so gloomy and dark was the sky. at last light came in the east, but such a light as no one would wish to see. it was a lurid glare, such as may be seen playing over a cupola of bessemer steel when the speigeleisen is added, only on such an extensive scale that its brilliancy was dulled into horror. then, beneath it we saw the mountainous clouds fringed with dull violet and with jagged sabres of lightning darting from their solid black bosoms. the wind began to rise steadily but rapidly, so that by eight a.m. it was blowing a furious gale from e.n.e. in direction it was still unsteady, the ship coming up and falling off to it several points. now, great masses of torn, ragged cloud hurtled past us above, so low down as almost to touch the mastheads. still the wind increased, still the sea rose, till at last the skipper judged it well to haul down the tiny triangle of storm stay-sail still set (the topsail and fore stay-sail had been furled long before), and let her drift under bare poles, except for three square feet of stout canvas in the weather mizen-rigging. the roar of the wind now dominated every sound, so that it might have been thundering furiously, but we should not have heard it. the ship still maintained her splendid character as a sea-boat, hardly shipping a drop of water; but she lay over at a most distressing angle, her deck sloping off fully thirty-five to forty degrees. fortunately she did not roll to windward. it may have been raining in perfect torrents, but the tempest tore off the surface of the sea, and sent it in massive sheets continually flying over us, so that we could not possibly have distinguished between fresh water and salt. the chief anxiety was for the safety of the boats. early on the second day of warning they had been hoisted to the topmost notch of the cranes, and secured as thoroughly as experience could suggest; but at every lee lurch we gave it seemed as if we must dip them under water, while the wind threatened to stave the weather ones in by its actual solid weight. it was now blowing a furious cyclone, the force of which has never been accurately gauged (even by the present elaborate instruments of various kinds in use). that force is, however, not to be imagined by any one who has not witnessed it, except that one notable instance is on record by which mathematicians may get an approximate estimate. captain toynbee, the late highly respected and admired marine superintendent of the british meteorological office, has told us how, during a cyclone which he rode out in the hotspur at sandheads, the mouth of the hooghly, the three naked topgallant-masts of his ship, though of well-tested timber a foot in diameter, and supported by all the usual network of stays, and without the yards, were snapped off and carried away solely by the violence of the wind. it must, of course, have been an extreme gust, which did not last many seconds, for no cable that was ever forged would have held the ship against such a cataclysm as that. this gentleman's integrity is above suspicion, so that no exaggeration could be charged against him, and he had the additional testimony of his officers and men to this otherwise incredible fact. the terrible day wore on, without any lightening of the tempest, till noon, when the wind suddenly fell to a calm. until that time, the sea, although heavy, was not vicious or irregular, and we had not shipped any heavy water at all. but when the force of the wind was suddenly withdrawn, such a sea arose as i have never seen before or since. inky mountains of water raised their savage heads in wildest confusion, smashing one another in whirlpools of foam. it was like a picture of the primeval deep out of which arose the new-born world. suddenly out of the whirling blackness overhead the moon appeared, nearly in the zenith, sending down through the apex of a dome of torn and madly gyrating cloud a flood of brilliant light. illumined by that startling radiance, our staunch and seaworthy ship was tossed and twirled in the hideous vortex of mad sea until her motion was distracting. it was quite impossible to loose one's hold and attempt to do anything without running the imminent risk of being dashed to pieces. our decks were full of water now, for it tumbled on board at all points; but as yet no serious weight of a sea had fallen upon us, nor had any damage been done. such a miracle as that could not be expected to continue for long. suddenly a warning shout rang out from somewhere--"hold on all, for your lives!" out of the hideous turmoil around arose, like some black, fantastic ruin, an awful heap of water. higher and higher it towered, until it was level with our lower yards, then it broke and fell upon us. all was blank. beneath that mass every thought, every feeling, fled but one--"how long shall i be able to hold my breath?" after what seemed a never-ending time, we emerged from the wave more dead than alive, but with the good ship still staunch underneath us, and hope's lamp burning brightly. the moon had been momentarily obscured, but now shone out again, lighting up brilliantly our bravely-battling ship. but, alas for others!--men, like ourselves, whose hopes were gone. quite near us was the battered remainder of what had been a splendid ship. her masts were gone, not even the stumps being visible, and it seemed to our eager eyes as if she was settling down. it was even so, for as we looked, unmindful of our own danger, she quietly disappeared--swallowed up with her human freight in a moment, like a pebble dropped into a pond. while we looked with hardly beating hearts at the place where she had sunk, all was blotted out in thick darkness again. with a roar, as of a thousand thunders, the tempest came once more, but from the opposite direction now. as we were under no sail, we ran little risk of being caught aback; but, even had we, nothing could have been done, the vessel being utterly out of control, besides the impossibility of getting about. it so happened, however, that when the storm burst upon us again, we were stern on to it, and we drove steadily for a few moments until we had time to haul to the wind again. great heavens! how it blew! surely, i thought, this cannot last long--just as we sometimes say of the rain when it is extra heavy. it did last, however, for what seemed an interminable time, although any one could see that the sky was getting kindlier. gradually, imperceptibly, it took off, the sky cleared, and the tumult ceased, until a new day broke in untellable beauty over a revivified world. years afterwards i read, in one of the hand-books treating of hurricanes and cyclones, that "in the centre of these revolving storms the sea is so violent that few ships can pass through it and live." that is true talk. i have been there, and bear witness that but for the build and sea-kindliness of the cachalot, she could not have come out of that horrible cauldron again, but would have joined that nameless unfortunate whom we saw succumb, "never again heard of." as it was, we found two of the boats stove in, whether by breaking sea or crushing wind nobody knows. most of the planking of the bulwarks was also gone, burst outward by the weight of the water on deck. only the normal quantity of water was found in the well on sounding, and not even a rope-yarn was gone from aloft. altogether, we came out of the ordeal triumphantly, where many a gallant vessel met her fate, and the behaviour of the grand old tub gave me a positive affection for her, such as i have never felt for a ship before or since. there was now a big heap of work for the carpenter, so the skipper decided to run in for the cocos or keeling islands, in order to lay quietly and refit. we had now only three boats sound, the one smashed when poor bamberger died being still unfinished--of course, the repairs had practically amounted to rebuilding. therefore we kept away for this strange assemblage of reefs and islets, arriving off them early the next day. they consist of a true "atoll," or basin, whose rim is of coral reefs, culminating occasionally in sandy islands or cays formed by the accumulated debris washed up from the reef below, and then clothed upon with all sorts of plants by the agency of birds and waves. these islands have lately been so fully described in many different journals, that i shall not burden the reader with any twice-told tales about them, but merely chronicle the fact that for a week we lay at anchor off one of the outlying cays, toiling continuously to get the vessel again in fighting trim. at last the overworked carpenter and his crew got through their heavy task, and the order was given to "man the windlass." up came the anchor, and away we went again towards what used to be a noted haunt of the sperm whale, the seychelle archipelego. before the french, whose flag flies over these islands, had with their usual short-sighted policy, clapped on prohibitive port charges, mahe was a specially favoured place of call for the whalers. but when whale-ships find that it does not pay to visit a place, being under no compulsion as regards time, they soon find other harbours that serve their turn. we, of course, had no need to visit any port for some time to come, having made such good use of our opportunities at the cocos. we found whales scarce and small, so, although we cruised in this vicinity for nearly two months, six small cow cachalots were all we were able to add to our stock, representing less then two hundred barrels of oil. this was hardly good enough for captain slocum. therefore, we gradually drew away from this beautiful cluster of islands, and crept across the indian ocean towards the straits of malacca. on the way, we one night encountered that strange phenomenon, a "milk" sea. it was a lovely night, with scarcely any wind, the stars trying to make up for the absence of the moon by shining with intense brightness. the water had been more phosphorescent than usual, so that every little fish left a track of light behind him, greatly disproportionate to his size. as the night wore on, the sea grew brighter and brighter, until by midnight we appeared to be sailing on an ocean of lambent flames. every little wave that broke against the ship's side sent up a shower of diamond-like spray, wonderfully beautiful to see, while a passing school of porpoises fairly set the sea blazing as they leaped and gambolled in its glowing waters. looking up from sea to sky, the latter seemed quite black instead of blue, and the lustre of the stars was diminished till they only looked like points of polished steel, having quite lost for the time their radiant sparkle. in that shining flood the blackness of the ship stood out in startling contrast, and when we looked over the side our faces were strangely lit up by the brilliant glow. for several hours this beautiful appearance persisted, fading away at last as gradually as it came. no satisfactory explanation of this curious phenomenon has ever been given, nor does it appear to portend any change of weather. it cannot be called a rare occurrence, although i have only seen it thrice myself--once in the bay of cavite, in the philippine islands; once in the pacific, near the solomon islands; and on this occasion of which i now write. but no one who had ever witnessed it could forget so wonderful a sight. one morning, a week after are had taken our departure from the seychelles, the officer at the main crow's-nest reported a vessel of some sort about five miles to the windward. something strange in her appearance made the skipper haul up to intercept her. as we drew nearer, we made her out to be a malay "prahu;" but, by the look of her, she was deserted. the big three-cornered sail that had been set, hung in tattered festoons from the long, slender yard, which, without any gear to steady it, swung heavily to and fro as the vessel rolled to the long swell. we drew closer and closer, but no sign of life was visible on board, so the captain ordered a boat to go and investigate. in two minutes we were speeding away towards her, and, making a sweep round her stern, prepared to board her. but we were met by a stench so awful that mr. count would not proceed, and at once returned to the ship. the boat was quickly hoisted again, and the ship manoeuvred to pass close to windward of the derelict. then, from our mast-head, a horrible sight became visible. lying about the weather-beaten deck, in various postures, were thirteen corpses, all far advanced in decay, which horrible fact fully accounted for the intolerable stench that had driven us away. it is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say that we promptly hauled our wind, and placed a good distance between us and that awful load of death as soon as possible. poor wretches! what terrible calamity had befallen them, we could not guess; whatever it was, it had been complete; nor would any sane man falling across them run the risk of closer examination into details than we had done. it was a great pity that we were not able to sink the prahu with her ghastly cargo, and so free the air from that poisonous foetor that was a deadly danger to any vessel getting under her lee. next day, and for a whole week after, we had a stark calm such a calm as one realizes who reads sympathetically that magical piece of work, the "ancient mariner." what an amazing instance of the triumph of the human imagination! for coleridge certainly never witnessed such a scene as he there describes with an accuracy of detail that is astounding. very few sailors have noticed the sickening condition of the ocean when the life-giving breeze totally fails for any length of time, or, if they have, they have said but little about it. of course, some parts of the sea show the evil effects of stagnation much sooner than others; but, generally speaking, want of wind at sea, if long continued, produces a condition of things dangerous to the health of any land near by. whale-ships, penetrating as they do to parts carefully avoided by ordinary trading vessels, often afford their crews an opportunity of seeing things mostly hidden from the sight of man, when, actuated by some mysterious impulse, the uncanny denizens of the middle depths of the ocean rise to higher levels, and show their weird shapes to the sun. chapter xii. which treats of the kraken it has often been a matter for considerable surprise to me, that while the urban population of great britain is periodically agitated over the great sea-serpent question, sailors, as a class, have very little to say on the subject. during a considerable sea experience in all classes of vessels, except men-of-war, and in most positions, i have heard a fairly comprehensive catalogue of subjects brought under dog-watch discussion; but the sea-serpent has never, within my recollection, been one of them. the reasons for this abstinence may vary a great deal, but chief among them is--sailors, as a class, "don't believe in no such a pusson." more than that, they do believe that the mythical sea-serpent is "boomed" at certain periods, in the lack of other subjects, which may not be far from the fact. but there is also another reason, involving a disagreeable, although strictly accurate, statement. sailors are, again taken as a class, the least observant of men. they will talk by the hour of trivialities about which they know nothing; they will spin interminable "cuffers" of debaucheries ashore all over the world; pick to pieces the reputation of all the officers with whom they have ever sailed; but of the glories, marvels, and mysteries of the mighty deep you will hear not a word. i can never forget when on my first voyage to the west indies, at the age of twelve, i was one night smitten with awe and wonder at the sight of a vast halo round the moon, some thirty or forty degrees in diameter. turning to the man at the wheel, i asked him earnestly "what that was." he looked up with an uninterested eye for an instant in the direction of my finger, then listlessly informed me, "that's what they call a sarcle." for a long time i wondered what he could mean, but it gradually dawned upon me that it was his norfolk pronunciation of the word "circle." the definition was a typical one, no worse than would be given by the great majority of seamen of most of the natural phenomena they witness daily. very few seamen could distinguish between one whale and another of a different species, or give an intelligible account of the most ordinary and often-seen denizens of the sea. whalers are especially to be blamed for their blindness. "eyes and no eyes; or the art of seeing" has evidently been little heard of among them. to this day i can conceive of no more delightful journey for a naturalist to take than a voyage in a southern whaler, especially if he were allowed to examine at his leisure such creatures as were caught. but on board the cachalot i could get no information at all upon the habits of the strange creatures we met with, except whales, and very little about them. i have before referred to the great molluscs upon which the sperm whale feeds, portions of which i so frequently saw ejected from the stomach of dying whales. great as my curiosity naturally was to know more of these immense organisms, all my inquiries on the subject were fruitless. these veterans of the whale-fishery knew that the sperm whale lived on big cuttlefish; but they neither knew, nor cared to know, anything more about these marvellous molluscs. yet, from the earliest dawn of history, observant men have been striving to learn something definite about the marine monsters of which all old legends of the sea have something to say. as i mentioned in the last chapter, we were gradually edging across the indian ocean towards sumatra, but had been checked in our course by a calm lasting a whole week. a light breeze then sprang up, aided by which we crept around achin head, the northern point of the great island of sumatra. like some gigantic beacon, the enormous mass of the golden mountain dominated the peaceful scene. pulo way, or water island, looked very inviting, and i should have been glad to visit a place so well known to seamen by sight, but so little known by actual touching at. our recent stay at the cocos, however, had settled the question of our calling anywhere else for some time decidedly in the negative, unless we might be compelled by accident; moreover, even in these days of law and order, it is not wise to go poking about among the islands of the malayan seas unless you are prepared to fight. our mission being to fight whales, we were averse to running any risks, except in the lawful and necessary exercise of our calling. it would at first sight appear strange that, in view of the enormous traffic of steamships through the malacca straits, so easily "gallied" a creature as the cachalot should care to frequent its waters; indeed, i should certainly think that a great reduction in the numbers of whales found there must have taken place. but it must also be remembered, that in modern steam navigation certain well-defined courses are laid down, which vessels follow from point to point with hardly any deviation therefrom, and that consequently little disturbance of the sea by their panting propellers takes place, except upon these marine pathways; as, for instance, in the red sea, where the examination of thousands of log-books proved conclusively that, except upon straight lines drawn from point to point between suez to perim, the sea is practically unused to-day. the few arab dhows and loitering surveying ships hardly count in this connection, of course. at any rate, we had not entered the straits, but were cruising between car nicobar and junkseylon, when we "met up" with a full-grown cachalot, as ugly a customer as one could wish. from nine a.m. till dusk the battle raged--for i have often noticed that unless you kill your whale pretty soon, he gets so wary, as well as fierce, that you stand a gaudy chance of being worn down yourselves before you settle accounts with your adversary. this affair certainly looked at one time as if such would be the case with us; but along about five p.m., to our great joy, we got him killed. the ejected food was in masses of enormous size, larger than any we had yet seen on the voyage, some of them being estimated to be of the size of our hatch-house, viz. feet x feet x feet. the whale having been secured alongside, all hands were sent below, as they were worn out with the day's work. the third mate being ill, i had been invested with the questionable honour of standing his watch, on account of my sea experience and growing favour with the chief. very bitterly did i resent the privilege at the time, i remember, being so tired and sleepy that i knew not how to keep awake. i did not imagine that anything would happen to make me prize that night's experience for the rest of my life, or i should have taken matters with a far better grace. at about eleven p.m. i was leaning over the lee rail, grazing steadily at the bright surface of the sea, where the intense radiance of the tropical moon made a broad path like a pavement of burnished silver. eyes that saw not, mind only confusedly conscious of my surroundings, were mine; but suddenly i started to my feet with an exclamation, and stared with all my might at the strangest sight i ever saw. there was a violent commotion in the sea right where the moon's rays were concentrated, so great that, remembering our position, i was at first inclined to alarm all hands; for i had often heard of volcanic islands suddenly lifting their heads from the depths below, or disappearing in a moment, and, with sumatra's chain of active volcanoes so near, i felt doubtful indeed of what was now happening. getting the night-glasses out of the cabin scuttle, where they were always hung in readiness, i focussed them on the troubled spot, perfectly satisfied by a short examination that neither volcano nor earthquake had anything to do with what was going on; yet so vast were the forces engaged that i might well have been excused for my first supposition. a very large sperm whale was locked in deadly conflict with a cuttle-fish or squid, almost as large as himself, whose interminable tentacles seemed to enlace the whole of his great body. the head of the whale especially seemed a perfect net-work of writhing arms--naturally i suppose, for it appeared as if the whale had the tail part of the mollusc in his jaws, and, in a business-like, methodical way, was sawing through it. by the side of the black columnar head of the whale appeared the head of the great squid, as awful an object as one could well imagine even in a fevered dream. judging as carefully as possible, i estimated it to be at least as large as one of our pipes, which contained three hundred and fifty gallons; but it may have been, and probably was, a good deal larger. the eyes were very remarkable from their size and blackness, which, contrasted with the livid whiteness of the head, made their appearance all the more striking. they were, at least, a foot in diameter, and, seen under such conditions, looked decidedly eerie and hobgoblin-like. all around the combatants were numerous sharks, like jackals round a lion, ready to share the feast, and apparently assisting in the destruction of the huge cephalopod. so the titanic struggle went on, in perfect silence as far as we were concerned, because, even had there been any noise, our distance from the scene of conflict would not have permitted us to hear it. thinking that such a sight ought not to be missed by the captain, i overcame my dread of him sufficiently to call him, and tell him of what was taking place. he met my remarks with such a furious burst of anger at my daring to disturb him for such a cause, that i fled precipitately on deck again, having the remainder of the vision to myself, for none of the others cared sufficiently for such things to lose five minutes' sleep in witnessing them. the conflict ceased, the sea resumed its placid calm, and nothing remained to tell of the fight but a strong odour of fish, as of a bank of seaweed left by the tide in the blazing sun. eight bells struck, and i went below to a troubled sleep, wherein all the awful monsters that an over-excited brain could conjure up pursued me through the gloomy caves of ocean, or mocked my pigmy efforts to escape. the occasions upon which these gigantic cuttle-fish appear at the sea surface must, i think, be very rare. from their construction, they appear fitted only to grope among the rocks at the bottom of the ocean. their mode of progression is backward, by the forcible ejection of a jet of water from an orifice in the neck, beside the rectum or cloaca. consequently their normal position is head-downward, and with tentacles spread out like the ribs of an umbrella--eight of them at least; the two long ones, like the antennae of an insect, rove unceasingly around, seeking prey. the imagination can hardly picture a more terrible object than one of these huge monsters brooding in the ocean depths, the gloom of his surroundings increased by the inky fluid (sepia) which he secretes in copious quantities, every cup-shaped disc, of the hundreds with which the restless tentacles are furnished, ready at the slightest touch to grip whatever is near, not only by suction, but by the great claws set all round within its circle. and in the centre of this net-work of living traps is the chasm-like mouth, with its enormous parrot-beak, ready to rend piecemeal whatever is held by the tentaculae. the very thought of it makes one's flesh crawl. well did michelet term them "the insatiable nightmares of the sea." yet, but for them, how would such great creatures as the sperm whale be fed? unable, from their bulk, to capture small fish except by accident, and, by the absence of a sieve of baleen, precluded from subsisting upon the tiny crustacea, which support the mysticetae, the cachalots seem to be confined for their diet to cuttle-fish, and, from their point of view, the bigger the latter are the better. how big they may become in the depths of the sea, no man knoweth; but it is unlikely that even the vast specimens seen are full-sized, since they have only come to the surface under abnormal conditions, like the one i have attempted to describe, who had evidently been dragged up by his relentless foe. creatures like these, who inhabit deep waters, and do not need to come to the surface by the exigencies of their existence, necessarily present many obstacles to accurate investigation of their structure and habits; but, from the few specimens that have been obtained of late years, fairly comprehensive details have been compiled, and may be studied in various french and german works, of which the natural history museum at south kensington possesses copies. these, through the courtesy of the authorities in charge, are easily accessible to students who wish to prosecute the study of this wonderful branch of the great mollusca family. when we commenced to cut in our whale next morning, the sea was fairly alive with fish of innumerable kinds, while a vast host of sea-birds, as usual, waited impatiently for the breaking-up of the huge carcass, which they knew would afford them no end of a feast. an untoward accident, which happened soon after the work was started, gave the waiting myriads immense satisfaction, although the unfortunate second mate, whose slip of the spade was responsible, came in for a hurricane of vituperation from the enraged skipper. it was in detaching the case from the head--always a work of difficulty, and requiring great precision of aim. just as mr. cruce made a powerful thrust with his keen tool, the vessel rolled, and the blow, missing the score in which he was cutting, fell upon the case instead, piercing its side. for a few minutes the result was unnoticed amidst the wash of the ragged edges of the cut, but presently a long streak of white, wax-like pieces floating astern, and a tremendous commotion among the birds, told the story. the liquid spermaceti was leaking rapidly from the case, turning solid as it got into the cool water. nothing could be done to stop the waste, which, as it was a large whale, was not less than twenty barrels, or about two tuns of pure spermaceti. an accident of this kind never failed to make our skipper almost unbearable in his temper for some days afterwards; and, to do him justice, he did not discriminate very carefully as to who felt his resentment besides its immediate cause. therefore we had all a rough time of it while his angry fit lasted, which was a whole week, or until all was shipshape again. meanwhile we were edging gradually through the malacca straits and around the big island of borneo, never going very near the land on account of the great and numerous dangers attendant upon coasting in those localities to any but those continually engaged in such a business. indeed, all navigation in those seas to sailing vessels is dangerous, and requires the greatest care. often we were obliged at a minute's notice to let go the anchor, although out of sight of land, some rapid current being found carrying us swiftly towards a shoal or race, where we might come to grief. yet there was no fuss or hurry, the same leisurely old system was continued, and worked as well as ever. but it was not apparent why we were threading the tortuous and difficult waters of the indian archipelago. no whales of any kind were seen for at least a month, although, from our leisurely mode of sailing, it was evident that they were looked for. an occasional native craft came alongside, desirous of bartering fish, which we did not want, being able to catch all we needed as readily almost as they were. fruit and vegetables we could not get at such distances from land, for the small canoes that lie in wait for passing ships do not of course venture far from home. chapter xiii. off to the japan grounds very tedious and trying was our passage northward, although every effort was made by the skipper to expedite it. nothing of advantage to our cargo was seen for a long time, which, although apparently what was to be expected, did not improve captain slocum's temper. but, to the surprise of all, when we had arrived off the beautiful island of hong kong, to which we approached closely, we "raised" a grand sperm whale. many fishing-junks were in sight, busily plying their trade, and at any other time we should have been much interested in the quaint and cunning devices by which the patient, wily chinaman succeeds so admirably as a fisherman. our own fishing, for the time being, absorbed all our attention--the more, perhaps, that we had for so long been unable to do anything in that line. after the usual preliminaries, we were successful in getting fast to the great creature, who immediately showed fight. so skilful and wary did he prove that captain slocum, growing impatient at our manoeuvring with no result, himself took the field, arriving on the scene with the air of one who comes to see and conquer without more delay. he brought with him a weapon which i have not hitherto mentioned, because none of the harpooners could be induced to use it, and consequently it had not been much in evidence. theoretically, it was as ideal tool for such work, its chief drawback being its cumbrousness. it was known as "pierce's darting gun," being a combination of bomb-gun and harpoon, capable of being darted at the whale like a plain harpoon. its construction was simple; indeed, the patent was a very old one. a tube of brass, thickening towards the butt, at which was a square chamber firmly welded to a socket for receiving the pole, formed the gun itself. within the chamber aforesaid a nipple protruded from the base of the tube, and in line with it. the trigger was simply a flat bit of steel, like a piece of clock spring, which was held down by the hooked end of a steel rod long enough to stick out beyond the muzzle of the gun three or four inches, and held in position by two flanges at the butt and muzzle of the barrel. on the opposite side of the tube were two more flanges, close together, into the holes of which was inserted the end of a specially made harpoon, having an eye twisted in its shank through which the whale line was spliced. the whole machine was fitted to a neat pole, and strongly secured to it by means of a "gun warp," or short piece of thin line, by which it could be hauled back into the boat after being darted at a whale. to prepare this weapon for use, the barrel was loaded with a charge of powder and a bomb similar to those used in the shoulder-guns, the point of which just protruded from the muzzle. an ordinary percussion cap was placed upon the nipple, and the trigger cocked by placing the trigger-rod in position. the harpoon, with the line attached, was firmly set into the socketed flanges prepared for it, and the whole arrangement was then ready to be darted at the whale in the usual way. supposing the aim to be good and the force sufficient, the harpoon would penetrate the blubber until the end of the trigger-rod was driven backwards by striking the blubber, releasing the trigger and firing the gun. thus the whale would be harpooned and bomb-lanced at the same time, and, supposing everything to work satisfactorily, very little more could be needed to finish him. but the weapon was so cumbersome and awkward, and the harpooners stood in such awe of it, that in the majority of cases the whale was either missed altogether or the harpoon got such slight hold that the gun did not go off, the result being generally disastrous. in the present case, however, the "pierce" gun was in the hands of a man by no means nervous, and above criticism or blame in case of failure. so when he sailed in to the attack, and delivered his "swashing blow," the report of the gun was immediately heard, proving conclusively that a successful stroke had been made. it had an instantaneous and astonishing effect. the sorely wounded monster, with one tremendous expiration, rolled over and over swift as thought towards his aggressor, literally burying the boat beneath his vast bulk. now, one would have thought surely, upon seeing this, that none of that boat's crew would ever have been seen again. nevertheless, strange as it may appear, out of that seething lather of foam, all six heads emerged again in an instant, but on the other side of the great creature. how any of them escaped instant violent death was, and from the nature of the case must, ever remain, an unravelled mystery, for the boat was crumbled into innumerable fragments, and the three hundred fathoms of line, in a perfect maze of entanglement, appeared to be wrapped about the writhing trunk of the whale. happily, there were two boats disengaged, so that they were able very promptly to rescue the sufferers from their perilous position in the boiling vortex of foam by which they were surrounded. meanwhile, the remaining boat had an easy task. the shot delivered by the captain had taken deadly effect, the bomb having entered the creature's side low down, directly abaft the pectoral fin. it must have exploded within the cavity of the bowels, from its position, causing such extensive injuries as to make even that vast animal's death but a matter of a few moments. therefore, we did not run any unnecessary risks, but hauled off to a safe distance and quietly watched the death-throes. they were so brief, that in less than ten minutes from the time of the accident we were busy securing the line through the flukes of our prize. the vessel was an unusually long time working up to us, so slow, in fact, that mr count remarked, critically, "shouldn't wonder if th' ole man ain't hurt; they're taking things so all-fired easy." by the time she had reached us, we had a good few visitors around us from the fishing fleet, who caused us no little anxiety, the chinese have no prejudices; they would just as soon steal a whale as a herring, if the conveyance could be effected without, more trouble or risk to their own yellow skins. if it involved the killing of a few foreign devils--well, so much to the good. the ship, however, arrived before the fishermen had decided upon any active steps, and we got our catch alongside without any delay. the truth of mr. count's forecast was verified to the hilt, for we found that the captain was so badly bruised about the body that he was unable to move, while one of the hands, a portuguese, was injured internally, and seemed very bad indeed. had any one told us that morning that we should be sorry to see captain slocum with sore bones, we should have scoffed at the notion, and some of us would probably have said that we should like to have the opportunity of making him smart. but under the present circumstances, with some hundreds of perfectly ruthless wretches hovering around us, looking with longing eyes at the treasure we had alongside, we could not help remembering the courage and resource so often shown by the skipper, and wished with all our hearts that we could have the benefit of them now. as soon as dinner was over, we all "turned to" with a will to get the whale cut in. none of us required to be told that to lay all night with that whale alongside would be extremely unhealthy for us, great doubt existing as to whether any of us would see morning dawn again. there was, too, just a possibility that when the carcass, stripped of its blubber, was cut adrift, those ravenous crowds would fasten upon it, and let us go in peace. all hands, therefore, worked like trojans. there was no need to drive us, nor was a single harsh word spoken. nothing was heard but the almost incessant clatter of the windlass pawls, abrupt monosyllabic orders, and the occasional melancholy wail of a gannet overhead. no word had been spoken on the subject among us, yet somehow we all realized that we were working for a large stake no less than our lives. what! says somebody, within a few miles of hong kong? oh yes; and even within hong kong harbour itself, if opportunity offers. let any man go down the wharf at hong kong after sunset, and hail a sampan from the hundreds there that are waiting to be hired. hardly will the summons have left his lips before a white policeman will be at his side, note-book in hand, inquiring his name and ship, and taking a note of the sampan's number, with the time of his leaving the wharf. nothing perfunctory about the job either. let but these precautions be omitted, and the chances that the passenger (if he have aught of value about him) will ever arrive at his destination are almost nil. so good was the progress made that by five p.m. we were busy at the head, while the last few turns of the windlass were being taken to complete the skinning of the body. with a long pent-up shout that last piece was severed and swung inboard, as the huge mass of reeking flesh floated slowly astern. as it drifted away we saw the patient watchers who had been waiting converging upon it from all quarters, and our hopes rose high. but there was no slackening of our efforts to get in the head. by the time it was dark we managed to get the junk on board, and by the most extraordinary efforts lifted the whole remainder of the head high enough to make sail and stand off to sea. the wind was off the land, the water smooth, and no swell on, so we took no damage from that tremendous weight surging by our side, though, had the worst come to the worst, we could have cut it adrift. when morning dawned we hove-to, the land being only dimly visible astern, and finished taking on board our "head matter" without further incident. the danger past, we were all well pleased that the captain was below, for the work proceeded quite pleasantly under the genial rule of the mate. since leaving port we had not felt so comfortable, the work, with all its disagreeables, seeming as nothing now that we could do it without fear and trembling. alas for poor jemmy!--as we always persisted in calling him from inability to pronounce his proper name--his case was evidently hopeless. his fellows did their poor best to comfort his fast-fleeting hours, one after another murmuring to him the prayers of the church, which, although they did not understand them, they evidently believed most firmly to have some marvellous power to open the gates of paradise and cleanse the sinner. notwithstanding the grim fact that their worship was almost pure superstition, it was far more in accordance with the fitness of things for a dying man's surroundings than such scenes as i have witnessed in the forecastles of merchant ships when poor sailors lay a-dying. i remember well once, when i was second officer of a large passenger ship, going in the forecastle as she lay at anchor at st. helena, to see a sick man. half the crew were drunk, and the beastly kennel in which they lived was in a thick fog of tobacco-smoke and the stale stench of rum. ribald songs, quarrelling, and blasphemy made a veritable pandemonium of the place. i passed quietly through it to the sick man's bunk, and found him--dead! he had passed away in the midst of that, but the horror of it did not seem to impress his bemused shipmates much. here, at any rate, there was quiet and decorum, while all that could be done for the poor sufferer (not much, from ignorance of how he was injured) was done. he was released from his pain in the afternoon of the second day after the accident, the end coming suddenly and peacefully. the same evening, at sunset, the body, neatly sewn up in canvas, with a big lump of sandstone secured to the feet, was brought on deck, laid on a hatch at the gangway, and covered with the blue, star-spangled american jack. then all hands were mustered in the waist, the ship's bell was tolled, and the ensign run up halfway. the captain was still too ill to be moved, so the mate stepped forward with a rusty old common prayer-book in his hands, whereon my vagrant fancy immediately fastened in frantic endeavour to imagine how it came to be there. the silence of death was over all. true, the man was but a unit of no special note among us, but death had conferred upon him a brevet rank, in virtue of which be dominated every thought. it seemed strange to me that we who faced death so often and variously, until natural fear had become deadened by custom, should, now that one of our number lay a rapidly-corrupting husk before us, be so tremendously impressed by the simple, inevitable fact. i suppose it was because none of us were able to realize the immanence of death until we saw his handiwork. mr. count opened the book, fumbling nervously among the unfamiliar leaves. then he suddenly looked up, his weather-scarred face glowing a dull brick-red, and said, in a low voice, "this thing's too many fer me; kin any of ye do it? ef not, i guess we'll hev ter take it as read." there was no response for a moment; then i stepped forward, reaching out my hand for the book. its contents were familiar enough to me, for in happy pre-arab days i had been a chorister in the old lock chapel, harrow road, and had borne my part in the service so often that i think even now i could repeat the greater part of it memoriter. mr. count gave it me without a word, and, trembling like a leaf, i turned to the "burial service," and began the majestic sentences, "i am the resurrection and the life, saith the lord." i did not know my own voice as the wonderful words sounded clearly in the still air; but if ever a small body of soul-hardened men felt the power of god, it was then. at the words, "we therefore commit his body to the deep," i paused, and, the mate making a sign, two of the harpooners tilted the hatch, from which the remains slid off into the unknown depths with a dull splash. several of the dead man's compatriots covered their faces, and murmured prayers for the repose of his soul, while the tears trickled through their horny fingers. but matters soon resumed their normal course; the tension over, back came the strings of life into position again, to play the same old tunes and discords once more. the captured whale made an addition to our cargo of one hundred and ten barrels--a very fair haul indeed. the harpooners were disposed to regard this capture as auspicious upon opening the north pacific, where, in spite of the time we had spent, and the fair luck we had experienced in the indian ocean, we expected to make the chief portion of our cargo. our next cruising-ground is known to whalemen as the "coast of japan" ground, and has certainly proved in the past the most prolific fishery of sperm whales in the whole world. i am inclined now to believe that there are more and larger cachalots to be found in the southern hemisphere, between the parallels of deg. and deg. south; but there the drawback of heavy weather and mountainous seas severely handicaps the fishermen. it is somewhat of a misnomer to call the coast of japan ground by that name, since to be successful you should not sight japan at all, but keep out of range of the cold current that sweeps right across the pacific, skirting the philippines, along the coasts of the japanese islands as far as the kuriles, and then returns to the eastward again to the southward of the aleutian archipelago. the greatest number of whales are always found in the vicinity of the bonin and volcano groups of islands, which lie in the eddy formed by the northward bend of the mighty current before mentioned. this wonderful ground was first cruised by a london whale-ship, the syren, in , when the english branch of the sperm whale-fishery was in its prime, and london skippers were proud of the fact that one of their number, in the emilia, had thirty-one years before first ventured around cape horn in pursuit of the cachalot. after the advent of the syren, the bonins became the favourite fishing-ground for both americans and british, and for many years the catch of oil taken from these teeming waters averaged four thousand tuns annually. that the value of the fishery was maintained at so high a level for over a quarter of a century was doubtless due to the fact that there was a long, self-imposed close season, during which the whales were quite unmolested. nothing in the migratory habits of this whale, so far as has ever been observed, would have prevented a profitable fishing all the year round; but custom, stronger even than profit, ordained that whale-ships should never stay too long upon one fishing-ground, but move on farther until the usual round had been made, unless the vessel were filled in the mean time. of course, there are whales whose habits lead them at certain seasons, for breeding purposes, to frequent various groups of islands, but the cachalot seems to be quite impartial in his preferences; if he "uses" around certain waters, he is just as likely to be found there in july as january. the bonins, too, form an ideal calling-place, from the whaling captain's point of view. peel island, the principal one of the cluster, has a perfect harbour in port lloyd, where a vessel can not only lie in comfort, sheltered from almost every wind that blows, but where provisions, wood, and water are plentiful. there is no inducement, or indeed room, for desertion, and the place is healthy. it is colonized by japs from the kingdom so easily reached to the westward, and the busy little people, after their manner, make a short stay very agreeable. once clear of the southern end of formosa we had quite a rapid run to the bonins, carrying a press of sail day and night, as the skipper was anxious to arrive there on account of his recent injuries. he was still very lame, and he feared that some damage might have been done to him of which he was ignorant. besides, it was easy to see that he did not altogether like anybody else being in charge of his ship, no matter how good they were. such was the expedition we made that we arrived at port lloyd twelve days after clearing up our last whale. very beautiful indeed the islands, appeared, with their bold, steep sides clad in richest green, or, where no vegetation appeared, worn into a thousand fantastic shapes by the sea, or the mountain torrents carving away the lava of which they were all composed. for the whole of the islands were volcanic, and port lloyd itself is nothing more than the crater of a vast volcano, which in some tremendous convulsion of nature has sunk from its former high estate low enough to become a haven for ships. i have said that it was a perfect harbour, but there is no doubt that getting in or out requires plenty of nerve as well as seamanship. there was so little room, and the eddying flows of wind under the high land were so baffling, that at various times during our passage in it appeared as if nothing could prevent us from getting stuck upon some of the adjacent hungry-looking coral reefs. nothing of the kind happened, however, and we came comfortably to an anchor near three other whale-ships which were already there. they were the diego ramirez, of nantucket; the coronel, of providence, rhode island; and the grampus, of new bedford. these were the first whale-ships we had yet seen, and it may be imagined how anxious we felt to meet men with whom we could compare notes and exchange yarns. it might be, too, that we should get some news of that world which, as far as we were concerned, might as well have been at the other extremity of the solar system for the last year, so completely isolated had we been. the sails were hardly fast before a boat from each of the ships was alongside with their respective skippers on board. the extra exertion necessary to pilot the ship in had knocked the old man up, in his present weak state, and he had gone below for a short rest; so the three visitors dived down into the stuffy cabin, all anxious to interview the latest comer. considerate always, mr. count allowed us to have the remainder of the day to ourselves, so we set about entertaining our company. it was no joke twelve of them coming upon us all at once, and babel ensued for a short time. they knew the system too well to expect refreshments, so we had not to apologize for having nothing to set before them. they had not come, however, for meat and drink, but for talk. and talk we did, sometimes altogether, sometimes rationally; but i doubt whether any of us had ever enjoyed talking so much before. chapter xiv. liberty day--and after there is generally current among seamen a notion that all masters of ships are bound by law to give their crews twenty-four hours' liberty and a portion of their wages to spend every three months, if they are in port. i have never heard any authority quoted for this, and do not know what foundation there is for such a belief, although the practice is usually adhered to in english ships. but american whale-ships apparently know no law, except the will of their commanders, whose convenience is always the first consideration. thus, we had now been afloat for well over a year, during which time, except for our foraging excursions at the cocos and aldabra, we had certainly known no liberty for a whole day. our present port being one where it was impossible to desert without the certainty of prompt recapture, with subsequent suffering altogether disproportionate to the offence, we were told that one watch at a time would be allowed their liberty for a day. so we of the port watch made our simple preparations, received twenty-five cents each, and were turned adrift on the beach to enjoy ourselves. we had our liberty, but we didn't know what to do with it. there was a native town and a couple of low groggeries kept by chinamen, where some of my shipmates promptly invested a portion of their wealth in some horrible liquor, the smell of which was enough to make an ordinary individual sick. there was no place apparently where one could get a meal, so that the prospect of our stay ashore lasting a day did not seem very great. i was fortunate enough, however, to foregather with a scotchman who was a beach-comber, and consequently "knew the ropes." i dare say he was an unmitigated blackguard whenever he got the chance, but he was certainly on his best behaviour with me. he took me into the country a bit to see the sights, which were such as most of the pacific islands afford. wonderful indeed were the fantastic rocks, twisted into innumerable grotesque shapes, and, along the shores, hollowed out into caverns of all sizes, some large enough to shelter an army. he was quite familiar with the natives, understanding enough of their queer lingo to get along. by his friendly aid we got some food--yams, and fish cooked in native fashion, i.e. in heated holes in the ground, for which the friendly kanakas would take no payment, although they looked murderous enough to be cannibals. it does not do to go by looks always. well, after a long ramble, the scotchman and i laid our weary bodies down in the shade of a big rock, and had a grand sleep, waking up again a little before sunset. we hastened down to the beach off the town, where all my watchmates were sitting in a row, like lost sheep, waiting to be taken on board again. they had had enough of liberty; indeed, such liberty as that was hardly worth having. it seems hardly credible, but we were actually glad to get on board again, it was so miserable ashore, the natives were most unsociable at the port, and we could not make ourselves understood, so there was not much fun to be had. even those who were inclined to drink had too little for a spree, which i was not sorry for, since doubtless a very unpleasant reception would have awaited them had they come on board drunk. next day the starboard watch went on liberty, while we who had received our share were told off to spend the day wooding and watering. in this most pleasant of occupations (when the weather is fine) i passed a much more satisfactory time than when wandering about with no objective, an empty pocket, and a hungry belly. no foremast hand has ever enjoyed his opportunities of making the acquaintance of his various visiting places more than i have; but the circumstances attendant upon one's leave must be a little favourable, or i would much rather stay aboard and fish. our task was over for the day, a goodly store of wood and casks of water having been shipped. we were sitting down to supper, when, in answer to a hail from the beach, we were ordered to fetch the liberty men. when we got to them, there was a pretty how-d'ye-do. all of them were more or less drunk, some exceedingly quarrelsome. now, mistah jones was steering our boat, looking as little like a man to take sauce from a drunken sailor as you could imagine. most of the transformed crowd ya-hooing on the beach had felt the weight of his shoulder-of-mutton fist, yet so utterly had prudence forsaken them that, before we came near them, they were abusing him through all the varied gamut of filthy language they possessed. my democratic sentiments are deeply seated, but i do believe in authority, and respect for it being rigidly enforced, so this uncalled-for scene upset me, making me feel anxious that the gibbering fools might get a lesson. they got one. goliath stood like a tower, his eyes alone betraying the fierce anger boiling within. when we touched the beach, his voice was mild end gentle as a child's, his movements calm and deliberate. as soon as we had beached the boat he stepped ashore, and in two strides was in the middle of the snarling group. further parley ceased at once. snatching the loudest of them by the breast of his shirt with his right hand, another one by the collar with his left, he flung himself backwards towards the boat, knocking the interveners right and left. but a protruding fragment of rock caught his heel, bringing him with his captives to the ground in a writhing mass. the rest, maddened beyond restraint of fear, flung themselves upon the prostrate man, the glimmer of more than one knife-blade appearing. two of us from the boat--one with the tiller, the other brandishing a paddle--rushed to the rescue; but before we arrived the giant had heaved off his assailants, and, with no other weapons than his bare hands, was doing terrific execution among them. not knowing, i suppose, whether we were friendly to him or not, he shouted to us to keep away, nor dare to interfere. there was no need. disregarding such trifles as a few superficial cuts--not feeling them perhaps--he so unmercifully mauled that crowd that they howled again for mercy. the battle was brief and bloody. before hostilities had lasted five minutes, six of the aggressors were stretched insensible; the rest, comprising as many more, were pleading for mercy, completely sober. such prowess on the part of one man against twelve seems hardly credible; but it must be remembered that goliath fought, with all the moral force of the ship's officers behind him, against a disorganized crowd without backbone, who would never have dared to face him but for the temporary mania induced by the stuff they had drunk. it was a conflict between a lion and a troop of jackals, whereof the issue was never in doubt as long as lethal weapons were wanting. standing erect among the cowering creatures, the great negro looked every inch a mediaeval hero. in a stern voice he bade his subjugated enemies to get into the boat, assisting those to do so who were too badly hurt to rise. then we shoved off for the ship--a sorrowful gang indeed. as i bent to my oar, i felt very sorry for what had happened. here were half the crew guilty of an act of violence upon an officer, which, according to the severe code under which we lived, merited punishment as painful as could be inflicted, and lasting for the rest of the voyage. whatever form that punishment might take, those of us who were innocent would be almost equal sufferers with the others, because discrimination in the treatment between watch and watch is always difficult, and in our case it was certain that it would not be attempted. except as regarded physical violence, we might all expect to share alike. undoubtedly things looked very unpleasant. my gloomy cogitations were abruptly terminated by the order to "unrow"--we were alongside. somehow or other all hands managed to scramble on board, and assist in hoisting the boat up. as soon as she was secured we slunk away forward, but we had hardly got below before a tremendous summons from goliath brought us all aft again at the double quick. most of the fracas had been witnessed from the ship, so that but a minute or two was needed to explain how or why it begun. directly that explanation had been supplied by mistah jones, the order was issued for the culprits to appear. i have before noticed how little love was lost between the skipper and his officers, goliath having even once gone so far as to give me a very emphatic opinion of his about the "old man" of a most unflattering nature. and had such a state of things existed on board an english ship, the crew would simply have taken charge, for they would have seen the junior officers flouted, snubbed, and jeered at; and, of course, what they saw the captain do, they would not be slow to improve on. many a promising young officer's career has been blighted in this way by the feminine spite of a foolish man unable to see that if the captain shows no respect to his officers, neither will the crew, nor obedience either. but in an american ship, so long as an officer remains an officer, he must be treated as such by every man, under pain of prompt punishment. yankee skippers have far too much nous to allow their hands to grow saucy in consequence of division among the after-guard. so now a sort of court-martial was held upon the unfortunates who had dared to attack goliath, at which that sable hero might have been the apple of captain slocum's eye, so solicitous was he of mistah jones' honour and the reparation to be made. this sort of thing was right in his line. naturally cruel, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself in the prospect of making human beings twist and writhe in pain. nor would he be baulked of a jot of his pleasure. goliath approached him, and muttered a few words, meant, i felt sure, to appease him by letting him know how much they had suffered at his strong hands; but he turned upon the negro with a savage curse, bidding him be silent. then every one of the culprits was stripped, and secured to the lash-rail by the wrists; scourges were made of cotton fish-line, knotted at intervals, and secured to a stout handle; the harpooners were told off as executioners, and the flogging began. perhaps it was necessary for the maintenance of discipline--certainly it was trivial compared with the practice, till recently, in our own army and navy; but i am glad to say that, compelled to witness it, i felt quite sick--physically sick--trembling so in every limb that my legs would not support me. it was not fear, for i had nothing to fear had i been ever such a coward. whatever it was, i am not sorry either to have felt it or to own it, even while i fully admit that for some forms of wickedness nothing but the lash seems adequate punishment. some of the victims fainted, not being in the best condition at the outset for undergoing so severe a trial; but all were treated alike, buckets of salt water being flung over them. this drastic reviver, while adding to their pain, brought them all into a state of sufficient activity to get forward when they were released. smarting and degraded, all their temporary bravado effectually banished, they were indeed pitiable objects, their deplorable state all the harder to bear from its contrast to our recent pleasure when we entertained the visiting crews. having completed our quantum of wood, water, and fresh provisions for the officers, we got under way again for the fishing grounds. i did not see how we could hope for a successful season, knowing the utterly despondent state of the crew, which even affected the officers, who, not so callous or cruel as the skipper, seemed to be getting rather tired of the constant drive and kick, now the normal condition of affairs. but the skipper's vigilance was great. whether he noted any sign of slackness or indifference on the part of his coadjutors or not, of course i cannot say, but he certainly seemed to put more vigour into his attentions than had been his wont, and so kept everybody up to the mark. hitherto we had always had our fishing to ourselves; we were now to see something of the ways of other men employed in the same manner. for though the general idea or plan of campaign against the whales is the same in all american whalers, every ship has some individual peculiarity of tactics, which, needless to say, are always far superior to those of any other ship. when we commenced our cruise on this new ground, there were seven whalers in sight, all quite as keen on the chase as ourselves, so that i anticipated considerable sport of the liveliest kind should we "raise" whales with such a fleet close at hand. but for a whole week we saw nothing but a grampus or so, a few loitering finbacks, and an occasional lean humpback bull certainly not worth chasing. on the seventh afternoon, however, i was in the main crow's-nest with the chief, when i noticed a ship to windward of us alter her course, keeping away three or four points on an angle that would presently bring her across our bows a good way ahead. i was getting pretty well versed in the tricks of the trade now, so i kept mum, but strained my eyes in the direction for which the other ship was steering. the chief was looking astern at some finbacks, the look-out men forward were both staring to leeward, thus for a minute or so i had a small arc of the horizon to myself. the time was short, but it sufficed, and for the first time that voyage i had the privilege of "raising" a sperm whale. my voice quivered with excitement as i uttered the war-whoop, "ah blo-o-o-o-w!" round spun the mate on his heel, while the hands clustered like bees roused from their hive. "where away--where?" gasped the mate. and i pointed to a spot about half a point on the lee bow, at the same time calling his attention to the fact that the stranger to windward was keeping away. in answer to the skipper's hurried queries from below, mr. count gave him the general outline of affairs, to which he replied by crowding every stitch of canvas on the vessel that was available. the spout i had seen was a good ten miles off, and, for the present, seemed to belong to a "lone" whale, as it was the only one visible. there was a good breeze blowing, as much, in fact, as we could carry all sail to, the old barky making a tremendous commotion as she blundered along under the unusual press of canvas. in the excitement of the race all our woes were forgotten; we only thought of the possibility of the ship getting there first. we drew gradually nearer to the stranger, who, like us, was carrying all the sail he had got, but, being able to go a point or two free, was outsailing us. it was anybody's race as yet, though, when we heard the skipper's hail, "'way down from aloft!" as he came up to take our place, the whale had sounded, apparently heading to leeward, so that the weather-gage held by our rival was not much advantage to him now. we ran on for another two miles, then shortened sail, and stood by to lower away the moment he should re-appear, meanwhile another ship was working up from to leeward, having evidently noted our movements, or else, like the albatross, "smelt whale," no great distance to windward of him. waiting for that whale to rise was one of the most exciting experiences we had gone through as yet, with two other ships so near. everybody's nerves seemed strung up to concert pitch, and it was quite a relief when from half a dozen throats at once burst the cry, "there she white-waters! ah blo-o-o-o-w!" not a mile away, dead to leeward of us, quietly beating the water with the flat of his flukes, as if there was no such thing in the watery world as a whale-ship. splash! almost simultaneously went the four boats. out we shot from the ship, all on our mettle; for was not the skipper's eye upon us from his lofty eyrie, as well as the crew of the other ship, now not more than a mile away! we seemed a terrible time getting the sails up, but the officers dared not risk our willingness to pull while they could be independent of us. by the time we were fairly off, the other ship's boats were coming like the wind, so that eight boats were now converging upon the unconscious monster. we fairly flew over the short, choppy sea, getting drenched with the flying spray, but looking out far more keenly at the other boats than at the whale. up we came to him, mr. count's boat to the left, the other mate's boat to the right. almost at the same moment the irons flew from the hands of the rival harpooners; but while ours was buried to the hitches in the whale's side, the other man's just ploughed up the skin on the animal's back, as it passed over him and pierced our boat close behind the harpooner's leg. not seeing what had happened to his iron, or knowing that we were fast, the other harpooner promptly hurled his second iron, which struck solidly. it was a very pretty tangle, but our position was rather bad. the whale between us was tearing the bowels of the deep up in his rage and fear; we were struggling frantically to get our sail down; and at any moment that wretched iron through our upper strake might tear a plank out of us. our chief, foaming at the mouth with rage and excitement, was screeching inarticulate blasphemy at the other mate, who, not knowing what was the matter, was yelling back all his copious vocabulary of abuse. i felt very glad the whale was between us, or there would surely have been murder done. at last, out drops the iron, leaving a jagged hole you could put your arm through. wasn't mr. count mad? i really thought he would split with rage, for it was impossible for us to go on with that hole in our bilge. the second mate came alongside and took our line as the whale was just commencing to sound, thus setting us free. we made at once for the other ship's "fast" boat, and the compliments that had gone before were just casual conversation to what filled the air with dislocated language now. presently both the champions cooled down a bit from want of breath, and we got our case stated. it was received with a yell of derision from the other side as a splendid effort of lying on our part; because the first ship fast claims the whale, and such a prize as this one we were quarrelling about was not to be tamely yielded. however, as reason asserted her sway over mr. count, he quieted down, knowing full well that the state of the line belonging to his rival would reveal the truth when the whale rose again. therefore we returned to the ship, leaving our three boats busy waiting the whale's pleasure to rise again. when the skipper heard what had happened, he had his own boat manned, proceeding himself to the battle-field in expectation of complications presently. by the time he arrived upon the scene there were two more boats lying by, which had come up from the third ship, mentioned as working up from to leeward. "pretty fine ground this's got ter be!" growled the old man. "caint strike whale 'thout bein' crowded eout uv yer own propputty by a gang bunco steerers like this. shall hev ter quit it, en keep a pawnshop." and still the whale kept going steadily down, down, down. already he was on the second boat's lines, and taking them out faster than ever. had we been alone, this persistence on his part, though annoying, would not have mattered much; but, with so many others in company, the possibilities of complication, should we need to slip our end, were numerous. the ship kept near, and mr. count, seeing how matters were going, had hastily patched his boat, returning at once with another tub of line. he was but just in time to bend on, when to our great delight we saw the end slip from our rival's boat. this in no wise terminated his lien on the whale, supposing he could prove that he struck first, but it got him out of the way for the time. meanwhile we were running line faster than ever. there was an enormous length attached to the animal now--some twelve thousand feet--the weight of which was very great, to say nothing of the many "drogues" or "stopwaters" attached to it at intervals. judge, then, of my surprise when a shout of "blo-o-o-w!" called my attention to the whale himself just breaking water about half a mile away. it was an awkward predicament; for if we let go our end, the others would be on the whale immediately; if we held on, we should certainly be dragged below in a twinkling; and our disengaged boats could do nothing, for they had no line. but the difficulty soon settled itself. out ran our end, leaving us bare of line as pleasure skiffs. the newcomer, who had been prowling near, keeping a close watch upon us, saw our boat jump up when released from the weight. off he flew like an arrow to the labouring leviathan, now a "free fish," except for such claims as the two first-comers had upon it, which claims are legally assessed, where no dispute arises. in its disabled condition, dragging so enormous a weight of line, it was but a few minutes before the fresh boat was fast, while we looked on helplessly, boiling with impotent rage. all that we could now hope for was the salvage of some of our line, a mile and a half of which, inextricably mixed up with about the same length of our rival's, was towing astern of the fast-expiring cachalot. so great had been the strain upon that hardly-used animal that he did not go into his usual "flurry," but calmly expired without the faintest struggle. in the mean time two of our boats had been sent on board again to work the ship, while the skipper proceeded to try his luck in the recovery of his gear. on arriving at the dead whale, however, we found that he had rolled over and over beneath the water so many times that the line was fairly frapped round him, and the present possessors were in no mood to allow us the privilege of unrolling it. during the conversation we had drawn very near the carcass, so near, in fact, that one hand was holding the boat alongside the whale's "small" by a bight of the line. i suppose the skipper's eagle eye must have caught sight of the trailing part of the line streaming beneath, for suddenly he plunged overboard, reappearing almost immediately with the line in his hand. he scrambled into the boat with it, cutting it from the whale at once, and starting his boat's crew hauling in. then there was a hubbub again. the captain of the narragansett, our first rival, protested vigorously against our monopoly of the line; but in grim silence our skipper kept on, taking no notice of him, while we steadily hauled. unless he of the narragansett choose to fight for what he considered his rights, there was no help for him. and there was something in our old man's appearance eminently calculated to discourage aggression of any kind. at last, disgusted apparently with the hopeless turn affairs had taken, the narragansett's boats drew off, and returned on board their ship. two of our boats had by this time accumulated a mountainous coil of line each, with which we returned to our own vessel, leaving the skipper to visit the present holder of the whale, the skipper of the john hampden. what arrangements they made, or how they settled the narragansett's claim between them, i never knew, but i dare say there was a costly law-suit about it in new bedford years after. this was not very encouraging for a start, nor did the next week see us do any better. several times we saw other ships with whales alongside, but we got no show at all. now, i had hoped a great deal from our cruise on these grounds, because i had heard whispers of a visit to the icy sea of okhotsk, and the prospect was to me a horrible one. i never did take any stock in arctic work. but if we made a good season on the japan grounds, we should not go north, but gradually work down the pacific again, on the other side, cruising as we went. day after day went by without any fresh capture or even sight of fish, until i began to believe that the stories i had heard of the wonderful fecundity of the coast of japan waters were fables without foundation, in fact. had i known what sort of fishing our next bout would be, i should not have been so eager to sight whales again. if this be not a platitude of the worst kind, i don't know the meaning of the word; but, after all, platitudes have their uses, especially when you want to state a fact baldly. chapter xv. which comes uncomfortably near being the last all unversed as i am in the finer shades of literary craftsmanship, there is great uncertainty in my mind whether it is good or bad "art" to anticipate your next chapter by foreshadowing its contents; but whether good or bad art, the remembrance of my miseries on the eventful occasion i wish to describe was so strong upon me as i wrote the last few lines of the previous chapter that i just had to let those few words leak out. through all the vicissitudes of this strange voyage i had hitherto felt pretty safe, and as the last thing a man anticipates (if his digestion is all right) is the possibility of coming to grief himself while fully prepared to see everybody else go under, so i had got to think that whoever got killed i was not to be--a very pleasing sentiment, and one that carries a man far, enabling him to face dangers with a light heart which otherwise would make a nerveless animal of him. in this optimistic mood, then, i gaily flung myself into my place in the mate's boat one morning, as we were departing in chase of a magnificent cachalot that had been raised just after breakfast. there were no other vessels in sight--much to our satisfaction--the wind was light, with a cloudless sky, and the whale was dead to leeward of us. we sped along at a good rate towards our prospective victim, who was, in his leisurely enjoyment of life, calmly lolling on the surface, occasionally lifting his enormous tail out of water and letting it fall flat upon the surface with a boom audible for miles. we were as usual, first boat; but, much to the mate's annoyance, when we were a short half-mile from the whale, our main-sheet parted. it became immediately necessary to roll the sail up, lest its flapping should alarm the watchful monster, and this delayed us sufficiently to allow the other boats to shoot ahead of us. thus the second mate got fast some seconds before we arrived on the scene, seeing which we furled sail, unshipped the mast, and went in on him with the oars only. at first the proceedings were quite of the usual character, our chief wielding his lance in most brilliant fashion, while not being fast to the animal allowed us much greater freedom in our evolutions; but that fatal habit of the mate's--of allowing his boat to take care of herself so long as he was getting in some good home-thrusts--once more asserted itself. although the whale was exceedingly vigorous, churning the sea into yeasty foam over an enormous area, there we wallowed close to him, right in the middle of the turmoil, actually courting disaster. he had just settled down for a moment, when, glancing over the gunwale, i saw his tail, like a vast shadow, sweeping away from us towards the second mate, who was laying off the other side of him. before i had time to think, the mighty mass of gristle leapt into the sunshine, curved back from us like a huge bow. then with a roar it came at us, released from its tension of heaven knows how many tons. full on the broadside it struck us, sending every soul but me flying out of the wreckage as if fired from catapults. i did not go because my foot was jammed somehow in the well of the boat, but the wrench nearly pulled my thigh-bone out of its socket. i had hardly released my foot, when, towering above me, came the colossal head of the great creature, as he ploughed through the bundle of debris that had just been a boat. there was an appalling roar of water in my ears, and darkness that might be felt all around. yet, in the midst of it all, one thought predominated as clearly as if i had been turning it over in my mind in the quiet of my bunk aboard--"what if he should swallow me?" nor to this day can i understand how i escaped the portals of his gullet, which of course gaped wide as a church door. but the agony of holding my breath soon overpowered every other feeling and thought, till just as something was going to snap inside my head i rose to the surface. i was surrounded by a welter of bloody froth, which made it impossible for me to see; but oh, the air was sweet! i struck out blindly, instinctively, although i could feel so strong an eddy that voluntary progress was out of the question. my hand touched and clung to a rope, which immediately towed me in some direction--i neither knew nor cared whither. soon the motion ceased, and, with a seaman's instinct, i began to haul myself along by the rope i grasped, although no definite idea was in my mind as to where it was attached. presently i came butt up against something solid, the feel of which gathered all my scattered wits into a compact knub of dread. it was the whale! "any port in a storm," i murmured, beginning to haul away again on my friendly line. by dint of hard work i pulled myself right up the sloping, slippery bank of blubber, until i reached the iron, which, as luck would have it, was planted in that side of the carcass now uppermost. carcass i said--well, certainly i had no idea of there being any life remaining within the vast mass beneath me, yet i had hardly time to take a couple of turns round myself with the rope (or whale-line, as i had proved it to be), when i felt the great animal quiver all over, and begin to forge ahead. i was now composed enough to remember that help could not be far away, and that my rescue, providing that i could keep above water, was but a question of a few minutes. but i was hardly prepared for the whale's next move. being very near his end, the boat, or boats, had drawn off a bit, i supposed, for i could see nothing of them. then i remembered the flurry. almost at the same moment it began; and there was i, who with fearful admiration had so often watched the titanic convulsions of a dying cachalot, actually involved in them. the turns were off my body, but i was able to twist a couple of turns round my arms, which, in case of his sounding, i could readily let go. then all was lost in roar and rush, as of the heart of some mighty cataract, during which i was sometimes above, sometimes beneath, the water, but always clinging with every ounce of energy still left, to the line. now, one thought was uppermost--"what if he should breach?" i had seen them do so when in flurry, leaping full twenty feet in the air. then i prayed. quickly as all the preceding changes had passed came perfect peace. there i lay, still alive, but so weak that, although i could feel the turns slipping off my arms, and knew that i should slide off the slope of the whale's side into the sea if they did, i could make no effort to secure myself. everything then passed away from me, just as if i had gone to sleep. i do not at all understand how i kept my position, nor how long, but i awoke to the blessed sound of voices, and saw the second mate's boat alongside, very gently and tenderly they lifted me into the boat, although i could hardly help screaming with agony when they touched me, so bruised and broken up did i feel. my arms must have been nearly torn from their sockets, for the strands of the whale-line had cut deep into their flesh with the strain upon it, while my thigh was swollen enormously from the blow i received at the onset. mr. cruce was the most surprised man i think i ever saw. for full ten minutes he stared at me with wide-open eyes. when at last he spoke, it was with difficulty, as if wanting words to express his astonishment. at last he blurted out, "whar you bin all de time, ennyhaow? 'cawse ef you bin hangin' on to dat ar wale ev'sence you boat smash, w'y de debbil you hain't all ter bits, hey?" i smiled feebly, but was too weak to talk, and presently went off again into a dead faint. when i recovered, i was snug in my bunk aboard, but aching in every joint, and as sore as if i had been pounded with a club until i was bruised all over. during the day mr. count was kind enough to pay me a visit. with his usual luck, he had escaped without the slightest injury; neither was any other member of the boat's crew the worse for the ducking but myself. he told me that the whale was one of the largest he had ever seen, and as fat as butter. the boat was an entire loss, so completely smashed to pieces that nothing of her or her gear had been recovered. after spending about a quarter of an hour with me, he left me considerably cheered up, promising to look after me in the way of food, and also to send me some books. he told me that i need not worry myself about my inability to be at work, because the old man was not unfavourably disposed towards me, which piece of news gave me a great deal of comfort. when my poor, weary shipmates came below from their heavy toil of cutting in, they were almost inclined to be envious of my comfort--small blame to them--though i would gladly have taken my place among them again, could i have got rid of my hurts. but i was condemned to lie there for nearly three weeks before i was able to get about once more. in my sleep i would undergo the horrible anticipation of sliding down that awful, cavernous mouth over again, often waking with a shriek and drenched with sweat. while i lay there, three whales were caught, all small cows, and i was informed that the skipper was getting quite disgusted with the luck. at last i managed to get on deck, quite a different-looking man to when i went below, and feeling about ten years older. i found the same sullen quiet reigning that i had noticed several times before when we were unfortunate. i fancied that the skipper looked more morose and savage than ever, though of me, to my great relief, he took not the slightest notice. the third day after my return to duty we sighted whales again. we lowered three boats as promptly as usual; but when within about half a mile of the "pod" some slight noise in one of the boats gallied them, and away they went in the wind's eye, it blowing a stiffish breeze at the time, it was from the first evidently a hopeless task to chase them, but we persevered until recalled to the ship, dead beat with fatigue. i was not sorry, for my recent adventure seemed to have made quite a coward of me, so much so that an unpleasant gnawing at the pit of my stomach as we neared them almost made me sick. i earnestly hoped that so inconvenient a feeling would speedily leave me, or i should be but a poor creature in a boat. in passing, i would like to refer to the wonderful way in which these whales realize at a great distance, if the slightest sound be made, the presence of danger. i do not use the word "hear" because so abnormally small are their organs of hearing, the external opening being quite difficult to find, that i do not believe they can hear at all well. but i firmly believe they possess another sense by means of which they are able to detect any unusual vibration of the waves of either air or sea at a far greater distance than it would be possible for them to hear, whatever this power may be which they possess, all whalemen are well acquainted with their exercise of it, and always take most elaborate precautions to render their approach to a whale noiseless. our extraordinary want of success at last so annoyed the skipper that he determined to quit the ground and go north. the near approach of the open season in those regions probably hastened his decision, but i learned from goliath that he had always been known as a most fortunate man among the "bowheads," as the great mysticetae of that part of the arctic seas are called by the americans. not that there is any difference, as far as i have been able to ascertain, between them and the "right" whale of the greenland seas, but from some caprice of nomenclature for which there is no accounting. so in leisurely fashion we worked north, keeping, of course, a bright look-out all the way for straggling cachalots, but not seeing any. from scraps of information that in some mysterious fashion leaked out, we learned that we were bound to the okhotsk sea, it being no part of the skipper's intentions to go prowling around behrings sea, where he believed the whales to be few and far between. it may be imagined that we of the crew were not at all pleased with this intelligence, our life being, we considered, sufficiently miserable without the addition of extreme cold, for we did not realize that in the arctic regions during summer the cold is by no means unbearable, and our imagination pictured a horrible waste of perpetual ice and snow, in the midst of which we should be compelled to freeze while dodging whales through the crevices of the floes. but whether our pictures of the prospects that awaited us were caricatures or no made not the slightest difference. "growl you may, but go you must" is an old sea-jingle of the truest ring; but, while our going was inevitable, growling was a luxury none of us dare indulge in. we had by no means a bad passage to the kuriles, which form a natural barrier enclosing the immense area of the okhotsk sea from the vast stretch of the pacific. around this great chain of islands the navigation is exceedingly difficult, and dangerous as well, from the ever-varying currents as from the frequent fogs and sudden storms. but these impediments to swift and safe navigation are made light of by the whalemen, who, as i feel never weary of remarking, are the finest navigators in the world where speed is not the first consideration. the most peculiar features of these inhospitable shores to a seaman are the vast fields of seaweed surrounding them all, which certainly helps to keep the sea down during gales, but renders navigation most difficult on account of its concealment of hidden dangers. these islands are aptly named, the word "kurile" being kamschatkan for smoke; and whether it be regarded as given in consequence of the numerous volcanoes which pour their fumes into the air, or the all-prevailing fog fostered by the kuro siwo, or japanese counterpart of the gulf stream, the designation is equally appropriate. we entered the okhotsk sea by the nadeshda channel, so-named after admiral krusenstern's ship, which was the first civilized vessel that passed through its turbulent waters. it separates the islands rashau and mantaua by about twenty miles, yet so conflicting and violent are the currents which eddy and swirl in all parts of it, that without a steady, strong, fair wind it is most dangerous to a sailing vessel. thenceforward the navigation was free from difficulty, or at least none that we could recognize as such, so we gave all our attention to the business which brought us there. scarcely any change was needed in our equipment, except the substitution of longer harpoons for those we had been using, and the putting away of the bomb-guns. these changes were made because the blubber of the bowhead is so thick that ordinary harpoons will not penetrate beyond it to the muscle, which, unless they do, renders them liable to draw, upon a heavy strain. as for the bombs, yankees hold the mysticetae in such supreme contempt that none of them would dream of wasting so expensive a weapon as a bomb upon them. i was given to understand by my constant crony, mistah jones, that there was no more trouble in killing a bowhead than in slaughtering a sheep; and that while it was quite true that accidents did occur, they were entirely due to the carelessness or clumsiness of the whalemen, and not in any way traceable to a desire on the victim's part to do any one harm. the sea was little encumbered with ice, it being now late in june, so that our progress was not at all impeded by the few soft, brashy floes that we encountered, none of them hard enough to do a ship's hull any damage. in most places the sea was sufficiently shallow to permit of our anchoring. for this purpose we used a large kedge, with stout hawser for cable, never furling all the sails in case of a strong breeze suddenly springing up, which would cause us to drag. this anchoring was very comfortable. besides allowing us to get much more rest than when on other cruising-grounds, we were able to catch enormous quantities of fish, mostly salmon, of which there were no less than fourteen varieties. so plentiful were these splendid fish that we got quite critical in our appreciation of them, very soon finding that one kind, known as the "nerker," was far better flavoured than any of the others. but as the daintiest food palls the quickest, it was not long before we got tired of salmon, and wished most heartily for beef. much fun has been made of the discontent of sailors. with food which is considered a luxury ashore, and wonder expressed that if, as we assert, the ordinary dietary of the seaman be so bad, he should be so ready to rebel when fed with delicacies. but in justice to the sailor, it ought to be remembered that the daintiest food may be rendered disgusting by bad cookery, such as is the rule on board merchant ships. "god sends meat, but the devil sends cooks" is a proverb which originated on board ship, and no one who has ever served any time in a ship's forecastle would deny that it is abundantly justified. besides which, even good food well cooked of one kind only, served many times in succession, becomes very trying, only the plainest foods, such as bread, rice, potatoes, etc., retaining their command of the appetite continually. i remember once, when upon the coromandel coast in a big greenock ship, we found fowls very cheap. at bimliapatam the captain bought two or three hundred, which, as we had no coops, were turned loose on deck. we had also at the same time prowling about the decks three goats, twenty pigs, and two big dogs. consequently the state of the ship was filthy, nor could all our efforts keep her clean. this farmyard condition of things was permitted to continue for about a week, when the officers got so tired of it, and the captain so annoyed at the frequent loss of fowls by their flying overboard, that the edict went forth to feed the foremast hands on poultry till further orders. great was our delight at the news. fowl for dinner represented to our imagination almost the apex of high living, only indulged in by such pampered children of fortune as the officers of ships or well-to-do people ashore. when dinner-time arrived, we boys made haste to the galley with watering mouths, joyfully anticipating that rare delight of the sailor--a good "feed." the cook uncovered his coppers, plunged his tormentors therein, and produced such a succession of ugly corpses of fowls as i had never seen before. to each man a whole one was allotted, and we bore the steaming hecatomb into the forecastle. the boisterous merriment became hushed at our approach, and faces grew lengthy when the unwholesome aspect of the "treat" was revealed. each man secured his bird, and commenced operations. but oh, the disappointment, and the bad words! what little flesh there was upon the framework of those unhappy fowls was like leather itself, and utterly flavourless. it could not well have been otherwise. the feathers had been simply scalded off, the heads chopped off, and bodies split open to facilitate drawing (i am sure i wonder the cook took the trouble to do that much), and thus prepared they were cast into a cauldron of boiling salt water. there, with the water fiercely bubbling, they were kept for an hour and a half, then pitchforked out into the mess kid and set before us. we simply could not eat them; no one but a noumean kanaka could, for his teeth are equal to husking a cocoa-nut, or chopping off a piece of sugar-cane as thick as your wrist. after much heated discussion, it was unanimously resolved to protest at once against the substitution of such a fraud as this poultry for our legitimate rations of "salt horse." so, bearing the disjecta membra of our meal, the whole crowd marched aft, and requested an interview with the skipper. he came out of the cabin at once, saying, "well, boys, what's the matter?" the spokesman, a bald-headed yankee, who had been bo'sun's mate of an american man-of-war, stepped forward and said, offering his kid, "jest have a look at that sir." the skipper looked, saying, inquiringly, "well?" "d'yew think, sir," said nat, "thet's proper grub for men?" "proper grub! why, you old sinner, you don't mean to say you're goin' to growl about havin' chicken for dinner?" "well, sir, it depends muchly upon the chicken. all i know is, that i've et some dam queer tack in my time, but sence i ben fishin' i never had no such bundles of sticks parcelled with leather served out to me. i hev et boot--leastways gnawed it; when i was cast away in a open boat for three weeks--but it wa'n't bad boot, as boots go. now, if yew say that these things is boots, en thet it's necessary we should eat'em, or starve, w'y, we'll think about it. but if yew call'em chickens,'n say you're doin' us a kindness by stoppin' our'lowance of meat wile we're wrastlin' with 'em, then we say we don't feel obliged to yew, 'n 'll thank yew kindly to keep such lugsuries for yerself, 'n give us wot we signed for." a murmur of assent confirmed this burst of eloquence, which we all considered a very fine effort indeed. a moment's silence ensued; then the skipper burst out, "i've often heard of such things, but hang me if i ever believed 'em till now! you ungrateful beggars! i'll see you get your whack, and no more, from this out. when you get any little extras aboard this ship agen, you'll be thankful for 'em; now i tell you." "all right, sir," said nat; "so long as we don't hev to chaw any more of yer biled bimly crows, i dessay we shall worry along as usual." and, as the parliamentary reports say, the proceedings then terminated. now, suppose the skipper had told the story to some of his shore friends, how very funny the sailors' conduct would have been made to appear. on another occasion long after, when i was mate of a barque loading mahogany in tonala, mexico, the skipper thought he would practise economy by buying a turtle instead of beef. a large turtle was obtained for twenty-five cents, and handed over to the cook to be dealt with, particular instructions being given him as to the apportionment of the meat. at eight bells there was a gathering of the men in front of the poop, and a summons for the captain. when he appeared, the usual stereotyped invitation to "have a look at that, if you please, sir," was uttered. the skipper was, i think, prepared for a protest, for he began to bluster immediately. "look here!" he bawled, "i ain't goin' to 'ave any of your dam nonsense. you want somethin' to growl about, you do." "well, cap'n george," said one of the men, "you shorely don't think we k'n eat shells, do yer?" just then i caught sight of the kid's contents, and could hardly restrain my indignation. for in a dirty heap, the sight of which might have pleased an esquimaux, but was certainly enough to disgust any civilized man, lay the calipee, or under-shell of the turtle, hacked into irregular blocks. it had been simply boiled, and flung into the kid, an unclean, disgusting heap of shell, with pieces of dirty flesh attached in ragged lumps. but the skipper, red-faced and angry, answered, "w'y, yer so-and-so ijits, that's wot the lord mayor of london gives about a guinea a hounce for w'en 'e feeds lords n' dooks. only the haristocracy at 'ome get a charnce to stick their teeth in such grub as that. an' 'ere are you lot a-growlin' at 'avin' it for a change!" "that's all right, cap'n," said the man; "bein' brort up ter such lugsuries, of corse you kin appreshyate it. so if yer keep it fer yer own eatin', an' giv us wot we signed for, we shall be werry much obliged." "now, i ain't a-goin' to 'ave none o' your cheek, so you'd better git forrard. you can betcher life you won't get no more fresh messes this voy'ge." so, with grumbling and ill-will on both sides, the conference came to an end. but i thought, and still think, that the mess set before those men, who had been working hard since six a.m., was unfit for the food of a good dog. out of my own experience i might give many other instances of the kind, but i hope these will suffice to show that jack's growling is often justified, when both sides of the story are heard. chapter xvi. "bowhead" fishing day and night being now only distinguishable by the aid of the clock, a constant look-out aloft was kept all through the twenty-four hours, watch and watch, but whales were apparently very scarce. we did a good deal of "pelagic" sealing; that is, catching seals swimming. but the total number obtained was not great, for these creatures are only gregarious when at their rocky haunts during the breeding season, or among the ice just before that season begins. our sealing, therefore, was only a way of passing the time in the absence of nobler game, to be abandoned at once with whales in sight. it was on the ninth or tenth morning after our arrival on the grounds that a bowhead was raised, and two boats sent after him. it was my first sight of the great mysticetus, and i must confess to being much impressed by his gigantic bulk. from the difference in shape, he looked much larger than the largest sperm whale we had yet seen, although we had come across some of the very biggest specimens of cachalot. the contrast between the two animals is most marked, so much so, in fact, that one would hardly credit them with belonging to the same order. popular ideas of the whale are almost invariably taken from the mysticetus, so that the average individual generally defines a whale as a big fish which spouts water out of the top of his head, and cannot swallow a herring. indeed, so lately as last year a popular m.p., writing to one of the religious papers, allowed himself to say that "science will not hear of a whale with a gullet capable of admitting anything larger than a man's fist"--a piece of crass ignorance, which is also perpetrated in the appendix to a very widely-distributed edition of the authorized version of the bible. this opinion, strangely enough, is almost universally held, although i trust that the admirable models now being shown in our splendid natural history museum at south kensington will do much to remove it. not so many people, perhaps, believe that a whale is a fish, instead of a mammal, but few indeed are the individuals who do not still think that a cetacean possesses a sort of natural fountain on the top of its head, whence, for some recondite reason, it ejects at regular intervals streams of water into the air. but a whale can no more force water through its spiracle or blow-hole than you or i through our nostrils. it inhales, when at the surface, atmospheric air, and exhales breath like ours, which, coming warm into a cooler medium, becomes visible, as does our breath on a frosty morning. now, the mysticetus carries his nostrils on the summit of his head, or crown, the orifice being closed by a beautifully arranged valve when the animal is beneath the water. consequently, upon coming to the surface to breathe, he sends up a jet of visible breath into the air some ten or twelve feet. the cachalot, on the other hand, has the orifice at the point of his square snout, the internal channel running in a slightly diagonal direction downwards, and back through the skull to the lungs. so when he spouts, the breath is projected forward diagonally, and, from some peculiarity which i do not pretend to explain, expends itself in a short, bushy tuft of vapour, very distinct from the tall vertical spout of the bowhead or right whale. there was little or no wind when we sighted the individual i am now speaking of, so we did not attempt to set sail, but pulled straight for him "head and head." strange as it may appear, the mysticetus' best point of view is right behind, or "in his wake," as we say; it is therefore part of the code to approach him from right ahead, in which direction he cannot see at all. some time before we reached him he became aware of our presence, showing by his uneasy actions that he had his doubts about his personal security. but before he had made up his mind what to do we were upon him, with our harpoons buried in his back. the difference in his behaviour to what we had so long been accustomed to was amazing. he did certainly give a lumbering splash or two with his immense flukes, but no one could possibly have been endangered by them. the water was so shallow that when he sounded it was but for a very few minutes; there was no escape for him that way. as soon as he returned to the surface he set off at his best gait, but that was so slow that we easily hauled up close alongside of him, holding the boats in that position without the slightest attempt to guard ourselves from reprisals on his part, while the officers searched his vitals with the lances as if they were probing a haystack. really, the whole affair was so tame that it was impossible to get up any fighting enthusiasm over it; the poor, unwieldy creature died meekly and quietly as an overgrown seal. in less than an hour from the time of leaving the ship we were ready to bring our prize alongside. upon coming up to the whale, sail was shortened, and as soon as the fluke-chain was passed we anchored. it was, i heard, our skipper's boast that he could "skin a bowhead in forty minutes;" and although we were certainly longer than that, the celerity with which what seemed a gigantic task was accomplished was marvellous. of course, it was all plain-sailing, very unlike the complicated and herculean task inevitable at the commencement of cutting-in a sperm whale. except for the head work, removing the blubber was effected in precisely the same way as in the case of the cachalot. there was a marked difference between the quantity of lard enveloping this whale and those we had hitherto dealt with. it was nearly double the thickness, besides being much richer in oil, which fairly dripped from it as we hoisted in the blanket-pieces. the upper jaw was removed for its long plates of whalebone or baleen--that valuable substance which alone makes it worth while nowadays to go after the mysticetus, the price obtained for the oil being so low as to make it not worth while to fit out ships to go in search of it alone. "trying-out" the blubber, with its accompaniments, is carried on precisely as with the sperm whale. the resultant oil, when recent, is of a clear white, unlike the golden-tinted fluid obtained from the cachalot. as it grows stale it developes a nauseous smell, which sperm does not, although the odour of the oil is otto of roses compared with the horrible mass of putridity landed from the tanks of a greenland whaler at the termination of a cruise. for in those vessels, the fishing-time at their disposal being so brief, they do not wait to boil down the blubber, but, chopping it into small pieces, pass it below as it is into tanks, to be rendered down by the oil-mills ashore on the ship's return. this first bowhead yielded us eighteen tuns of oil and a ton of baleen, which made the catch about equal in value to that of a seven-tun cachalot. but the amount of labour and care necessary in order to thoroughly dry and cleanse the baleen was enormous; in fact, for months after we began the bowhead fishery there was almost always something being done with the wretched stuff--drying, scraping, etc.--which, as it was kept below, also necessitated hoisting it up on deck and getting it down again. after this beginning, it was again a considerable time before we sighted any more; but when we did, there were quite a number of them--enough to employ all the boats with one each. i was out of the fun this time, being almost incapable of moving by reason of several boils on my legs--the result, i suppose, of a long abstinence from fresh vegetables, or anything to supply their place. as it happened, however, i lost no excitement by remaining on board; for while all the boats were away a large bowhead rose near the ship, evidently being harassed in some way by enemies, which i could not at first see. he seemed quite unconscious of his proximity to the ship, though, and at last came so near that the whole performance was as visible as if it had been got up for my benefit. three "killers" were attacking him at once, like wolves worrying a bull, except that his motions were far less lively than those of any bull would have been. the "killer," or orca gladiator, is a true whale, but, like the cachalot, has teeth. he differs from that great cetacean, though, in a most important particular; i.e. by having a complete set in both upper and lower jaws, like any other carnivore. for a carnivore indeed is he, the very wolf of the ocean, and enjoying, by reason of his extraordinary agility as well as comparative worthlessness commercially, complete immunity from attack by man. by some authorities he is thought to be identical with the grampus, but whalers all consider the animals quite distinct. not having had very long acquaintance with them both, i cannot speak emphatically upon this difference of opinion; so far as personal observation goes, i agree with the whalers in believing that there is much variation both of habits and shape between them. but to return to the fight. the first inkling i got of what was really going on was the leaping of a killer high into the air by the side of the whale, and descending upon the victim's broad, smooth back with a resounding crash. i saw that the killer was provided with a pair of huge fins--one on his back, the other on his belly--which at first sight looked as if they were also weapons of offence. a little observation convinced me that they were fins only. again and again the aggressor leaped into the air, falling each time on the whale's back, as if to beat him into submission. the sea around foamed and boiled like a cauldron, so that it was only occasional glimpses i was able to catch of the two killers, until presently the worried whale lifted his head clear out of the surrounding smother, revealing the two furies hanging--one on either side--to his lips, as if endeavouring to drag his mouth open--which i afterwards saw was their principal object, as whenever during the tumult i caught sight of them, they were still in the same position. at last the tremendous and incessant blows, dealt by the most active member of the trio, seemed actually to have exhausted the immense vitality of the great bowhead, for he lay supine upon the surface. then the three joined their forces, and succeeded in dragging open his cavernous mouth, into which they freely entered, devouring his tongue. this, then, had been their sole object, for as soon as they had finished their barbarous feast they departed, leaving him helpless and dying to fall an easy prey to our returning boats. thus, although the four whales captured by the boats had been but small, the day's take, augmented by so great a find, was a large one, and it was a long time before we got clear of the work it entailed. from that time forward we saw no whales for six weeks, and, from the reports we received from two whalers we "gammed," it appeared that we might consider ourselves most fortunate in our catch, since they, who had been longer on the ground than ourselves, had only one whale apiece. in consequence of this information, captain slocum decided to go south again, and resume the sperm whaling in the north pacific, near the line--at least so the rumour ran; but as we never heard anything definitely, we could not feel at all certain of our next destination. ever since the fracas at the bonins between goliath and his watch, the relations between captain slocum and the big negro had been very strained. even before the outbreak, as i have remarked upon one occasion, it was noticeable that little love was lost between them. why this was so, without anything definite to guide one's reasoning, was difficult to understand, for a better seaman or a smarter whaleman than mistah jones did not live--of that every one was quite sure. still, there was no gainsaying the fact that, churlish and morose as our skipper's normal temper always was, he was never so much so as in his behaviour towards his able fourth mate, who, being a man of fine, sensitive temper, chafed under his unmerited treatment so much as to lose flesh, becoming daily more silent, nervous, and depressed. still, there had never been an open rupture, nor did it appear as if there would be, so great was the power captain slocum possessed over the will of everybody on board. one night, however, as we were nearing the kuriles again, on our way south, leaving the sea of okhotsk, i was sitting on the fore side of the try-works alone, meditating upon what i would do when once i got clear of this miserable business. futile and foolish, no doubt, my speculations were, but only in this way could i forget for a while my surroundings, since the inestimable comfort of reading was denied me. i had been sitting thus absorbed in thought for nearly an hour, when goliath came and seated himself by my side. we had always been great friends, although, owing to the strict discipline maintained on board, it was not often we got a chance for a "wee bit crack," as the scotch say. besides, i was not in his watch, and even now he should rightly have been below. he sat for a minute or two silent; then, as if compelled to speak, he began in low, fierce whispers to tell me of his miserable state of mind. at last, after recapitulating many slights and insults he had received silently from the captain, of which i had previously known nothing, he became strangely calm. in tones quite unlike his usual voice, he said that he was not an american-born negro, but a pure african, who had been enslaved in his infancy, with his mother, somewhere in the "hinterland" of guinea. while still a child, his mother escaped with him into liberia, a where he had remained till her death, she was, according to him, an obeah woman of great power, venerated exceedingly by her own people for her prophetic abilities. before her death, she had told him that he would die suddenly, violently, in a struggle with a white man in a far-off country, but that the white man would die too by his hand. she had also told him that he would be a great traveller and hunter upon the sea. as he went on, his speech became almost unintelligible, being mingled with fragments of a language i had never heard before; moreover, he spoke as a man who is only half awake. a strange terror got hold of me, for i began to think he was going mad, and perhaps about to run a-mok, as the malays do when driven frantic by the infliction of real or fancied wrongs. but he gradually returned to his old self, to my great relief, and i ventured somewhat timidly to remind him of the esteem in which he was held by all hands; even the skipper, i ventured to say, respected him, although, from some detestable form of ill-humour, he had chosen to be so sneering and insulting towards him. he shook his head sadly, and said, "my dear boy, youse de only man aboard dis ship--wite man, dat is--dat don't hate an' despise me becawse ob my colour, wich i cain't he'p; an' de god you beliebe in bless you fer dat. as fer me, w'at i done tole you's true,'n befo' bery little w'ile you see it come true. 'n w'en dat happens w'at's gwine ter happen, i'se real glad to tink it gwine ter be better fer you--gwine ter be better fer eberybody 'bord de cach'lot; but i doan keer nuffin 'bout anybody else. so long." he held out his great black hand, and shook mine heartily, while a big tear rolled down his face and fell on the deck. and with that he left me a prey to a very whirlpool of conflicting thoughts and fears. the night was a long and weary one--longer and drearier perhaps because of the absence of the darkness, which always made it harder to sleep. an incessant day soon becomes, to those accustomed to the relief of the night, a burden grievous to be borne; and although use can reconcile us to most things, and does make even the persistent light bearable, in times of mental distress or great physical weariness one feels irresistibly moved to cry earnestly, "come, gentle night." when i came on deck at eight bells, it was a stark calm. the watch, under mistah jones' direction, were busy scrubbing decks with the usual thoroughness, while the captain, bare-footed, with trouser-legs and shirt-sleeves rolled up, his hands on his hips and a portentous frown on his brow, was closely looking on. as it was my spell at the crow's-nest, i made at once for the main-rigging, and had got halfway to the top, when some unusual sounds below arrested me. all hands were gathered in the waist, a not unusual thing at the changing of the watch. in the midst of them, as i looked down, two men came together in a fierce struggle. they were goliath and the skipper. captain slocum's right hand went naturally to his hip pocket, where he always carried a revolver; but before he could draw it, the long, black arms of his adversary wrapped around him, making him helpless as a babe. then, with a rush that sent every one flying out of his way, goliath hurled himself at the bulwarks, which were low, the top of the rail about thirty-three inches from the deck. the two bodies struck the rail with a heavy thud, instantly toppling overboard. that broke the spell that bound everybody, so that there was an instantaneous rush to the side. only a hardly noticeable ripple remained on the surface of the placid sea. but, from my lofty perch, the whole of the ghastly struggle had been visible to the least detail. the two men had struck the water locked in closest embrace, which relaxed not even when far below the surface. when the sea is perfectly smooth, objects are visible from aloft at several feet depth, though apparently diminished in size. the last thing i saw was captain slocum's white face, with its starting black eyes looking their last upon the huge, indefinite hull of the ship whose occupants he had ruled so long and rigidly. the whole tragedy occupied such a brief moment of time that it was almost impossible to realize that it was actual. reason, however, soon regained her position among the officers, who ordered the closest watch to be kept from aloft, in case of the rising of either or both of the men. a couple of boats were swung, ready to drop on the instant. but, as if to crown the tragedy with completeness, a heavy squall, which had risen unnoticed, suddenly burst upon the ship with great fury, the lashing hail and rain utterly obscuring vision even for a few yards. so unexpected was the onset of this squall that, for the only time that voyage, we lost some canvas through not being able to get it in quick enough. the topgallant halyards were let go; but while the sails were being clewed up, the fierce wind following the rain caught them from their confining gear, rending them into a thousand shreds. for an hour the squall raged--a tempest in brief--then swept away to the south-east on its furious journey, leaving peace again. needless perhaps to say, that after such a squall it was hopeless to look for our missing ones. the sudden storm had certainly driven us several miles away front the spot where they disappeared, and, although we carefully made what haste was possible back along the line we were supposed to have come, not a vestige of hope was in any one's mind that we should ever see them again. nor did we. whether that madness, which i had feared was coming upon goliath during our previous night's conversation, suddenly overpowered him and impelled him to commit the horrible deed, what more had passed between him and the skipper to even faintly justify so awful a retaliation--these things were now matters of purest speculation. as if they had never been, the two men were blotted out--gone before god in full-blown heat of murder and revengeful fury. on the same evening mr. count mustered all hands on the quarter-deck, and addressed us thus: "men, captain slocum is dead, and, as a consequence, i command the ship. behave yourself like men, not presuming upon kindness or imagining that i am a weak, vacillating old man with whom you can do as you like, and you will find in me a skipper who will do his duty by you as far as lies in his power, nor expect more from you than you ought to render. if, however, you do try any tricks, remember that i am an old hand, equal to most of the games that men get up to. i do want--if you will help me--to make this a comfortable as well as a successful ship. i hope with all my heart we shall succeed." in answer to this manly and affecting little speech, which confirmed my previous estimate of captain count's character, were he but free to follow the bent of his natural, kindly inclinations, and which i have endeavoured to translate out of his usual dialect, a hearty cheer was raised by all hands, the first ebullition of general good feeling manifested throughout the voyage. hearts rose joyfully at the prospect of comfort to be gained by thoughtfulness on the part of the commander; nor from that time forward did any sign of weariness of the ship or voyage show itself among us, either on deck or below. the news soon spread among us that, in consequence of the various losses of boats and gear, the captain deemed it necessary to make for honolulu, where fresh supplies could readily be obtained. we had heard many glowing accounts from visitors, when "gamming," of the delights of this well-known port of call for whalers, and under our new commander we had little doubt that we should be allowed considerable liberty during our stay. so we were quite impatient to get along fretting considerably at the persistent fogs which prevented our making much progress while in the vicinity of the kuriles. but we saw no more bowheads, for which none of us forward were at all sorry. we had got very tired of the stink of their blubber, and the never-ending worry connected with the preservation of the baleen; besides, we had not yet accumulated any fund of enthusiasm about getting a full ship, except as a reason for shortening the voyage, and we quite understood that what black oil we had got would be landed at hawaii, so that our visit to the okhotsk sea, with its resultant store of oil, had not really brought our return home any nearer, as we at first hoped it would. a great surprise was in store for me. i knew that captain count was favourably inclined towards me, for he had himself told me so, but nothing was further from my thoughts than promotion. however, one sunday afternoon, when we were all peacefully enjoying the unusual rest (we had no sundays in captain slocum's time), the captain sent for me. he informed me that, after mature consideration, he had chosen me to fill the vacancy made by the death of mistah jones. mr. cruce was now mate; the waspish little third had become second; louis silva, the captain's favourite harpooner was third; and i was to be fourth. not feeling at all sure of how the other harpooners would take my stepping over their heads, i respectfully demurred to the compliment offered me, stating my reasons. but the captain said he had fully made up his mind, after consultation with the other officers, and that i need have no apprehension on the score of the harpooners' jealousy; that they had been spoken to on the subject, and they were all agreed that the captain's choice was the best, especially as none of them knew anything of navigation, or could write their own names. in consequence of there being none of the crew fit to take a harpooner's place, i was now really harpooner of the captain's boat, which he would continue to work, when necessary, until we were able to ship a harpooner, which he hoped to do at hawaii. the news of my promotion was received in grim silence by the portuguese forward, but the white men all seemed pleased. this was highly gratifying to me, for i had tried my best to be helpful to all, as far as my limited abilities would let me; nor do i think i had an enemy in the ship. behold me, then, a full-blown "mister," with a definite substantial increase in my prospects of pay of nearly one-third, in addition to many other advantages, which, under the new captain, promised exceedingly well. more than half the voyage lay behind us, looking like the fast-settling bank of storm-clouds hovering above the tempest-tossed sea so lately passed, while ahead the bright horizon was full of promise of fine weather for the remainder of the journey. chapter xvii. visit to honolulu right glad were we all when, after much fumbling and box-hauling about, we once more felt the long, familiar roll of the pacific swell, and saw the dim fastnesses of the smoky islands fading into the lowering gloom astern. most deep-water sailors are familiar, by report if not by actual contact, with the beauties of the pacific islands, and i had often longed to visit them to see for myself whether the half that had been told me was true. of course, to a great number of seafaring men, the loveliness of those regions counts for nothing, their desirability being founded upon the frequent opportunities of unlimited indulgence in debauchery. to such men, a "missionary" island is a howling wilderness, and the missionaries themselves the subjects of the vilest abuse as well as the most boundless lying. no one who has travelled with his eyes open would assert that all missionaries were wise, prudent, or even godly men; while it is a great deal to be regretted that so much is made of hardships which in a large proportion of cases do not exist, the men who are supposed to be enduring them being immensely better off and more comfortable than they would ever have been at home. undoubtedly the pioneers of missionary enterprise had, almost without exception, to face dangers and miseries past telling, but that is the portion of pioneers in general. in these days, however, the missionary's lot in polynesia is not often a hard one, and in many cases it is infinitely to be preferred to a life among the very poor of our great cities. but when all has been said that can be said against the missionaries, the solid bastion of fact remains that, in consequence of their labours, the whole vile character of the populations of the pacific has been changed, and where wickedness runs riot to-day, it is due largely to the hindrances placed in the way of the noble efforts of the missionaries by the unmitigated scoundrels who vilify them. the task of spreading christianity would not, after all, be so difficult were it not for the efforts of those apostles of the devil to keep the islands as they would like them to be--places where lust runs riot day and night, murder may be done with impunity, slavery flourishes, and all evil may be indulged in free from law, order, or restraint. it speaks volumes for the inherent might of the gospel that, in spite of the object-lessons continually provided for the natives by white men of the negation of all good, that it has stricken its roots so deeply into the soil of the pacific islands. just as the best proof of the reality of the gospel here in england is that it survives the incessant assaults upon it from within by its professors, by those who are paid, and highly paid, to propagate it, by the side of whose deadly doings the efforts of so-called infidels are but as the battery of a summer breeze; so in polynesia, were not the principles of christianity vital with an immortal and divine life, missionary efforts might long ago have ceased in utter despair at the fruitlessness of the field. we were enjoying a most uneventful passage, free from any serious changes either of wind or weather which quiet time was utilised to the utmost in making many much-needed additions to the running-gear, repairing rigging, etc. any work involving the use of new material had been put off from time to time during the previous part of the voyage till the ship aloft was really in a dangerous condition. this was due entirely to the peculiar parsimony of our late skipper, who could scarcely bring himself to broach a coil of rope, except for whaling purposes. the same false economy had prevailed with regard to paint and varnish, so that the vessel, while spotlessly clean, presented a worn-out weather-beaten appearance. now, while the condition of life on board was totally different to what it had been, as regards comfort and peace, discipline and order were maintained at the same high level as always, though by a different method--in fact, i believe that a great deal more work was actually done, certainly much more that was useful and productive; for captain count hated, as much as any foremast hand among us, the constant, remorseless grind of iron-work polishing, paint-work scrubbing, and holystoning, all of which, though necessary in a certain degree, when kept up continually for the sole purpose of making work--a sort of elaborated tread-mill, in fact--becomes the refinement of cruelty to underfed, unpaid, and hopeless men. so, while the cachalot could have fearlessly challenged comparison with any ship afloat for cleanliness and neatness of appearance, the hands no longer felt that they were continually being "worked up" or "hazed" for the sole, diabolical satisfaction of keeping them "at it." of course, the incidence of the work was divided, since so many of the crew were quite unable to do any sailorizing, as we term work in sails and rigging. upon them, then, fell all the common labour, which can be done by any unskilled man or woman afloat or ashore. of this work a sailor's duties are largely made up, but when good people ashore wonder "whatever sailors do with their time," it would be useful for them to remember that a ship is a huge and complicated machine, needing constant repairs, which can only be efficiently performed by skilled workmen. an "a.b." or able seaman's duties are legally supposed to be defined by the three expressions, "hand, reef, and steer." if he can do those three things, which mean furling or making fast sails, reefing them, and steering the ship, his wages cannot be reduced for incompetency. yet these things are the a b c of seamanship only. a good seaman is able to make all the various knots, splices, and other arrangements in hempen or wire rope, without which a ship cannot be rigged; he can make a sail, send up or down yards and masts, and do many other things, the sum total of which need several years of steady application to learn, although a good seaman is ever learning. such seamen are fast becoming extinct. they are almost totally unnecessary in steamships, except when the engines break down in a gale of wind, and the crowd of navvies forming the crew stand looking at one another when called upon to set sail or do any other job aloft. then the want of seamen is rather severely felt. but even in sailing ships--the great, overgrown tanks of two thousand tons and upwards--mechanical genius has utilized iron to such an extent in their rigging that sailor-work has become very largely a matter of blacksmithing. i make no complaint of this, not believing that the "old was better;" but, since the strongest fabric of man's invention comes to grief sometimes in conflict with the irresistible sea, some provision should be made for having a sufficiency of seamen who could exercise their skill in refitting a dismasted ship, or temporarily replacing broken blacksmith work by old-fashioned rope and wood. but, as the sailing ship is doomed inevitably to disappear before steam, perhaps it does not matter much. the economic march of the world's progress will never be stayed by sentimental considerations, nor will all the romance and poetry in the world save the seaman from extinction, if his place can be more profitably filled by the engineer. from all appearances, it soon will be, for even now marine superintendents of big lines are sometimes engineers, and in their hands lie the duty of engaging the officers. it would really seem as if the ship of the near future would be governed by the chief engineer, under whose direction a pilot or sailing-master would do the necessary navigation, without power to interfere in any matter of the ship's economy. changes as great have taken place in other professions; seafaring cannot hope to be the sole exception. so, edging comfortably along, we gradually neared the sandwich islands without having seen a single spout worth watching since the tragedy. at last the lofty summits of the island mountains hove in sight, and presently we came to an anchor in that paradise of whalers, missionaries, and amateur statesmen--honolulu. as it is as well known to most reading people as our own ports--better perhaps--i shall not attempt to describe it, or pit myself against the able writers who have made it so familiar. yet to me it was a new world. all things were so strange, so delightful, especially the lovable, lazy, fascinating kanakas, who could be so limply happy over a dish of poi, or a green cocoa-nut, or even a lounge in the sun, that it seemed an outrage to expect them to work. in their sports they could be energetic enough. i do not know of any more delightful sight than to watch them bathing in the tremendous surf, simply intoxicated with the joy of living, as unconscious of danger as if swinging in a hammock while riding triumphantly upon the foaming summit of an incoming breaker twenty feet high, or plunging with a cataract over the dizzy edge of its cliff, swallowed up in the hissing vortex below, only to reappear with a scream of riotous laughter in the quiet eddy beyond. as far as i could judge, they were the happiest of people, literally taking no thought for the morrow, and content with the barest necessaries of life, so long as they were free and the sun shone brightly. we had many opportunities of cultivating their acquaintance, for the captain allowed us much liberty, quite one-half of the crew and officers being ashore most of the time. of course, the majority spent all their spare time in the purlieus of the town, which, like all such places anywhere, were foul and filthy enough; but that was their own faults. i have often wondered much to see men, who on board ship were the pink of cleanliness and neatness, fastidious to a fault in all they did, come ashore and huddle in the most horrible of kennels, among the very dregs and greaves of the 'long-shore district. it certainly wants a great deal of explanation; but i suppose the most potent reason is, that sailors, as a class, never learn to enjoy themselves rationally. they are also morbidly suspicions of being taken in hand by anybody who would show them anything worth seeing, preferring to be led by the human sharks that infest all seaports into ways of strange nastiness, and so expensive withal that one night of such wallowing often costs them more than a month's sane recreation and good food would. all honour to the devoted men and women who labour in our seaports for the moral and material benefit of the sailor, passing their lives amidst sights and sounds shocking and sickening to the last degree, reviled, unthanked, unpaid. few are the missionaries abroad whose lot is so hard as theirs. we spent ten happy days in honolulu, marred only by one or two drunken rows among the chaps forward, which, however, resulted in their getting a severe dressing down in the forecastle, where good order was now kept. there had been no need for interference on the part of the officers, which i was glad to see, remembering what would have happened under such circumstances not long ago. being short-handed, the captain engaged a number of friendly islanders for a limited period, on the understanding that they were to be discharged at their native place, vau vau. there were ten of them, fine stalwart fellows, able bodied and willing as possible. they were cleanly in their habits, and devout members of the wesleyan body, so that their behaviour was quite a reproach to some of our half-civilized crew. berths were found for them in the forecastle, and they took their places among us quite naturally, being fairly well used to a whale-ship. chapter xviii. on the "line" grounds we weighed at last, one morning, with a beautiful breeze, and, bidding a long farewell to the lovely isles and their amiable inhabitants, stood at sea, bound for the "line" or equatorial grounds on our legitimate business of sperm whaling. it was now a long while since we had been in contact with a cachalot, the last one having been killed by us on the coast of japan some six months before. but we all looked forward to the coming campaign with considerable joy, for we were now a happy family, interested in the work, and, best of all, even if the time was still distant, we were, in a sense, homeward bound. at any rate, we all chose so to think, from the circumstance that we were now working to the southward, towards cape horn, the rounding of which dreaded point would mark the final stage of our globe-encircling voyage. we had, during our stay at honolulu, obtained a couple of grand boats in addition to our stock, and were now in a position to man and lower five at once, if occasion should arise, still leaving sufficient crew on board to work the vessel. the captain had also engaged an elderly seaman of his acquaintance--out of pure philanthropy, as we all thought, since he was in a state of semi-starvation ashore--to act as a kind of sailing-master, so as to relieve the captain of ship duty at whaling time, allowing him still to head his boat. this was not altogether welcome news to me, for, much as i liked the old man and admired his pluck, i could not help dreading his utter recklessness when on a whale, which had so often led to a smash-up that might have been easily avoided. moreover, i reasoned that if he had been foolhardy before, he was likely to be much more so now, having no superior to look black or use language when a disaster occurred. for now i was his harpooner, bound to take as many risks as he chose to incur, and anxious also to earn a reputation among the more seasoned whalemen for smartness sufficient to justify my promotion. the kanakas shipped at honolulu were distributed among the boats, two to each, being already trained whalemen, and a fine lot of fellows they were. my two--samuela and polly--were not very big men, but sturdy, nimble as cats, as much at home in the water as on deck, and simply bubbling over with fun and good-humour. from my earliest sea-going, i have always had a strong liking for natives of tropical countries, finding them affectionate and amenable to kindness. why, i think, white men do not get on with darkies well, as a rule, is, that they seldom make an appeal to the man, in them. it is very degrading to find one's self looked down upon as a sort of animal without reason or feelings; and if you degrade a man, you deprive him of any incentive to make himself useful, except the brute one you may feel bound to apply yourself. my experience has been limited to africans (of sorts), kanakas, natives of hindostan, malagasy, and chinese; but with all these i have found a little comaraderie answer excellently. true, they are lazy; but what inducement have they to work? the complicated needs of our civilized existence compel us to work, or be run over by the unresting machine; but i take leave to doubt whether any of us with a primitive environment would not be as lazy as any kanaka that ever dozed under a banana tree through daylight hours. why, then, make an exalted virtue of the necessity which drives us, and objurgate the poor black man because he prefers present ease to a doubtful prospective retirement on a competency? australian blackfellows and malays are said to be impervious to kind treatment by a great number of witnesses, the former appearing incapable of gratitude, and the latter unable to resist the frequent temptation to kill somebody. not knowing anything personally of either of these races, i can say nothing for or against them. all the coloured individuals that i have had to do with have amply repaid any little kindness shown them with fidelity and affection, but especially has this been the case with kanakas, the soft and melodious language spoken by them is easy to acquire, and is so pleasant to speak that it is well worth learning, to say nothing of the convenience to yourself, although the kanaka speedily picks up the mutilated jargon which does duty for english on board ship. what i specially longed for now was a harpooner, or even two, so that i might have my boat to myself, the captain taking his own boat with a settled harpooner. samuela, the biggest of my two kanakas, very earnestly informed me that he was no end of a "number one" whale slaughterer; but i judged it best to see how things went before asking to have him promoted. my chance, and his, came very promptly; so nicely arranged, too, that i could not have wished for anything better. the skipper had got a fine, healthy boil on one knee-cap, and another on his wrist, so that he was, as you may say, hors de combat. while he was impatiently waiting to get about once more, sperm whales were raised. although nearly frantic with annoyance, he was compelled to leave the direction of things to mr. cruce, who was quite puffed up with the importance of his opportunity. such a nice little school of cow-whales, a lovely breeze, clear sky, warm weather--i felt as gay as a lark at the prospect. as we were reaching to windward, with all boats ready for lowering, the skipper called me aft and said, "naow, mr. bullen, i cain't lower, because of this condemned leg'n arm of mine; but how'r yew goin' ter manage 'thout a harpooneer?" i suggested that if he would allow me to try samuela, who was suffering for a chance to distinguish himself, we would "come out on top." "all right," he said; "but let the other boats get fast first, 'n doan be in too much of a hurry to tie yerself up till ya see what's doin'. if everythin's goin' bizness-fashion', 'n yew git a chance, sail right in; yew got ter begin some time. but ef thet kanaka looks skeered goin' on, take the iron frum him ter onct." i promised, and the interview ended. when i told samuela, of his chance, he was beside himself with joy. as to his being scared, the idea was manifestly absurd. he was as pleased with the prospect as it was possible for a man to be, and hardly able to contain himself for impatience to be off. i almost envied him his exuberant delight, for a sense of responsibility began to weigh upon me with somewhat depressing effect. we gained a good weather-gage, rounded to, and lowered four boats. getting away in good style, we had barely got the sails up, when something gallied the school. we saw or heard nothing to account for it, but undoubtedly the "fish" were off at top speed dead to windward, so that our sails were of no use. we had them in with as little delay as possible, and lay to our oars for all we were worth, being fresh and strong, as well as anxious to get amongst them. but i fancy all our efforts would have availed us little had it not been for the experience of mr. cruce, whose eager eye detected the fact that the fish were running on a great curve, and shaped our course to cut them off along a chord of the arc. two and a half hours of energetic work was required of us before we got on terms with the fleeing monsters; but at last, to our great joy, they broke water from sounding right among us. it was a considerable surprise, but we were all ready, and before they had spouted twice, three boats were fast, only myself keeping out, in accordance with my instructions. samuela was almost distraught with rage and grief at the condition of things. i quite pitied him, although i was anything but pleased myself. however, when i ranged up alongside the mate's fish, to render what assistance was needed, he shouted to me, "we's all right; go'n git fas', if yew kin." that was enough, and away we flew after a retreating spout to leeward. before we got there, though, there was an upheaval in the water just ahead, and up came a back like a keelless ship bottom up. out came the head belonging to it, and a spout like an explosion burst forth, denoting the presence of an enormous bull-cachalot. close by his side was a cow of about one-third his size, the favoured sultana of his harem, i suppose. prudence whispered, "go for the cow;" ambition hissed, "all or none--the bull, the bull." fortunately emergencies of this kind leave one but a second or two to decide, as a rule; in this case, as it happened, i was spared even that mental conflict, for as we ran up between the two vast creatures, samuela, never even looking at the cow, hurled his harpoon, with all the energy that he had been bursting with so long, at the mighty bull. i watched its flight--saw it enter the black mass and disappear to the shaft, and almost immediately came the second iron, within a foot of the first, burying itself in the same solid fashion. "starn--starn all!" i shouted; and we backed slowly away, considerably hampered by the persistent attentions of the cow, who hung round us closely. the temptation to lance her was certainly great, but i remembered the fate that had overtaken the skipper on the first occasion we struck whales, and did not meddle with her ladyship. our prey was not apparently disposed to kick up much fuss at first, so, anxious to settle matters, i changed ends with samuela, and pulled in on the whale. a good, steady lance-thrust--the first i had ever delivered--was obtained, sending a thrill of triumph through my whole body. the recipient, thoroughly roused by this, started off at a great lick, accompanied, somewhat to my surprise, by the cow. thenceforward for another hour, in spite of all our efforts, we could not get within striking distance, mainly because of the close attention of the cow, which stuck to her lord like a calf to its mother. i was getting so impatient of this hindrance, that it was all i could do to restrain myself from lancing the cow, though i felt convinced that, if i did, i should spoil a good job. suddenly i caught sight of the ship right ahead. we were still flying along, so that in a short time we were comparatively close to her. my heart beat high and i burned to distinguish myself under the friendly and appreciative eye of the skipper. none of the other boats were in sight, from our level at least, so that i had a reasonable hope of being able to finish my game, with all the glory thereunto attaching, unshared by any other of my fellow-officers. as we ran quite closely past the ship, calling on the crew to haul up for all they were worth, we managed actually to squeeze past the cow, and i got in a really deadly blow. the point of the lance entered just between the fin and the eye, but higher up, missing the broad plate of the shoulder-blade, and sinking its whole four feet over the hitches right down into the animal's vitals. then, for the first time, he threw up his flukes, thrashing them from side to side almost round to his head, and raising such a turmoil that we were half full of water in a moment. but samuela was so quick at the steer-oar, so lithe and forceful, and withal appeared so to anticipate every move of mine, that there seemed hardly any danger. after a few moments of this tremendous exertion, our victim settled down, leaving the water deeply stained with his gushing blood. with him disappeared his constant companion, the faithful cow, who had never left his side a minute since we first got fast. down, down they went, until my line began to look very low, and i was compelled to make signals to the ship for more. we had hardly elevated the oars, when down dropped the last boat with four men in her, arriving by my side in a few minutes with two fresh tubs of tow-line. we took them on board, and the boat returned again. by the time the slack came we had about four hundred and fifty fathoms out--a goodly heap to pile up loose in our stern-sheets. i felt sure, however, that we should have but little more trouble with our fish; in fact, i was half afraid that he would die before getting to the surface, in which case he might sink and be lost. we hauled steadily away, the line not coming in very easily, until i judged there was only about another hundred fathoms out. our amazement may be imagined, when suddenly we were compelled to sleek away again, the sudden weight on the line suggesting that the fish was again sounding. if ever a young hand was perplexed, it was i. never before had i heard of such unseemly behaviour, nor was my anxiety lessened when i saw, a short distance away, the huge body of my prize at the surface spouting blood. at the same time, i was paying out line at a good rate, as if i had a fast fish on which was sounding briskly. the skipper had been watching me very closely from his seat on the taffrail, and had kept the ship within easy distance. now, suspecting something out of the common, he sent the boat again to my assistance, in charge of the cooper. when that worthy arrived, he said, "th' ol' man reckens yew've got snarled erp'ith thet ar' loose keow, 'n y'r irons hev draw'd from th' other. i'm gwine ter wait on him,'n get him 'longside 'soon's he's out'er his flurry. ole man sez yew'd best wait on what's fast t' yer an' nev' mine th' other." away he went, reaching my prize just as the last feeble spout exhaled, leaving the dregs of that great flood of life trickling lazily down from the widely expanded spiracle. to drive a harpoon into the carcass, and run the line on board, was the simplest of jobs, for, as the captain had foreseen, my irons were drawn clean. i had no leisure to take any notice of them now, though, for whatever was on my line was coming up hand-over-fist. with a bound it reached the surface--the identical cow so long attendant upon the dead whale. having been so long below for such a small whale, she was quite exhausted, and before she had recovered we had got alongside of her and lanced her, so thoroughly that she died without a struggle. the ship was so close that we had her alongside in a wonderfully short time, and with scarcely any trouble. when i reached the deck, the skipper called me, and said several things that made me feel about six inches taller. he was, as may be thought, exceedingly pleased, saying that only once in his long career had he seen a similar case; for i forgot to mention that the line was entangled around the cow's down-hanging jaw, as if she had actually tried to bite in two the rope that held her consort, and only succeeded in sharing his fate. i would not like to say that whales do not try to thus sever a line, but, their teeth being several inches apart, conical, and fitting into sockets in the upper jaw instead of meeting the opposed surfaces of other teeth, the accomplishment of such a feat must, i think, be impossible. the ship being now as good as anchored by the vast mass of flesh hanging to her, there was a tremendous task awaiting us to get the other fish alongside. of course they were all to windward; they nearly always are, unless the ship is persistently "turned to windward" while the fishing is going on. whalers believe that they always work up into the wind while fast, and, when dead, it is certain that they drift at a pretty good rate right in the "wind's eye." this is accounted for by the play of the body, which naturally lies head to wind; and the wash of the flukes, which, acting somewhat like the "sculling" of an oar at the stern of a boat, propel the carcass in the direction it is pointing, consequently we had a cruel amount of towing to do before we got the three cows alongside. many a time we blessed ourselves that they were no bigger, for of all the clumsy things to tow with boats, a sperm whale is about the worst. owing to the great square mass of the head, they can hardly be towed head-on at all, the practice being to cut off the tips of the flukes, and tow them tail first. but even then it is slavery. to dip your oar about three times in the same hole from whence you withdrew it, to tug at it with all your might, apparently making as much progress as though you were fast to a dock-wall, and to continue this fun for four or five hours at a stretch, is to wonder indeed whether you have not mistaken your vocation. however, "it's dogged as does it," so by dint of sheer sticking to the oar, we eventually succeeded in getting all our prizes alongside before eight bells that evening, securing them around us by hawsers to the cows, but giving the big bull the post of honour alongside on the best fluke-chain. we were a busy company for a fortnight thence, until the last of the oil was run below--two hundred and fifty barrels, or twenty-five tuns, of the valuable fluid having rewarded our exertions. during these operations we had drifted night and day, apparently without anybody taking the slightest account of the direction we were taking; when, therefore, on the day after clearing up the last traces of our fishing, the cry of "land ho!" came ringing down from the crow's-nest, no one was surprised, although the part of the pacific in which we were cruising has but few patches of terra firma scattered about over its immense area when compared with the crowded archipelagoes lying farther south and east. we could not see the reported land from the deck for two hours after it was first seen from aloft, although the odd spectacle of a scattered group of cocoa-nut trees apparently growing out of the sea was for some time presented to us before the island itself came into view. it was christmas island, where the indefatigable captain cook landed on december , , for the purpose of making accurate observations of an eclipse of the sun. he it was who gave to this lonely atoll the name it has ever since borne, with characteristic modesty giving his own great name to a tiny patch of coral which almost blocks the entrance to the central lagoon. here we lay "off and on" for a couple of days, while foraging parties went ashore, returning at intervals with abundance of turtle and sea-fowls' eggs. but any detailed account of their proceedings must be ruthlessly curtailed, owing to the scanty limits of space remaining. chapter xix. edging southward the line whaling grounds embrace an exceedingly extensive area, over the whole of which sperm whales may be found, generally of medium size. no means of estimating the probable plenty or scarcity of them in any given part of the grounds exist, so that falling in with them is purely a matter of coincidence. to me it seems a conclusive proof of the enormous numbers of sperm whales frequenting certain large breadths of ocean, that they should be so often fallen in with, remembering what a little spot is represented by a day's cruise, and that the signs which denote almost infallibly the vicinity of right whales are entirely absent in the case of the cachalot. in the narrow waters of the greenland seas, with quite a small number of vessels seeking, it is hardly possible for a whale of any size to escape being seen; but in the open ocean a goodly fleet may cruise over a space of a hundred thousand square miles without meeting any of the whales that may yet be there in large numbers. so that when one hears talk of the extinction of the cachalot, it is well to bear in mind that such a thing would take a long series of years to effect, even were the whaling business waxing instead of waning, while, however, south sea whaling is conducted on such old-world methods as still obtain; while steam, with all the power it gives of rapidly dealing with a catch, is not made use of, the art and mystery of the whale-fisher must continually decrease. no such valuable lubricant has ever been found as sperm oil; but the cost of its production, added to the precarious nature of the supply, so handicaps it in the competition with substitutes that it has been practically eliminated from the english markets, except in such greatly adulterated forms as to render it a lie to speak of the mixture as sperm oil at all. except to a few whose minds to them are kingdoms, and others who can hardly be said to have any minds at all, the long monotony of unsuccessful seeking for whales is very wearying. the ceaseless motion of the vessel rocking at the centre of a circular space of blue, with a perfectly symmetrical dome of azure enclosing her above, unflecked by a single cloud, becomes at last almost unbearable from its changeless sameness of environment. were it not for the trivial round and common task of everyday ship duty, some of the crew must become idiotic, or, in sheer rage at the want of interest in their lives, commit mutiny. such a weary time was ours for full four weeks after sighting christmas island. the fine haul we had obtained just previous to that day seemed to have exhausted our luck for the time being, for never a spout did we see. and it was with no ordinary delight that we hailed the advent of an immense school of black-fish, the first we had run across for a long time. determined to have a big catch, if possible, we lowered all five boats, as it was a beautifully calm day, and the ship might almost safely have been left to look after herself. after what we had recently been accustomed to, the game seemed trifling to get up much excitement over; but still, for a good day's sport, commend me to a few lively black-fish. in less than ten minutes we were in the thick of the crowd, with harpoons flying right and left. such a scene of wild confusion and uproarious merriment ensued as i never saw before in my life. the skipper, true to his traditions, got fast to four, all running different ways at once, and making the calm sea boil again with their frantic gyrations. each of the other boats got hold of three; but, the mate getting too near me, our fish got so inextricably tangled up that it was hopeless to try and distinguish between each other's prizes. however, when we got the lances to work among them, the hubbub calmed down greatly, and the big bodies one by one ceased their gambols, floating supine. so far, all had been gay; but the unlucky second mate must needs go and do a thing that spoiled a day's fun entirely. the line runs through a deep groove in the boat's stem, over a brass roller so fitted that when the line is running out it remains fixed, but when hauling in it revolves freely, assisting the work a great deal. the second mate had three fish fast, like the rest of us--the first one on the end of the main line, the other two on "short warps," or pieces of whale-line some eight or ten fathoms long fastened to harpoons, with the other ends running on the main line by means of bowlines round it. by some mistake or other he had allowed the two lines to be hauled together through the groove in his boat's stem, and before the error was noticed two fish spurted off in opposite directions, ripping the boat in two halves lengthways, like a dutchman splitting a salt herring. away went the fish with the whole of the line, nobody being able to get at it to cut; and, but for the presence of mind shown by the crew in striking out and away from the tangle, a most ghastly misfortune, involving the loss of several lives, must have occurred. as it was, the loss was considerable, almost outweighing the gain on the day's fishing, besides the inconvenience of having a boat useless on a whaling grounds. the accident was the fruit of gross carelessness, and should never have occurred; but then, strange to say, disasters to whale-boats are nearly always due to want of care, the percentage of unavoidable casualties being very small as compared with those like the one just related. when the highly dangerous nature of the work is remembered, this statement may seem somewhat overdrawn; but it has been so frequently corroborated by others, whose experience far outweighs my own, that i do not hesitate to make it with the fullest confidence in its truth. happily no lives were lost on this occasion, for it would have indeed been grievous to have seen our shipmates sacrificed to the manes of a mere black-fish, after successfully encountering so many mighty whales. the episode gave us a great deal of unnecessary work getting the two halves of the boat saved, in addition to securing our fish, so that by the time we got the twelve remaining carcasses hove on deck we were all quite fagged out. but under the new regime we were sure of a good rest, so that did not trouble us; it rather made the lounge on deck in the balmy evening air and the well-filled pipe of peace doubly sweet. our next day's work completed the skinning of the haul we had made, the last of the carcasses going overboard with a thunderous splash at four in the afternoon. the assemblage of sharks round the ship on this occasion was incredible for its number and the great size of the creatures. certainly no mariners see so many or such huge sharks as whalemen; but, in spite of all our previous experience, this day touched high-water mark. many of these fish were of a size undreamed of by the ordinary seafarer, some of them full thirty feet in length, more like whales than sharks. most of them were striped diagonally with bands of yellow, contrasting curiously with the dingy grey of their normal colour. from this marking is derived their popular name--"tiger sharks," not, as might be supposed, from their ferocity. that attribute cannot properly be applied to the squalus at all, which is one of the most timid fish afloat, and whose ill name, as far as regards blood-thirstiness, is quite undeserved. rapacious the shark certainly is; but what sea-fish is not? he is not at all particular as to his diet; but what sea-fish is? with such a great bulk of body, such enormous vitality and vigour to support, he must needs be ever eating; and since he is not constructed on swift enough lines to enable him to prey upon living fish, like most of his neighbours, he is perforce compelled to play the humble but useful part of a sea-scavenger. he eats man, as he eats anything else eatable because in the water man is easily caught, and not from natural depravity or an acquired taste begetting a decided preference for human flesh. all natives of shores infested by sharks despise him and his alleged man-eating propensities, knowing that a very feeble splashing will suffice to frighten him away even if ever so hungry. demerara river literally swarms with sharks, yet i have often seen a negro, clad only in a beaming smile, slip into its muddy waters, and, after a few sharp blows with his open hand upon the surface, calmly swim down to the bottom, clear a ship's anchor, or do whatever job was required, coming up again as leisurely as if in a swimming-bath. a similar disregard of the dangerous attributes awarded by popular consent to the shark may be witnessed everywhere among the people who know him best. the cruelties perpetrated upon sharks by seamen generally are the result of ignorance and superstition combined, the most infernal forces known to humanity. what would be said at home of such an act, if it could be witnessed among us, as the disembowelling of a tiger, say, and then letting him run in that horrible condition somewhere remote from the possibility of retaliating upon his torturers? yet that is hardly comparable with a similar atrocity performed upon a shark, because he will live hours to the tiger's minutes in such a condition. i once caught a shark nine feet long, which we hauled on board and killed by cutting off its head and tail. it died very speedily--for a shark--all muscular motion ceasing in less than fifteen minutes. it was my intention to prepare that useless and unornamental article so dear to sailors--a walking-stick made of a shark's backbone. but when i came to cut out the vertebra, i noticed a large scar, extending from one side to the other, right across the centre of the back. beneath it the backbone was thickened to treble its normal size, and perfectly rigid; in fact, it had become a mass of solid bone. at some time or other this shark had been harpooned so severely that, in wrenching himself free, he must have nearly torn his body in two halves, severing the spinal column completely. yet such a wound as that had been healed by natural process, the bone knit together again with many times the strength it had before--minus, of course, its flexibility--and i can testify from the experience of securing him that he could not possibly have been more vigorous than he was. a favourite practice used to be--i trust it is so no longer--to catch a shark, and, after driving a sharpened stake down through his upper jaw and out underneath the lower one, so that its upper portion pointed diagonally forward, to let him go again. the consequence of this cruelty would be that the fish was unable to open his mouth, or go in any direction without immediately coming to the surface. how long he might linger in such torture, one can only guess; but unless his fellows, finding him thus helpless, came along and kindly devoured him, no doubt he would exist in extreme agony for a very long time. two more small cows were all that rewarded our search during the next fortnight, and we began to feel serious doubts as to the success of our season upon the line grounds, after all. still, on the whole, our voyage up to the present had not been what might fairly be called unsuccessful, for we were not yet two years away from new bedford, while we had considerably more than two thousand barrels of oil on board--more, in fact, than two-thirds of a full cargo. but if a whale were caught every other day for six months, and then a month elapsed without any being seen, grumbling would be loud and frequent, all the previous success being forgotten in the present stagnation. perhaps it is not so different in other professions nearer home? christmas day drew near, beloved of englishmen all the world over, though thought little of by americans. the two previous ones spent on board the cachalot have been passed over without mention, absolutely no notice being taken of the season by any one on board, to all appearance. in english ships some attempt is always made to give the day somewhat of a festive character, and to maintain the national tradition of good-cheer and goodwill in whatever part of the world you may happen to be. for some reason or other, perhaps because of the great increase in comfort; we had all experienced lately, i felt the approach of the great christian anniversary very strongly; although, had i been in london, i should probably have spent it in lonely gloom, having no relatives or friends whom i might visit. but what of that? christmas is christmas; and, if we have no home, we think of the place where our home should be; and whether, as cynics sneer, dickens invented the english christmas or not, its observance has taken deep root among us. may its shadow never be less! on christmas morning i mounted to the crow's-nest at daybreak, and stood looking with never-failing awe at the daily marvel of the sunrise. often and often have i felt choking for words to express the tumult of thoughts aroused by this sublime spectacle. hanging there in cloudland, the tiny microcosm at one's feet forgotten, the grandeur of the celestial outlook is overwhelming. many and many a time i have bowed my head and wept in pure reverence at the majesty manifested around me while the glory of the dawn increased and brightened, till with one exultant bound the sun appeared. for some time i stood gazing straight ahead of me with eyes that saw not, filled with wonder and admiration. i must have been looking directly at the same spot for quite a quarter of an hour, when suddenly, as if i had but just opened my eyes, i saw the well-known bushy spout of a sperm whale. i raised the usual yell, which rang through the stillness discordantly, startling all hands out of their lethargy like bees out of a hive. after the usual preliminaries, we were all afloat with sails set, gliding slowly over the sleeping sea towards the unconscious objects of our attention. the captain did not lower this time, as there only appeared to be three fish, none of them seeming large. though at any distance it is extremely difficult to assess the size of whales, the spout being very misleading. sometimes a full-sized whale will show a small spout, while a twenty-barrel cow will exhale a volume of vapour extensive enough for two or three at once. now although, according to etiquette, i kept my position in the rear of my superior officers, i had fully determined in my own mind, being puffed up with previous success, to play second fiddle to no one, if i could help it, this time. samuela was decidedly of the same opinion; indeed, i believe he would have been delighted to tackle a whole school single-handed, while my crew were all willing and eager for the fight. we had a long, tedious journey before we came up with them, the wind being so light that even with the occasional assistance of the paddles our progress was wretchedly slow. when at last we did get into their water, and the mate's harpooner stood up to dart, his foot slipped, and down he came with a clatter enough to scare a cachalot twenty miles away. it gallied our friends effectually, sending them flying in different directions at the top of their speed. but being some distance astern of the other boats, one of the fish, in his headlong retreat, rose for a final blow some six or seven fathoms away, passing us in the opposite direction. his appearance was only momentary, yet in that moment samuela hurled his harpoon into the air, where it described a beautiful parabola, coming down upon the disappearing monster's back just as the sea was closing over it. oh, it was a splendid dart, worthy of the finest harpooner that ever lived! there was no time for congratulations, however, for we spun round as on a pivot, and away we went in the wake of that fellow at a great rate. i cast one look astern to see whether the others had struck, but could see nothing of them; we seemed to have sprung out of their ken in an instant. the speed of our friend was marvellous, but i comforted myself with the knowledge that these animals usually run in circles--sometimes, it is true, of enormous diameter, but seldom getting far away from their starting-point. but as the time went on, and we seemed to fly over the waves at undiminished speed, i began to think this whale might be the exception necessary to prove the rule, so i got out the compass and watched his course. due east, not a degree to north or south of it, straight as a bee to its hive. the ship was now far out of sight astern, but i knew that keen eyes had been watching our movements from the masthead, and that every effort possible would be made to keep the run of us. the speed of our whale was not only great, but unflagging. he was more like a machine than an animal capable of tiring; and though we did our level best, at the faintest symptom of slackening, to get up closer and lance him, it was for some time impossible. after, at a rough estimate, running in a direct easterly course for over two hours, he suddenly sounded, without having given us the ghost of a chance to "land him one where he lived." judging from his previous exertions, though, it was hardly possible he would be able to stay down long, or get very deep, as the strain upon these vast creatures at any depth is astonishingly exhausting. after a longer stay below than usual, when they have gone extra deep, they often arrive at the surface manifestly "done up" for a time. then, if the whaleman be active and daring, a few well-directed strokes may be got in which will promptly settle the business out of hand. now, when my whale sounded he was to all appearance as frightened a beast as one could wish--one who had run himself out endeavouring to get away from his enemies, and as a last resource had dived into the quietness below in the vain hope to get away. so i regarded him, making up my mind to wait on him with diligence upon his arrival, and not allow him to get breath before i had settled him. but when he did return, there was a mighty difference in him. he seemed as if he had been getting some tips on the subject from some school below where whales are trained to hunt men; for his first move was to come straight for me with a furious rush, carrying the war into the enemy's country with a vengeance. it must be remembered that i was but young, and a comparatively new hand at this sort of thing; so when i confess that i felt more than a little scared at this sudden change in the tactics of my opponent, i hope i shall be excused. remembering, however, that all our lives depended on keeping cool, i told myself that even if i was frightened i must not go all to pieces, but compel myself to think and act calmly, since i was responsible for others. if the animal had not been in so blind a fury, i am afraid my task would have been much harder; but he was mad, and his savage rushes were, though disquieting, unsystematic and clumsy. it was essential, however, that he should not be allowed to persist too long in his evil courses; for a whale learns with amazing rapidity, developing such cunning in an hour or two that all a man's smartness may be unable to cope with his newly acquired experience. happily, samuela was perfectly unmoved. like a machine, he obeyed every gesture, every look even, swinging the boat "off" or "on" the whale with such sweeping strokes of his mighty oar that she revolved as if on a pivot, and encouraging the other chaps with his cheerful cries and odd grimaces, so that the danger was hardly felt. during a momentary lull in the storm, i took the opportunity to load my bomb-gun, much as i disliked handling the thing, keeping my eye all the time on the water around where i expected to see mine enemy popping up murderously at any minute. just as i had expected, when he rose, it was very close, and on his back, with his jaw in the first biting position, looking ugly as a vision of death. finding us a little out of reach, he rolled right over towards us, presenting as he did so the great rotundity of his belly. we were not twenty feet away, and i snatched up the gun, levelled it, and fired the bomb point-blank into his bowels. then all was blank. i do not even remember the next moment. a rush of roaring waters, a fighting with fearful, desperate energy for air and life, all in a hurried, flurried phantasmagoria about which there was nothing clear except the primitive desire for life, life, life! nor do i know how long this struggle lasted, except that, in the nature of things, it could not have been very long. when i returned to a consciousness of external things, i was for some time perfectly still, looking at the sky, totally unable to realize what had happened or where i was. presently the smiling, pleasant face of samuela bent over me. meeting my gratified look of recognition, he set up a perfect yell of delight. "so glad, so glad you blonga life! no go davy jonesy dis time, hay?" i put my hand out to help myself to a sitting posture, and touched blubber. that startled me so that i sprung up as if shot. then i took in the situation at a glance. there were all my poor fellows with me, stranded upon the top of our late antagonist, but no sign of the boat to be seen. bewildered at the state of affairs, i looked appealingly from one to the other for an explanation. i got it from abner, who said, laconically, "when yew fired thet ole gun, i guess it mus' have bin loaded fer bear, fer ye jest tumbled clar head over heels backwards outen the boat. et that very same moment i suspicion the bomb busted in his belly, fer he went clean rampageous loony. he rolled right over an' over to'rds us, n' befo' we c'd rightly see wat wuz comin', we cu'dnt see anythin' 'tall; we wuz all grabbin' at nothin', some'rs underneath the whale. when i come to the top, i lit eout fer the fust thing i c'd see to lay holt of, which wuz old squarhead himself, deader 'n pork. i guess thet ar bomb o' yourn kinder upset his commissary department. anyway, i climed up onto him, 'n bime-by the rest ov us histed themselves alongside ov me. sam weller here; he cum last, towin' you 'long with him. i don'no whar he foun' ye, but ye was very near a goner, 'n's full o' pickle as ye c'd hold." i turned a grateful eye upon my dusky harpooner, who had saved my life, but was now apparently blissfully unconscious of having done anything meritorious. behold us, then, a half-drowned row of scarecrows perched, like some new species of dilapidated birds, upon the side of our late foe. the sun was not so furiously hot as usual, for masses of rain-laden nimbi were filling the sky, so that we were comparatively free from the awful roasting we might have expected: nor was our position as precarious for a while as would be thought. true, we had only one harpoon, with its still fast line, to hold on by; but the side of the whale was somehow hollowed, so that, in spite of the incessant movement imparted to the carcass by the swell, we sat fairly safe, with our feet in the said hollow. we discussed the situation in all its bearings, unable to extract more than the faintest gleam of hope from any aspect of the case. the only reasonable chance we had was, that the skipper had almost certainly taken our bearings, and would, we were sure, be anxiously seeking us on the course thus indicated. meanwhile, we were ravenously hungry and thirsty. samuela and polly set to work with their sheath-knives, and soon excavated a space in the blubber to enable them to reach the meat. then they cut off some good-sized junks, and divided it up. it was not half bad; and as we chewed on the tough black fibre, i could hardly help smiling as i thought how queer a christmas dinner we were having. but eating soon heightened our thirst, and our real sufferings then began. we could eat very little once the want of drink made itself felt. hardly two hours had elapsed, though, before one of the big-bellied clouds which bad been keeping the sun off us most considerately emptied out upon us a perfect torrent of rain. it filled the cavity in the whale's side in a twinkling; and though the water was greasy, stained with blood, and vilely flavoured, it was as welcome a drink as i have ever tasted. thus fed, and with our thirst slaked, we were able to take a more hopeful view of things while the prospect of our being found seemed much more probable than it had done before the rain fell. still, we had to endure our pillory for a long while yet. the sharks and birds began to worry us, especially the former, who in their eagerness to get a portion of the blubber, fought, writhed and tore at the carcass with tireless energy. once, one of the smaller ones actually came sliding up right into our hollow; but samuela and polly promptly dispatched him with a cut throat, sending him back to encourage the others. the present relieved us of most of their attentions for a short time at least, as they eagerly divided the remains of their late comrade among them. to while away the time we spun yarns--without much point, i am afraid; and sung songs, albeit we did not feel much like singing--till after a while our poor attempts at gaiety fizzled out like a damp match, leaving us silent and depressed. the sun, which had been hidden for some time, now came out again, his slanting beams revealing to us ominously the flight of time and the near approach of night. should darkness overtake us in our present position, we all felt that saving us would need the performance of a miracle; for in addition to the chances of the accumulated gases within the carcass bursting it asunder, the unceasing assault of the sharks made it highly doubtful whether they would not in a few hours more have devoured it piecemeal. already they had scooped out some deep furrows in the solid blubber, making it easier to get hold and tear off more, and their numbers were increasing so fast that the surrounding sea was fairly alive with them. lower and lower sank the sun, deeper and darker grew the gloom upon our faces, till suddenly samuela leaped to his feet in our midst, and emitted a yell so ear-piercing as to nearly deafen us. he saw the ship! before two minutes had passed we all saw her--god bless her!--coming down upon us like some angelic messenger. there were no fears among us that we should be overlooked. we knew full well how anxiously and keenly many pairs of eyes had been peering over the sea in search of us, and we felt perfectly sure they had sighted us long ago. on she came, gilded by the evening glow, till she seemed glorified, moving in a halo of celestial light, all her homeliness and clumsy build forgotten in what she then represented to us. never before or since has a ship looked like that, to me, nor can i ever forget the thankfulness, the delight, the reverence, with which i once more saw her approaching. straight down upon us she bore, rounding to within a cable's length, and dropping a boat simultaneously with her windward sweep. they had no whale--well for us they had not. in five minutes we were on board, while our late resting-place was being hauled alongside with great glee. the captain shook hands with me cordially, pooh-poohing the loss of the boat as an unavoidable incident of the trade, but expressing his heart-felt delight at getting us all back safe. the whale we had killed was ample compensation for the loss of several boats, though such was the vigour with which the sharks were going for him, that it was deemed advisable to cut in at once, working all night. we who had been rescued, however, were summarily ordered below by the skipper, and forbidden, on pain of his severe displeasure, to reappear until the following morning. this great privilege we gladly availed ourselves of, awaking at daylight quite well and fit, not a bit the worse for our queer experience of the previous day. the whale proved a great acquisition, for although not nearly so large as many we had caught, he was so amazingly rich in blubber that he actually yielded twelve and a half tuns of oil, in spite of the heavy toll taken of him by the hungry multitudes of sharks. in addition to the oil, we were fortunate enough to secure a lump of ambergris, dislodged perhaps by the explosion of my bomb in the animal's bowels. it was nearly black, wax-like to the touch, and weighed seven pounds and a half. at the current price, it would be worth about l , so that, taken altogether, the whale very nearly approached in value the largest one we had yet caught. i had almost omitted to state that incorporated with the substance of the ambergris were several of the horny cuttle-fish beaks, which, incapable of being digested, had become in some manner part of this peculiar product. chapter xx. "humpbacking" at vau vau another three weeks' cruising brought us to the end of the season on the line, which had certainly not answered all our expectations, although we had perceptibly increased the old barky's draught during our stay. whether from love of change or belief in the possibilities of a good haul, i can hardly say, but captain count decided to make the best of his way south, to the middle group of the "friendly" archipelago, known as vau vau, the other portions being called hapai and tongataboo respectively, for a season's "humpbacking." from all i could gather, we were likely to have a good time there, so i looked forward to the visit with a great deal of pleasurable anticipation. we were bound to make a call at vau vau, in any case, to discharge our kanakas shipped at honolulu, although i fervently hoped to be able to keep my brave harpooner samuela. so when i heard of our destination, i sounded him cautiously as to his wishes in the matter, finding that, while he was both pleased with and proud of his position on board, he was longing greatly for his own orange grove and the embraces of a certain tender "fafine" that he averred was there awaiting him. with such excellent reasons for his leaving us, i could but forbear to persuade him, sympathizing with him too deeply to wish him away from such joys as he described to me. so we bade farewell to the line grounds, and commenced another stretch to the south, another milestone, as it were, on the long road home. prosaic and uneventful to the last degree was our passage, the only incident worth recording being our "gamming" of the passamaquoddy, of martha's vineyard, south sea whaler; eighteen months out, with one thousand barrels of sperm oil on board. we felt quite veterans alongside of her crew, and our yarns laid over theirs to such an extent that they were quite disgusted at their lack of experience. some of them had known our late skipper, but none of them had a good word for him, the old maxim, "speak nothing but good of the dead," being most flagrantly set at nought. one of her crew was a whitechapelian, who had been roving about the world for a good many years. amongst other experiences, he had, after "jumping the bounty" two or three times, found himself a sergeant in the federal army before gettysburg. during that most bloody battle, he informed me that a "reb" drew a bead on him at about a dozen yards' distance, and fired, he said he felt just as if somebody had punched him in the chest, and knocked him flat on his back on top of a sharp stone--no pain at all, nor any further recollection of what had happened, until he found himself at the base, in hospital. when the surgeons came to examine him for the bullet, they found that it had struck the broad brass plate of his cross-belt fairly in the middle, penetrating it and shattering his breast bone. but after torturing him vilely with the probe, they were about to give up the search in despair, when he told them he felt a pain in his back. examining the spot indicated by him, they found a bullet just beneath the skin, which a touch with the knife allowed to tumble out. further examination revealed the strange fact that the bullet, after striking his breast-bone, had glanced aside and travelled round his body just beneath the skin, without doing him any further harm. in proof of his story, he showed me the two scars and the perforated buckle-plate. at another time, being in charge of a picket of germans, he and his command were captured by a party of confederates, who haled him before their colonel, a southern gentleman of the old school. in the course of his interrogation by the southern officer, he was asked where he hailed from. he replied, "london, england." "then," said the colonel, "how is it you find yourself fighting for these accursed yankees?" the cockney faltered out some feeble excuse or another, which his captor cut short by saying, "i've a great respect for the english, and consequently i'll let you go this time. but if ever i catch you again, you're gone up. as for those d-----d dutchmen, they'll be strung up inside of five minutes." and they were. so with yarn, song, and dance, the evening passed pleasantly away; while the two old hookers jogged amicably along side by side, like two market-horses whose drivers are having a friendly crack. along about midnight we exchanged crews again, and parted with many expressions of good-will--we to the southward, she to the eastward, for some particular preserve believed in by her commander. in process of time we made the land of vau vau, a picturesque, densely wooded, and in many places precipitous, group of islands, the approach being singularly free from dangers in the shape of partly hidden reefs. long and intricate were the passages we threaded, until we finally came to anchor in a lovely little bay perfectly sheltered from all winds. we moored, within a mile of a dazzling white beach, in twelve fathoms. a few native houses embowered in orange and cocoa-nut trees showed here and there, while the two horns of the bay were steep-to, and covered with verdure almost down to the water's edge. the anchor was hardly down before a perfect fleet of canoes flocked around us, all carrying the familiar balancing outrigger, without which those narrow dugouts cannot possibly keep upright. their occupants swarmed on board, laughing and playing like so many children, and with all sorts of winning gestures and tones besought our friendship. "you my flem?" was the one question which all asked; but what its import might be we could not guess for some time. by-and-by it appeared that when once you had agreed to accept a native for your "flem," or friend, he from henceforward felt in duty bound to attend to all your wants which it lay within his power to supply. this important preliminary settled, fruit and provisions of various kinds appeared as if by magic. huge baskets of luscious oranges, massive bunches of gold and green bananas, clusters of green cocoa-nuts, conch-shells full of chillies, fowls loudly protesting against their hard fate, gourds full of eggs, and a few vociferous swine--all came tumbling on board in richest profusion, and, strangest thing of all, not a copper was asked in return. i might have as truly said nothing was asked, since money must have been useless here. many women came alongside, but none climbed on board. surprised at this, i asked samuela the reason, as soon as i could disengage him for a few moments from the caresses of his friends. he informed me that the ladies' reluctance to favour us with their society was owing to their being in native dress, which it is punishable to appear in among white men, the punishment consisting of a rather heavy fine. even the men and boys, i noticed, before they ventured to climb on board, stayed a while to put on trousers, or what did duty for those useful articles of dress. at any rate, they were all clothed, not merely enwrapped with a fold or two of "tapa," the native bark-cloth, but made awkward and ugly by dilapidated shirts and pants. she was a busy ship for the rest of that day. the anchor down, sails furled and decks swept, the rest of the time was our own, and high jinks were the result. the islanders were amiability personified, merry as children, nor did i see or hear one quarrelsome individual among them. while we were greedily devouring the delicious fruit, which was piled on deck in mountainous quantities, they encouraged us, telling us that the trees ashore were breaking down under their loads, and what a pity it was that there were so few to eat such bountiful supplies. we were, it appeared, the first whale-ship that had anchored there that year, and, in that particular bay where we lay, no vessel had moored for over two years. an occasional schooner from sydney called at the "town" about ten miles away, where the viceroy's house was, and at the present time of speaking one of godeffroi's hamburg ships was at anchor there, taking in an accumulation of copra from her agent's store. but the natives all spoke of her with a shrug--"no like tashman. tashman no good." why, i could not ascertain. our kanakas had promised to remain with us till our departure for the south, so, hard as it seemed to them, they were not allowed to go ashore, in case they might not come back, and leave us short-handed. but as their relatives and friends could visit them whenever they felt inclined, the restriction did not hurt them much. the next day, being sunday, all hands were allowed liberty to go ashore by turns (except the kanakas), with strict injunctions to molest no one, but to behave as if in a big town guarded by policemen. as no money could be spent, none was given, and, best of all, it was impossible to procure any intoxicating liquor. our party got ashore about . , but not a soul was visible either on the beach or in the sun-lit paths which led through the forest inland. here and there a house, with doors wide open, stood in its little cleared space, silent and deserted. it was like a country without inhabitants. presently, however, a burst of melody arrested us, and borne upon the scented breeze came oh, so sweetly!--the well-remembered notes of "hollingside." hurriedly getting behind a tree, i let myself go, and had a perfectly lovely, soul-refreshing cry. reads funny, doesn't it? sign of weakness perhaps. but when childish memories come back upon one torrent-like in the swell of a hymn or the scent of the hawthorn, it seems to me that the flood-gates open without you having anything to do with it. when i was a little chap in the lock chapel choir, before the evil days came, that tune was my favourite; and when i heard it suddenly come welling up out of the depths of the forest, my heart just stood still for a moment, and then the tears came. queer idea, perhaps, to some people; but i do not know when i enjoyed myself so much as i did just then, except when a boy of sixteen home from a voyage, and strolling along the knightsbridge road, i "happened" into the albert hall. i did not in the least know what was coming; the notices on the bills did not mean anything to me; but i paid my shilling, and went up into the gallery. i had hardly edged myself into a corner by the refreshment-stall, when a great breaker of sound caught me, hurled me out of time, thought, and sense in one intolerable ecstasy--"for unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given"--again and again--billows and billows of glory. i gasped for breath, shook like one in an ague fit; the tears ran down in a continuous stream; while people stared amazed at me, thinking, i suppose, that i was another drunken sailor. well, i was drunk, helplessly intoxicated, but not with drink, with something divine, untellable, which, coming upon me unprepared, simply swept me away with it into a heaven of delight, to which only tears could testify. but i am in the bush, whimpering over the tones of "hollingside." as soon as i had pulled myself together a bit, we went on again in the direction of the sound, presently we came to a large clearing, in the middle of which stood a neat wooden, pandanus-thatched church. there were no doors or windows to it, just a roof supported upon posts, but a wide verandah ran all round, upon the edge of which we seated ourselves; for the place was full--full to suffocation, every soul within miles, i should think, being there. no white man was present, but the service, which was a sort of prayer-meeting, went with a swing and go that was wonderful to see. there was no perfunctory worship here; no one languidly enduring it because it was "the right sort of thing to show up at, you know;" but all were in earnest, terribly in earnest. when they sang, it behoved us to get away to a little distance, for the vigour of the voices, unless mellowed by distance, made the music decidedly harsh. every one was dressed in european clothing--the women in neat calico gowns; but the men, nearly all of them, in woollen shirts, pilot-coats, and trousers to match, and sea-boots! whew! it nearly stifled me to look at them. the temperature was about ninety degrees in the shade, with hardly a breath of air stirring, yet those poor people, from some mistaken notion of propriety, were sweating in torrents under that arctic rig. however they could worship, i do not know! at last the meeting broke up. the men rushed out, tore off their coats, trousers, and shirts, and flung themselves panting upon the grass, mother-naked, except for a chaplet of cocoanut leaves, formed by threading them on a vine-tendril, and hanging round the waist. squatting by the side of my "flem," whom i had recognized, i asked him why ever he outraged all reason by putting on such clothes in this boiling weather. he looked at me pityingly for a moment before he replied, "you go chapella belitani? no put bes' close on top?" "yes," i said; "but in hot weather put on thin clothes; cold weather, put on thick ones." "s'pose no got more?" he said, meaning, i presumed, more than the one suit. "well," i said, "more better stop 'way than look like big fool, boil all away, same like duff in pot. you savvy duff?" he smiled a wide comprehensive smile, but looked very solemn again, saying directly, "you no go chapella; you no mishnally. no mishnally [missionary=godly]; very bad. me no close; no go chapella; vely bad. evelly tangata, evelly fafine, got close all same papalang [every man and woman has clothes like a white man]; go chapella all day sunday." that this was no figure of speech i proved fully that day, for i declare that the recess between any of the services never lasted more than an hour. meanwhile the worshippers did not return to their homes, for in many cases they had journeyed twenty or thirty miles, but lay about in the verdure, refreshing themselves with fruit, principally the delightful green cocoa-nuts, which furnish meat and drink both--cool and refreshing in the extreme, as well as nourishing. we were all heartily welcome to whatever was going, but there was a general air of restraint, a fear of breaking the sabbath, which prevented us from trespassing too much upon the hospitality of these devout children of the sun. so we contented ourselves with strolling through the beautiful glades and woods, lying down, whenever we felt weary, under the shade of some spreading orange tree loaded with golden fruit, and eating our fill, or rather eating until the smarting of our lips warned us to desist. here was a land where, apparently, all people were honest, for we saw a great many houses whose owners were absent, not one of which was closed, although many had a goodly store of such things as a native might be supposed to covet. at last, not being able to rid ourselves of the feeling that we were doing something wrong, the solemn silence and sundayfied air of the whole region seeming to forbid any levity even in the most innocent manner, we returned on board again, wonderfully impressed with what we had seen, but wondering what would have happened if some of the ruffianly crowds composing the crews of many ships had been let loose upon this fair island. in the evening we lowered a stage over the bows to the water's edge, and had a swimming-match, the water being perfectly delightful, after the great heat of the day, in its delicious freshness; and so to bunk, well pleased indeed with our first sunday in vau vau. i have no doubt whatever that some of the gentry who swear at large about the evils of missionaries would have been loud in their disgust at the entire absence of drink and debauchery, and the prevalence of what they would doubtless characterize as adjective hypocrisy on the part of the natives; but no decent man could help rejoicing at the peace, the security, and friendliness manifested on every hand, nor help awarding unstinted praise to whoever had been the means of bringing about so desirable a state of things. i felt that their sabbatarianism was carried to excess; that they would have been better, not worse, for a little less church, and a little more innocent fun; but ten thousand times better thus than such scenes of lust let loose and abandoned animalism as we witnessed at honolulu. what pleased me mightily was the absence of the white man with his air of superiority and sleek overlordship. all the worship, all the management of affairs, was entirely in the hands of the natives themselves, and excellently well did they manage everything. i shall never forget once going ashore in a somewhat similar place, but very far distant, one sunday morning, to visit the mission station. it was a church mission, and a very handsome building the church was. by the side of it stood the parsonage, a beautiful bungalow, nestling in a perfect paradise of tropical flowers. the somewhat intricate service was conducted, and the sermon preached, entirely by natives--very creditably too. after service i strolled into the parsonage to see the reverend gentleman in charge, whom i found supporting his burden in a long chair, with a tall glass of brandy and soda within easy reach, a fine cigar between his lips, and a late volume of ouida's in his hand. all very pleasant and harmless, no doubt, but hardly reconcilable with the ideal held up in missionary magazines. yet i have no doubt whatever that this gentleman would have been heartily commended by the very men who can hardly find words harsh enough to express their opinion of missionaries of the stamp of paton, williams, moffat, and mackenzie. well, it is highly probable--nay, almost certain, that i shall be accused of drawing an idyllic picture of native life from first impressions, which, if i had only had sufficient subsequent experience among the people, i should have entirely altered. all i can say is, that although i did not live among them ashore, we had a number of them on board; we lay in the island harbour five months, during which i was ashore nearly every day, and from habit i observed them very closely; yet i cannot conscientiously alter one syllable of what i have written concerning them. bad men and women there were, of course, to be found--as where not?--but the badness, in whatever form, was not allowed to flaunt itself, and was so sternly discountenanced by public (entirely native) opinion, that it required a good deal of interested seeking to find. but after all this chatter about my amiable friends, i find myself in danger of forgetting the purpose of our visit. we lost no time in preparation, since whaling of whatever sort is conducted in these ships on precisely similar lines, but on monday morning, at daybreak, after a hurried breakfast, lowered all boats and commenced the campaign. we were provided with boxes--one for each boat--containing a light luncheon, but no ordered meal, because it was not considered advisable to in any way hamper the boat's freedom to chase. still, in consideration of its being promptly dumped overboard on attacking a whale, a goodly quantity of fruit was permitted in the boats. in the calm beauty of the pearly dawn, with a gentle hush over all nature, the lofty, tree-clad hills reflected with startling fidelity in the glassy, many-coloured waters, the only sound audible the occasional cra-a-ake of the advance-guard of a flight of fruit-bats (peca) homeward from their nocturnal depredations, we shipped our oars and started, pulling to a certain position whence we could see over an immense area. immediately upon rounding the horn of our sheltered bay, the fresh breeze of the south-east trades met us right on end with a vigour that made a ten-mile steady pull against it somewhat of a breather. arriving at the station indicated by the chief, we set sail, and, separating as far as possible without losing sight of each other, settled down for the day's steady cruise. anything more delightful than that excursion to those who love seashore scenery combined with boat-sailing would be difficult to name. every variety of landscape, every shape of strait, bay, or estuary, reefs awash, reefs over which we could sail, ablaze with loveliness inexpressible; a steady, gentle, caressing breeze, and overhead one unvarying canopy of deepest blue. sometimes, when skirting the base of some tremendous cliffs, great caution was necessary, for at one moment there would obtain a calm, death-like in its stillness; the next, down through a canyon cleaving the mountain to the water's edge would come rushing with a shrill howl, a blast fierce enough to almost lift us out of the water. away we would scud with flying sheets dead before it, in a smother of spray, but would hardly get full way on her before it was gone, leaving us in the same hush as before, only a dark patch on the water far to leeward marking its swift rush. these little diversions gave us no uneasiness, for it was an unknown thing to make a sheet fast in one of our boats, so that a puff of wind never caught us unprepared. on that first day we seemed to explore such a variety of stretches of water that one would hardly have expected there could be any more discoveries to make in that direction. nevertheless, each day's cruise subsequently revealed to us some new nook or other, some quiet haven or pretty passage between islands that, until closely approached, looked like one. when, at sunset, we returned to the ship, not having seen anything like a spout, i felt like one who had been in a dream, the day's cruise having surpassed all my previous experience. yet it was but the precursor of many such. oftentimes i think of those halcyon days, with a sigh of regret that they can never more be renewed to me; but i rejoice to think that nothing can rob me of the memory of them. much to the discomfort of the skipper, it was four days before a solitary spout was seen, and then it was so nearly dark that before the fish could be reached it was impossible to distinguish her whereabouts. a careful bearing was taken of the spot, in the hope that she might be lingering in the vicinity next morning, and we hastened on board. before it was fairly light we lowered, and paddled as swiftly as possible to the bay where we had last seen the spout overnight. when near the spot we rested on our paddles a while, all hands looking out with intense eagerness for the first sign of the whale's appearance. there was a strange feeling among us of unlawfulness and stealth, as of ambushed pirates waiting to attack some unwary merchantman, or highwaymen waylaying a fat alderman on a country road. we spoke in whispers, for the morning was so still that a voice raised but ordinarily would have reverberated among the rocks which almost overhung us, multiplied indefinitely. a turtle rose ghost-like to the surface at my side, lifting his queer head, and, surveying us with stony gaze, vanished as silently as he came. what a sigh! one looked at the other inquiringly, but the repetition of that long expiration satisfied us all that it was the placid breathing of the whale we sought somewhere close at hand, the light grew rapidly better, and we strained our eyes in every direction to discover the whereabouts of our friend, but, for some minutes without result. there was a ripple just audible, and away glided the mate's boat right for the near shore. following him with our eyes, we almost immediately beheld a pale, shadowy column of white, shimmering against the dark mass of the cliff not a quarter of a mile away. dipping our paddles with the utmost care, we made after the chief, almost holding our breath. his harpooner rose, darted once, twice, then gave a yell of triumph that ran re-echoing all around in a thousand eerie vibrations, startling the drowsy peca in myriads from where they hung in inverted clusters on the trees above. but, for all the notice taken by the whale, she might never have been touched. close nestled to her side was a youngling of not more, certainly, than five days old, which sent up its baby-spout every now and then about two feet into the air. one long, wing-like fin embraced its small body, holding it close to the massive breast of the tender mother, whose only care seemed to be to protect her young, utterly regardless of her own pain and danger. if sentiment were ever permitted to interfere with such operations as ours, it might well have done so now; for while the calf continually sought to escape from the enfolding fin, making all sorts of puny struggles in the attempt, the mother scarcely moved from her position, although streaming with blood from a score of wounds. once, indeed, as a deep-searching thrust entered her very vitals, she raised her massy flukes high in air with an apparently involuntary movement of agony; but even in that dire throe she remembered the possible danger to her young one, and laid the tremendous weapon as softly down upon the water as if it were a feather fan. so in the most perfect quiet, with scarcely a writhe, nor any sign of flurry, she died, holding the calf to her side until her last vital spark had fled, and left it to a swift despatch with a single lance-thrust. no slaughter of a lamb ever looked more like murder. nor, when the vast bulk and strength of the animal was considered, could a mightier example have been given of the force and quality of maternal love. the whole business was completed in half an hour from the first sight of her, and by the mate's hand alone, none of the other boats needing to use their gear. as soon as she was dead, a hole was bored through the lips, into which a tow-line was secured, the two long fins were lashed close into the sides of the animal by an encircling line, the tips of the flukes were cut off, and away we started for the ship. we had an eight-mile tow in the blazing sun, which we accomplished in a little over eight, hours, arriving at the vessel just before two p.m. news of our coming had preceded us, and the whole native population appeared to be afloat to make us welcome. the air rang again with their shouts of rejoicing, for our catch represented to them a gorgeous feast, such as they had not indulged in for many a day. the flesh of the humpbacked whale is not at all bad, being but little inferior to that of the porpoise; so that, as these people do not despise even the coarse rank flesh of the cachalot, their enthusiasm was natural. their offers of help were rather embarrassing to us, as we could find little room for any of them in the boats, and the canoes only got in our way. unable to assist us, they vented their superfluous energies on the whale in the most astounding aquatic antics imaginable--diving under it; climbing on to it; pushing and rolling each other headlong over its broad back; shrieking all the while with the frantic, uncontrollable laughter of happy children freed from all restraint. men, women, and children all mixed in this wild, watery spree; and as to any of them getting drowned, the idea was utterly absurd. when we got it alongside, and prepared to cut in, all the chaps were able to have a rest, there were so many eager volunteers to man the windlass, not only willing but, under the able direction of their compatriots belonging to our crew, quite equal to the work of heaving in blubber. all their habitual indolence was cast aside. toiling like trojans, they made the old windlass rattle again as they spun the brakes up and down, every blanket-piece being hailed with a fresh volley of eldritch shrieks, enough to alarm a deaf and dumb asylum. with such ample aid, it was, as may be supposed a brief task to skin our prize, although the strange arrangement of the belly blubber caused us to lift some disappointing lengths. this whale has the blubber underneath the body lying in longitudinal corrugations, which, when hauled off the carcass at right angles to their direction, stretch out flat to four or five times their normal area. thus, when the cutting-blocks had reached their highest limit, and the piece was severed from the body, the folds flew together again leaving dangling aloft but a miserable square of some four or five feet, instead of a fine "blanket" of blubber twenty by five. along the edges of these rugae, as also upon the rim of the lower jaw, abundance of limpets and barnacles had attached themselves, some of the former large as a horse's hoof, and causing prodigious annoyance to the toiling carpenter, whose duty it was to keep the spades ground. it was no unusual thing for a spade to be handed in with two or three gaps in its edge half an inch deep, where they had accidentally come across one of those big pieces of flinty shell, undistinguishable from the grey substance of the belly blubber. but, in spite of these drawbacks, in less than ninety minutes the last cut was reached, the vertebra severed, and away went the great mass of meat, in tow of countless canoes, to an adjacent point, where, in eager anticipation, fires were already blazing for the coming cookery. an enormous number of natives had gathered from far and near, late arrivals continually dropping in from all points of the compass with breathless haste. no danger of going short need have troubled them, for, large as were their numbers, the supply was evidently fully equal to all demands. all night long the feast proceeded, and, even when morning dawned, busy figures were still discernible coming and going between the reduced carcass and the fires, as if determined to make an end of it before their operations ceased. chapter xxi. progress of the "humpback" season it will probably be inferred from the foregoing paragraph that we were little troubled with visits from the natives next day; but it would be doing them an injustice if i omitted to state that our various "flems" put in an appearance as usual with their daily offerings of fruit, vegetables, etc. they all presented a somewhat jaded and haggard look, as of men who had dined not wisely but too well, nor did the odour of stale whale-meat that clung to them add to their attractions. repentance for excesses or gluttony did not seem to trouble them, for they evidently considered it would have been a sin not to take with both hands the gifts the gods had so bountifully provided. still, they did not stay long, feeling, no doubt, sore need of a prolonged rest after their late arduous exertions; so, after affectionate farewells, they left us again to our greasy task of trying-out. the cow proved exceedingly fat, making us, though by no means a large specimen, fully fifty barrels of oil. the whalebone (baleen) was so short as to be not worth the trouble of curing, so, with the exception of such pieces as were useful to the "scrimshoners" for ornamenting their nicknacks, it was not preserved. on the evening of the third day the work was so far finished that we were able to go ashore for clothes-washing, which necessary process was accompanied with a good deal of fun and hilarity. in the morning cruising was resumed again. for a couple of days we met with no success, although we had a very aggravating chase after some smart bulls we fell in with, to our mutual astonishment, just as we rounded a point of the outermost island. they were lazily sunning themselves close under the lee of the cliffs, which at that point were steep-to, having a depth of about twenty fathoms close alongside. a fresh breeze was blowing, so we came round the point at a great pace, being almost among them before they had time to escape. they went away gaily along the land, not attempting to get seaward, we straining every nerve to get alongside of them. whether they were tantalizing us or not, i cannot say, but certainly it looked like it. in spite of their well-known speed, we were several times so close in their wake that the harpooners loosed the tacks of the jibs to get a clear shot; but as they did so the nimble monsters shot ahead a length or two, leaving us just out of reach. it was a fine chase while it lasted, though annoying; yet one could hardly help feeling amused at the way they wallowed along--just like a school of exaggerated porpoises. at last, after nearly two hours of the fun, they seemed to have had enough of it, and with one accord headed seaward at a greatly accelerated pace, as who should say, "well, s' long, boys; company's very pleasant and all that, but we've got important business over at fiji, and can't stay fooling around here any longer." in a quarter of an hour they were out of sight, leaving us disgusted and outclassed pursuers sneaking back again to shelter, feeling very small. not that we could have had much hope of success under the circumstances, knowing the peculiar habits of the humpback and the almost impossibility of competing with him in the open sea; but they had lured us on to forget all these things in the ardour of the chase, and then exposed our folly. then ensued a week or two of uneventful cruising, broken only by the capture of a couple of cows--one just after the fruitless chase mentioned above, and one several days later. these events, though interesting enough to us, were marked by no such deviation from the ordinary course as to make them worthy of special attention; nor do i think that the cold-blooded killing of a cow-whale, who dies patiently endeavouring to protect her young, is a subject that lends itself to eulogium. however, just when the delightful days were beginning to pall upon us, a real adventure befell us, which, had we been attending strictly to business, we should not have encountered. for a week previous we had been cruising constantly without ever seeing a spout, except those belonging to whales out at sea, whither we knew it was folly to follow them. we tried all sorts of games to while away the time, which certainly did hang heavy, the most popular of which was for the whole crew of the boat to strip, and, getting overboard, be towed along at the ends of short warps, while i sailed her. it was quite mythological--a sort of rude reproduction of neptune and his attendant tritons. at last, one afternoon as we were listlessly lolling (half asleep, except the look-out man) across the thwarts, we suddenly came upon a gorge between two cliffs that we must have passed before several times unnoticed. at a certain angle it opened, disclosing a wide sheet of water, extending a long distance ahead. i put the helm up, and we ran through the passage, finding it about a boat's length in width and several fathoms deep, though overhead the cliffs nearly came together in places. within, the scene was very beautiful, but not more so than many similar ones we had previously witnessed. still, as the place was new to us, our languor was temporarily dispelled, and we paddled along, taking in every feature of the shores with keen eyes that let nothing escape. after we had gone on in this placid manner for maybe an hour, we suddenly came to a stupendous cliff--that is, for those parts--rising almost sheer from the water for about a thousand feet. of itself it would not have arrested our attention, but at its base was a semicircular opening, like the mouth of a small tunnel. this looked alluring, so i headed the boat for it, passing through a deep channel between two reefs which led straight to the opening. there was ample room for us to enter, as we had lowered the mast; but just as we were passing through, a heave of the unnoticed swell lifted us unpleasantly near the crown of this natural arch. beneath us, at a great depth, the bottom could be dimly discerned, the water being of the richest blue conceivable, which the sun, striking down through, resolved into some most marvellous colour-schemes in the path of its rays. a delicious sense of coolness, after the fierce heat outside, saluted us as we entered a vast hall, whose roof rose to a minimum height of forty feet, but in places could not be seen at all. a sort of diffused light, weak, but sufficient to reveal the general contour of the place, existed, let in, i supposed, through some unseen crevices in the roof or walls. at first, of course, to our eyes fresh from the fierce glare outside, the place seemed wrapped in impenetrable gloom, and we dared not stir lest we should run into some hidden danger. before many minutes, however, the gloom lightened as our pupils enlarged, so that, although the light was faint, we could find our way about with ease. we spoke in low tones, for the echoes were so numerous and resonant that even a whisper gave back from those massy walls in a series of recurring hisses, as if a colony of snakes had been disturbed. we paddled on into the interior of this vast cave, finding everywhere the walls rising sheer from the silent, dark waters, not a ledge or a crevice where one might gain foothold. indeed, in some places there was a considerable overhang from above, as if a great dome whose top was invisible sprang from some level below the water. we pushed ahead until the tiny semicircle of light through which we had entered was only faintly visible; and then, finding there was nothing to be seen except what we were already witnessing, unless we cared to go on into the thick darkness, which extended apparently into the bowels of the mountain, we turned and started to go back. do what we would, we could not venture to break the solemn hush that surrounded us as if we were shut within the dome of some vast cathedral in the twilight, so we paddled noiselessly along for the exit, till suddenly an awful, inexplicable roar set all our hearts thumping fit to break our bosoms. really, the sensation was most painful, especially as we had not the faintest idea whence the noise came or what had produced it. again it filled that immense cave with its thunderous reverberations; but this time all the sting was taken out of it, as we caught sight of its author. a goodly bull-humpback had found his way in after us, and the sound of his spout, exaggerated a thousand times in the confinement of that mighty cavern, had frightened us all so that we nearly lost our breath. so far, so good; but, unlike the old nigger, though we were "doin' blame well," we did not "let blame well alone." the next spout that intruder gave, he was right alongside of us. this was too much for the semi-savage instincts of my gallant harpooner, and before i had time to shout a caution he had plunged his weapon deep into old blowhard's broad back. i should like to describe what followed, but, in the first place, i hardly know; and, in the next, even had i been cool and collected, my recollections would sound like the ravings of a fevered dream. for of all the hideous uproars conceivable, that was, i should think, about the worst. the big mammal seemed to have gone frantic with the pain of his wound, the surprise of the attack, and the hampering confinement in which he found himself. his tremendous struggles caused such a commotion that our position could only be compared to that of men shooting niagara in a cylinder at night. how we kept afloat, i do not know. some one had the gumption to cut the line, so that by the radiation of the disturbance we presently found ourselves close to the wall, and trying to hold the boat in to it with our finger-tips. would he never be quiet? we thought, as the thrashing, banging, and splashing still went on with unfailing vigour. at last, in, i suppose, one supreme effort to escape, he leaped clear of the water like a salmon. there was a perceptible hush, during which we shrank together like unfledged chickens on a frosty night; then, in a never-to-be-forgotten crash that ought to have brought down the massy roof, that mountainous carcass fell. the consequent violent upheaval of the water should have smashed the boat against the rocky walls, but that final catastrophe was mercifully spared us. i suppose the rebound was sufficient to keep us a safe distance off. a perfect silence succeeded, during which we sat speechless, awaiting a resumption of the clamour. at last abner broke the heavy silence by saying, "i doan' see the do'way any mo' at all, sir." he was right. the tide had risen, and that half-moon of light had disappeared, so that we were now prisoners for many hours, it not being at all probable that we should be able to find our way out during the night ebb. well, we were not exactly children, to be afraid of the dark, although there is considerable difference between the velvety darkness of a dungeon and the clear, fresh night of the open air. still, as long as that beggar of a whale would only keep quiet or leave the premises, we should be fairly comfortable. we waited and waited until an hour had passed, and then came to the conclusion that our friend was either dead or gone out, as he gave no sign of his presence. that being settled, we anchored the boat, and lit pipes, preparatory to passing as comfortable a night as might be under the circumstances, the only thing troubling me being the anxiety of the skipper on our behalf. presently the blackness beneath was lit up by a wide band of phosphoric light, shed in the wake of no ordinary-sized fish, probably an immense shark. another and another followed in rapid succession, until the depths beneath were all ablaze with brilliant foot-wide ribands of green glare, dazzling to the eye and bewildering to the brain. occasionally, a gentle splash or ripple alongside, or a smart tap on the bottom of the boat, warned us how thick the concourse was that had gathered below. until that weariness which no terror is proof against set in, sleep was impossible, nor could we keep our anxious gaze from that glowing inferno beneath, where one would have thought all the population of tartarus were holding high revel. mercifully, at last we sank into a fitful slumber, though fully aware of the great danger of our position. one upward rush of any of those ravening monsters, happening to strike the frail shell of our boat, and a few fleeting seconds would have sufficed for our obliteration as if we had never been. but the terrible night passed away, and once more we saw the tender, irridescent light stream into that abode of dread. as the day strengthened, we were able to see what was going on below, and a grim vision it presented. the water was literally alive with sharks of enormous size, tearing with never ceasing energy at the huge carcass of the whale lying on the bottom, who had met his fate in a singular but not unheard-of way. at that last titanic effort of his he had rushed downward with such terrific force that, striking his head on the bottom, he had broken his neck. i felt very grieved that we had lost the chance of securing him; but it was perfectly certain that before we could get help to raise him, all that would be left of his skeleton would be quite valueless to us. so with such patience as we could command we waited near the entrance until the receding ebb made it possible for us to emerge once more into the blessed light of day. i was horrified at the haggard, careworn appearance of my crew, who had all, excepting the two kanakas, aged perceptibly during that night of torment. but we lost no time in getting back to the ship, where i fully expected a severe wigging for the scrape my luckless curiosity had led me into. the captain, however, was very kind, expressing his pleasure at seeing us all safe back again, although he warned me solemnly against similar investigations in future. a hearty meal and a good rest did wonders in removing the severe effects of our adventure, so that by next morning we were all fit and ready for the days work again. it certainly seemed as if i was in for a regular series of troubles. after cruising till nearly two p.m., we fell in with the mate's boat, and were sailing quietly along side by side, when we suddenly rounded a point and ran almost on top of a bull-humpback that was basking in the beautiful sunshine. the mate's harpooner, a wonderfully smart fellow, was not so startled as to lose his chance, getting an iron well home before the animal realized what had befallen him. we had a lovely fight, lasting over an hour, in which all the marvellous agility with which this whale is gifted was exerted to the full in order to make his escape. but with the bottom not twenty fathoms away, we were sure of him. with all his supple smartness, he had none of the dogged savagery of the cachalot about him, nor did we feel any occasion to beware of his rushes, rather courting them, so as to finish the game as quickly as possible. he was no sooner dead than we hurried to secure him, and had actually succeeded in passing the tow-line through his lips, when, in the trifling interval that passed while we were taking the line aft to begin towing, he started to sink. of course it was, "let go all!" if you can only get the slightest way on a whale of this kind, you are almost certain to be able to keep him afloat, but once he begins to sink you cannot stop him. down he went, till full twenty fathoms beneath us he lay comfortably on the reef, while we looked ruefully at one another. we had no gear with us fit to raise him, and we were ten miles from the ship; evening was at hand, so our prospects of doing anything that night were faint. however, the mate decided to start off for home at once, leaving us there, but promising to send back a boat as speedily as possible with provisions and gear for the morning. there was a stiff breeze blowing, and he was soon out of sight; but we were very uncomfortable. the boat, of course, rode like a duck, but we were fully exposed to the open sea; and the mighty swell of the pacific, rolling in over those comparatively shallow grounds, sometimes looked dangerously like breaking. still, it was better than the cave, and there was a good prospect of supper. long before we expected her, back came the boat, bringing bountiful provision of yams, cold pork and fruit--a regular banquet to men who were fasting since daylight. a square meal, a comforting pipe, and the night's vigil, which had looked so formidable, no longer troubled us, although, to tell the truth, we were heartily glad when the dawn began to tint the east with pale emerald and gold. we set to work at once, getting the huge carcass to the surface without as much labour as i had anticipated. of course all hands came to the rescue. but, alas for the fruit of our labours! those hungry monsters had collected in thousands, and, to judge from what we were able to see of the body, they had reduced its value alarmingly. however, we commenced towing, and were getting along fairly well, when a long spur of reef to leeward of us, over which the sea was breaking frightfully, seemed to be stretching farther out to intercept us before we could get into smooth water. the fact soon faced us that we were in the remorseless grip of a current that set right over that reef, and against its steady stream all our efforts were the merest triviality. still, we hung on, struggling desperately to keep what we had earned, until so close to the roaring, foaming line of broken water, that one wave breaking farther out than the rest very nearly swamped us all. one blow of an axe, one twirl of the steer-oars, and with all the force we could muster we were pulling away from the very jaws of death, leaving our whale to the hungry crowds, who would make short work of him. downcast indeed, at our bad luck, we returned on board, disappointing the skipper very much with our report. like the true gentleman he was, though, recognizing that we had done our best, he did not add to the trouble by cursing us all for a set of useless trash, as his predecessor would have done; on the contrary, a few minutes after the receipt of the bad news his face was as bright as ever, his laugh as hearty as if there was no such thing as a misfortune in the world. and now i must come to what has been on my mind so long--a tragedy that, in spite of all that had gone before, and of what came after, is the most indelible of all the memories which cling round me of that eventful time. abner cushing, the vermonter had declared at different times that he should never see his native green mountain again. since the change in our commander, however, he had been another man--always silent and reserved, but brighter, happier, and with a manner so improved as to make it hard to recognize him for the same awkward, ungainly slab of a fellow that had bungled everything he put his hand to. taking stock of him quietly during our day-long leisurely cruises in the boat, i often wondered whether his mind still kept its gloomy forebodings, and brooded over his tragical life-history. i never dared to speak to him on the subject, for fear of arousing what i hoped was growing too faint for remembrance. but at times i saw him in the moonlit evenings sitting on the rail alone, steadfastly gazing down into the star-besprent waters beneath him, as if coveting their unruffled peace. two-thirds of our stay in the islands had passed away, when, for a wonder, the captain took it into his head to go up to the chief village one morning. so he retained me on board, while the other three boats left for the day's cruise as usual. one of the mate's crew was sick, and to replace him he took abner out of my boat. away they went; and shortly after breakfast-time i lowered, received the captain on board, and we started for the capital. upon our arrival there we interviewed the chief, a stout, pleasant-looking man of about fifty, who was evidently held in great respect by the natives, and had a chat with the white wesleyan missionary in charge of the station. about two p.m., after the captain's business was over, we were returning under sail, when we suddenly caught sight of two of our boats heading in towards one of the islands. we helped her with the paddles to get up to them, seeing as we neared them the two long fins of a whale close ahead of one of them. as we gazed breathlessly at the exciting scene, we saw the boat rush in between the two flippers, the harpooner at the same time darting an iron straight down. there was a whirl in the waters, and quick as thought the vast flukes of the whale rose in the air, recurving with a sidelong sweep as of some gigantic scythe. the blow shore off the bow of the attacking boat as if it had been an egg-shell. at the same moment the mate stooped, picked up the tow-line from its turn round the logger-head, and threw it forward from him. he must have unconsciously given a twist to his hand, for the line fell in a kink round abner's neck just as the whale went down with a rush. struggling, clutching at the fatal noose, the hapless man went flying out through the incoming sea, and in one second was lost to sight for ever. too late, the harpooner cut the line which attached the wreck to the retreating animal, leaving the boat free, but gunwale under. we instantly hauled alongside of the wreck and transferred her crew, all dazed and horror-stricken at the awful death of their late comrade. i saw the tears trickle down the rugged, mahogany-coloured face of the captain, and honoured him for it, but there was little time to waste in vain regrets. it was necessary to save the boat, if possible, as we were getting short of boat-repairing material; certainly we should not have been able to build a new one. so, drawing the two sound boats together, one on either side of the wreck, we placed the heavy steering oars across them from side to side. we then lifted the battered fore part upon the first oar, and with a big effort actually succeeded in lifting the whole of the boat out of water upon this primitive pontoon. then, taking the jib, we "frapped" it round the opening where the bows had been, lashing it securely in that position. several hands were told off to jump into her stern on the word, and all being ready we launched her again. the weight of the chaps in her stern-sheets cocked her bows right out of water, and in that position we towed her back to the ship, arriving safely before dusk. that evening we held a burial service, at which hundreds of natives attended with a solemnity of demeanour and expressions of sorrow that would not have been out of place at the most elaborate funeral in england or america. it was a memorable scene. the big cressets were lighted, shedding their wild glare over the dark sea, and outlining the spars against the moonless sky with startling effect. when we had finished the beautiful service, the natives, as if swayed by an irresistible impulse, broke into the splendid tune st. ann's; and i afterwards learned that the words they sang were dr. watts' unsurpassable rendering of moses' pean of praise, "o god, our help in ages past." no elaborate ceremonial in towering cathedral could begin to compare with the massive simplicity of poor abner's funeral honours, the stately hills for many miles reiterating the sweet sounds, and carrying them to the furthest confines of the group. next day was sunday, and, in pursuance of a promise given some time before, i went ashore to my "flem's" to dinner, he being confined to the house with a hurt leg. it was not by any means a festive gathering, for he was more than commonly taciturn; his daughter irene, a buxom lassie of fourteen, who waited on us, appeared to be dumb; and his wife was "in the straw." these trifling drawbacks, however, in nowise detracted from the hospitality offered. the dining-room was a large apartment furnished with leaves, the uprights of cocoa-nut tree, the walls and roof of pandanus leaf. beneath the heaps of leaves, fresh and sweet-scented, was the earth. the inner apartment, or chamber of state, had a flooring of highly-polished planks, and contained, i presume, the household gods; but as it was in possession of my host's secluded spouse, i did not enter. a couch upon a pile of leaves was hastily arranged, upon which i was bidden to seat myself, while a freshly cut cocoa-nut of enormous size was handed to me, the soft top sliced off so that i might drink its deliciously cool contents. these nuts must grow elsewhere, but i have never before or since seen any so large. when green--that is, before the meat has hardened into indigestible matter--they contain from three pints to two quarts of liquid, at once nourishing, refreshing, and palatable. the natives appeared to drink nothing else, and i never saw a drop of fresh water ashore during our stay. taking a huge knife from some hiding-place, irene handed it to her father, who at once commenced to dig in the ground by his side, while i looked on wondering and amused. presently he fished up a bundle of leaves bound with a vine-tendril, which he laid carefully aside. more digging brought to light a fine yam about three pounds in weight, which, after carefully wiping the knife on some leaves, he proceeded to peel. it was immediately evident that the yam was perfectly cooked, for it steamed as he removed the skin, revealing the inside as white as milk. some large, round leaves were laid in front of me, and the yam placed upon them. then mine host turned his attention to the bundle first unearthed, which concealed a chicken, so perfectly done that, although the bones drew out of the meat as if it had been jelly, it was full of juice and flavour; and except for a slight foreign twang, referrible, doubtless, to the leaves in which it had been enwrapped, i do not think it could have been possible to cook anything in a better way, or one more calculated to retain all the natural juices of the meat. the fowl was laid beside the yam, another nut broached; then, handing me the big knife, my "flem" bade me welcome, informing me that i saw my dinner. as nothing would induce him to join me, the idea being contrary to his notions of respect due to a guest, i was fain to fall to, and an excellent meal i made. for dessert, a basketful of such oranges freshly plucked as cannot be tasted under any other conditions, and crimson bananas, which upon being peeled, looked like curved truncheons of golden jelly, after tasting which i refused to touch anything else. a corn-cob cigarette closed the banquet, after expressing my thanks, i noticed that the pain of his leg was giving my friend considerable uneasiness, which he was stolidly enduring upon my account rather than appear discourteously anxious to get rid of me. so, with the excuse that i must needs be going, having another appointment, i left the good fellow and strolled around to the chapel, where i sat enjoying the sight of those simple-minded kanakas at their devotions till it was time to return on board. before closing this chapter, i would like, for the benefit of such of my readers who have not heard yet of kanaka cookery, to say that it is simplicity itself. a hole is scooped in the earth, in which a fire is made (of wood), and kept burning until a fair-sized heap of glowing charcoal remains. pebbles are then thrown in until the charcoal is covered. whatever is to be cooked is enveloped in leaves, placed upon the pebbles, and more leaves heaped upon it. the earth is then thrown back into the cavity, and well stamped down. a long time is, of course, needed for the viands to get cooked through; but so subtle is the mode that overdoing anything is almost an impossibility. a couple of days may pass from the time of "putting down" the joint, yet when it is dug up it will be smoking hot, retaining all its juices, tender as jelly, but, withal, as full of flavour as it is possible for cooked meat to be. no matter how large the joint is, or how tough the meat, this gentle suasion will render it succulent and tasty; and no form of civilized cookery can in the least compare with it. chapter xxii. farewell to vau vau taking it all round, our visit to the friendly islands had not been particularly fortunate up till the time of which i spoke at the conclusion of the last chapter. two-thirds of the period during which the season was supposed to last had expired, but our catch had not amounted to more than two hundred and fifty barrels of oil. whales had been undoubtedly scarce, for our ill-success on tackling bulls was not at all in consequence of our clumsiness, these agile animals being always a handful, but due to the lack of cows, which drove us to take whatever we could get, which, as has been noted, was sometimes a severe drubbing. energy and watchfulness had been manifested in a marked degree by everybody, and when the news circulated that our stay was drawing to a close, there was, if anything, an increase of zeal in the hope that we might yet make a favourable season. but none of these valuable qualities exhibited by us could make up for the lack of "fish" which was lamentably evident. it was not easy to understand why, because these islands were noted as a breeding-place for the humpbacked whale. yet for years they had not been fished, so that a plausible explanation of the paucity of their numbers as a consequence of much harassing could not be reasonably offered. still, after centuries of whale-fishing, little is known of the real habits of whales, where there is abundance of "feed," in the case of mysticeta it may be reasonably inferred that whales may be found in proportionately greater numbers. with regard to the wider-spread classes of the great marine mammalia, beyond the fact, ascertained from continued observation, that certain parts of the ocean are more favoured by them than others, there is absolutely no data to go upon as to why at times they seem to desert their usual haunts and scatter themselves far and wide. the case of the cachalot is still more difficult. all the balaenae seem to be compelled, by laws which we can only guess at, to frequent the vicinity of land possessing shallows at their breeding times, so that they may with more or less certainty be looked for in such places at the seasons which have been accurately fixed. they may be driven to seek other haunts, as was undoubtedly the case at vau vau in a great measure, by some causes unknown, but to land they must come at those times. the sperm whale, however, needs no shelter at such periods, or, at any rate, does not avail herself of any. they may often be seen in the vicinity of land where the water is deep close to, but seldom with calves. schools of cows with recently born young gambolling about them are met with at immense distances from land, showing no disposition to seek shelter either. for my part, i firmly believe that the cachalot is so terrible a foe, that the great sharks who hover round a gravid cow of the balaenae, driving her in terror to some shallow spot where she may hope to protect her young, never dare to approach a sperm cow on kidnapping errands, or any other if they can help it, until their unerring guides inform them that life is extinct. when a sperm whale is in health, nothing that inhabits the sea has any chance with him; neither does he scruple to carry the war into the enemy's country, since all is fish that comes to his net, and a shark fifteen feet in length has been found in the stomach of a cachalot. the only exception he seems to make is in the case of man. instances have several--nay, many times occurred where men have been slain by the jaws of a cachalot crushing the boat in which they were; but their death was of course incidental to the destruction of the boat. never, as far as i have been able to ascertain, has a cachalot attacked a man swimming or clinging to a piece of wreckage, although such opportunities occur innumerably. i have in another place told the story of how i once saw a combat between a bull-cachalot and so powerful a combination of enemies that even one knowing the fighting qualities of the sperm whale would have hesitated to back him to win, but the yarn will bear repetition. two "killers" and a sword-fish, all of the largest size. description of these warriors is superfluous, since they are so well known to museums and natural histories; but unless one has witnessed the charge of a xiphias, he cannot realize what a fearful foe it is. still, as a practice, these creatures leave the cachalot respectfully alone, knowing instinctively that he is not their game. upon this memorable occasion, however i guess the two orcas were starving, and they had organized a sort of forlorn hope with the xiphias as an auxiliary who might be relied upon to ensure success if it could be done. anyhow, the syndicate led off with their main force first; for while the two killers hung on the cachalot's flanks, diverting his attention, the sword-fish, a giant some sixteen feet long, launched himself at the most vulnerable part of the whale, for all the world like a whitehead torpedo. the wary eye of the whale saw the long, dark mass coming, and, like a practised pugilist, coolly swerved, taking for the nonce no notice of those worrying wolves astern. the shock came; but instead of the sword penetrating three, or maybe four feet just where the neck (if a whale has any neck) encloses the huge heart, it met the mighty, impenetrable mass of the head, solid as a block of thirty tons of india-rubber. so the blow glanced, revealing a white streak running diagonally across the eye, while the great xiphias rolled helplessly over the top of that black bastion. with a motion so rapid that the eye could scarcely follow it, the whale turned, settling withal, and, catching the momentarily motionless aggressor in the lethal sweep of those awful shears, crunched him in two halves, which writhing sections he swallowed seriatim. and the allied forces aft--what of them? well, they had been rash--they fully realized that fact, and would have fled, but one certainly found that he had lingered on the scene too long. the thoroughly-roused leviathan, with a reversal of his huge bulk that made the sea boil like a pot, brandished his tail aloft and brought it down upon the doomed "killer," making him at once the "killed." he was crushed like a shrimp under one's heel. the survivor fled--never faster--for an avalanche of living, furious flesh was behind him, and coming with enormous leaps half out of the sea every time. thus they disappeared, but i have no doubts as to the issue. of one thing i am certain--that, if any of the trio survived, they never afterwards attempted to rush a cachalot. strange to say, the sperm whale does not appear to be a fond mother. at the advent of danger she often deserts her offspring and in such cases it is hardly conceivable that she ever finds it again. it is true that she is not gifted with such long "arms" as the balaenae wherewith to cuddle her young one to her capacious bosom while making tracks from her enemies; nor is she much "on the fight," not being so liberally furnished with jaw as the fierce and much larger bull--for this is the only species of whale in which there exists a great disproportion between the sexes in point of size. such difference as may obtain between the mysticeta is slightly in favour of the female. i never heard of a cow-cachalot yielding more than fifty barrels of oil; but i have both heard of, and seen, bulls carrying one hundred and fifty. one individual taken by us down south was seventy feet long, and furnished us with more than the latter amount; but i shall come to him by-and-by. just one more point before leaving this (to me) fascinating subject for the present. to any one studying the peculiar configuration of a cachalot's mouth, it would appear a difficult problem how the calf could suck. certainly it puzzled me more than a little. but, when on the "line" grounds we got among a number of cows one calm day, i saw a little fellow about fifteen feet long, apparently only a few days old, in the very act. the mother lay on one side, with the breast nearly at the waters edge; while the calf, lying parallel to its parent, with its head in the same direction, held the teat sideways in the angle of its jaw, with its snout protruding from the surface. although we caught several cow-humpbacks with newly born calves, i never had an opportunity of seeing them suck. gradually our pleasant days at vau vau drew to a close. so quiet and idyllic had the life been, so full of simple joys, that most of us, if not all, felt a pang at the thought of our imminent departure from the beautiful place. profitable, in a pecuniary sense, the season had certainly failed to be, but that was the merest trifle compared with the real happiness and peace enjoyed during our stay. even the terrible tragedy which had taken one of our fellows from us could not spoil the actual enjoyment of our visit, sad and touching as the event undoubtedly was. there was always, too, a sufficiently arduous routine of necessary duties to perform, preventing us from degenerating into mere lotus eaters in that delicious afternoon-land. nor even to me, friendless nomad as i was, did the thought ever occur, "i will return no more." but these lovely days spent in softly gliding over the calm, azure depths, bathed in golden sunlight, gazing dreamily down at the indescribable beauties of the living reefs, feasting daintily on abundance of never-cloying fruit, amid scenes of delight hardly to be imagined by the cramped mind of the town dweller; islands, air, and sea all shimmering in an enchanted haze, and silence scarcely broken by the tender ripple of the gently-parted waters before the boat's steady keel--though these joys have all been lost to me, and i in "populous city pent" endure the fading years, i would not barter the memory of them for more than i can say, so sweet it is to me. and, then, our relations with the natives had been so perfectly amicable, so free from anything to regret. perhaps this simple statement will raise a cynical smile upon the lips of those who know tahati, the new hebrides, and kindred spots with all their savage, bestial orgies of alternate unbridled lust and unnamable cruelty. let it be so. for my part, i rejoice that i have no tale of weeks of drunkenness, of brutal rape, treacherous murder, and almost unthinkable torture to tell. for of such is the paradise of the beach-comber, and the hell of the clean man. not that i have been able to escape it altogether. when i say that i once shipped, unwittingly, as sailing-master of a little white schooner in noumea, bound to apia, finding when too late that she was a "blackbirder"--"labour vessel," the wise it call--nothing more will be needed to convince the initiated that i have moved in the "nine circles" of polynesia. some time before the day fixed for our departure, we were busy storing the gifts so liberally showered upon us by our eager friends. hundreds of bunches of bananas, many thousands of oranges, yams, taro, chillies, fowls, and pigs were accumulated, until the ship looked like a huge market-boat. but we could not persuade any of the natives to ship with us to replace those whoso contract was now expiring. samuela and polly were, after much difficulty, prevailed upon by me to go with us to new zealand, much to my gratification; but still we were woefully short-handed, at last, seeing that there was no help for it, the skipper decided to run over to futuna, or horn island, where he felt certain of obtaining recruits without any trouble. he did so most unwillingly, as may well be believed, for the newcomers would need much training, while our present kanaka auxiliaries were the smartest men in the ship. the slop-chest was largely drawn upon, to the credit of the crew, who wished in some tangible way to show their appreciation of the unremitting kindness shown them by their dusky friends. not a whisper had been uttered by any native as to desire of remuneration for what he had given. if they expected a return, they certainly exercised great control over themselves in keeping their wishes quiet. but when they received the clothing, all utterly unsuited to their requirements as it was, their beaming faces eloquently proclaimed the reality of their joy. heavy woollen shirts, thick cloth trousers and jackets, knitted socks; but acceptable beyond all was a pilot-suit--warm enough for the channel in winter. happy above all power of expression was he who secured it. with an eared cloth cap and a pair of half boots, to complete his preposterous rig, no bond street exquisite could feel more calmly conscious of being a well-dressed man than he. from henceforth he would be the observed of all observers at chapel on sunday, exciting worldly desires and aspirations among his cooler but coveting fellow-worshippers. the ladies fared very badly, until the skipper, with a twinkling eye, announced that he had "dug up" some rolls of "cloth" (calico), which he was prepared to supply us with at reasonable rates. being of rather pretty pattern, it went off like hot pies, and as the "fathoms" of gaudy, flimsy material were distributed to the delighted fafines, their shrill cries of gratitude were almost deafening. inexorable time brought round the morning of our departure. willing hands lifted our anchor, and hoisted the sails, so that we had nothing to do but look on. a scarcely perceptible breeze, stealing softly over the tree-tops, filled our upper canvas, sparing us the labour of towing her out of the little bay where we had lain so long, and gradually wafted us away from its lovely shores, amid the fast-flowing tears of the great crowd. with multitudinous cries of "ofa, al-ofa, papalang" ringing in our ears ("good-bye; good-bye, white man"), we rounded the point, and, with increasing pace, bore away through the outlying islands for the open sea. there was a strong trade blowing, making the old barky caper like a dancing-master, which long unfamiliar motion almost disagreed with some of us, after our long quiet. under its hastening influence we made such good time that before dinner vau vau had faded into nothingness, mingling like the clouds with the soft haze on the horizon, from henceforth only a memory. we were not a very cheerful crowd that night, most of us being busy with his own reflections. i must confess that i felt far greater sorrow at leaving vau vau than ever i did at leaving england; because by the time i was able to secure a berth, i have usually drunk pretty deep of the bitter cup of the "outward bounder," than whom there is no more forlorn, miserable creature on earth. no one but the much abused boarding-master will have anything to do with him, and that worthy is generally careful to let him know that he is but a hanger-on, a dependant on sufferance for a meal, and that his presence on shore is an outrage. as for the sailors' homes, i have hardly patience to speak of them. i know the sailor is usually a big baby that wants protecting against himself, and that once within the four walls of the institution he is safe; but right there commendation must end. why are good folks ashore systematically misled into the belief that the sailor is an object of charity, and that it is necessary to subscribe continually and liberally to provide him with food and shelter when ashore? most of the contributors would be surprised to know that the cost of board and lodging at the "home" is precisely the same as it is outside, and much higher than a landsman of the same grade can live for in better style. with the exception of the sleeping accommodation, most men prefer the boarding-house, where, if they preserve the same commercial status which is a sine qua non at the "home," they are treated like gentlemen; but in what follows lies the essential difference, and the reason for this outburst of mine, smothered in silence for years. an "outward bounder"--that is, a man whose money is exhausted and who is living upon the credit; of his prospective advance of pay--is unknown at the "home." no matter what the condition of things is in the shipping world; though the man may have fought with energy to get his discharge accepted among the crowd at the "chain-locker;" though he be footsore and weary with "looking for a ship," when his money is done, out into the street he must go, if haply he may find a speculative boarding-master to receive him. this act, although most unlikely in appearance, is often performed; and though the boarding-master, of course, expects to recoup himself out of the man's advance note, it is none the less as merciful as the action of the "home" authorities is merciless. of course a man may go to the "straw house," or, as it is grandiloquently termed, the "destitute seaman's asylum," where for a season he will be fed on the refuse from the "home," and sheltered from the weather. but the ungrateful rascals do not like the "straw house," and use very bad language about it. the galling thing about the whole affair is that the "sailors' home" figures in certain official publications as a charity, which must be partially supported by outside contributions. it may be a charitable institution, but it certainly is not so to the sailor, who pays fully for everything he receives. the charity is bestowed upon a far different class of people to merchant jack. let it be granted that a man is sober and provident, always getting a ship before his money is all gone, he will probably be well content at the home, although very few seamen like to be reminded ashore of their sea routine, as the manner of the home is. if the institution does not pay a handsome dividend, with its clothing shops and refreshment bars, as well as the boarding-house lousiness on such a large scale, only one inference can be fairly drawn--there must be something radically wrong with the management. after this burst of temper, perhaps i had better get back to the subject in hand. it was, i suppose, in the usual contrary nature of things that, while we were all in this nearly helpless condition, one evening just before sunset, along comes a sperm whale. now, the commonest prudence would have suggested letting him severely alone, since we were not only short-handed, but several of our crew were completely crippled by large boils; but it would have been an unprecedented thing to do while there was any room left in the hold. consequently we mustered the halt and the lame, and manned two boats--all we could do--leaving the almost useless cripples to handle the ship. not to displace the rightful harpooner, i took an oar in one of them, headed by the captain. at first my hopes were high that we should not succeed in reaching the victim before dark, but i was grievously disappointed in this. just as the whale was curving himself to sound, we got fairly close, and the harpooner made a "pitch-pole" dart; that is, he hurled his weapon into the air, where it described a fine curve, and fell point downward on the animal's back just as he was disappearing. he stopped his descent immediately, and turned savagely to see what had struck him so unexpectedly. at that moment the sun went down. after the first few minutes' "kick-up," he settled down for a steady run, but not before the mate got good and fast to him likewise. away we went at a rare rate into the gathering gloom of the fast-coming night. now, had it been about the time of full moon or thereabouts, we should doubtless have been able, by the flood of molten light she sends down in those latitudes, to give a good account of our enemy; but alas for us, it was not. the sky overhead was a deep blue-black, with steely sparkles of starlight scattered all over it, only serving to accentuate the darkness. after a short time our whale became totally invisible, except for the phosphoric glare of the water all around him as he steadily ploughed his way along. there was a good breeze blowing, which soon caused us all to be drenched with the spray, rendering the general effect of things cold as well as cheerless. needless to say, we strove with all our might to get alongside of him, so that an end might be put to so unpleasant a state of affairs; but in our crippled condition it was not at all easy to do so. we persevered, however, and at last managed to get near enough for the skipper to hurl a lance into the brightness of which the whale formed the centre. it must have touched him, for he gave a bound forward and disappeared. we suddenly came to a standstill, but in a moment were whirled round as if on a pivot, and away we went in the opposite direction. he had turned a complete somersault in the water beneath us, giving us a "grue" as we reflected what would have happened had he then chosen to come bounding to the surface. this manoeuvre seemed to please him mightily, for he ran at top speed several minutes, and then repeated it. this time he was nearly successful in doing us some real harm, for it was now so dark that we could hardly see the other boat's form as she towed along parallel to us about three or four lengths away. the two boats swung round in a wide circle, rushing back at each other out of the surrounding darkness as if bent on mutual destruction. only by the smartest manipulation was a collision avoided, which, as each boat's bows bristled with lances and harpoons, would have been a serious matter for some of us. however, the whale did not have it all his own way, for the skipper, having charged his bomb-gun, patiently laid for him, and fired. it was rather a long shot, but it reached him, as we afterwards ascertained, making an ugly wound in the small near his tail. its effect upon him was startling and immediate. he rushed off at so furious a rate dead to windward that for a great while we had all our work cut out to keep her free by baling. the sea had risen a little, and as we leapt from one wave to another the spray flew over us in an almost continuous cloud. clearly our situation was a parlous one. we could not get near him; we were becoming dangerously enfeebled, and he appeared to be gaining strength instead of losing it. besides all this, none of us could have the least idea of how the ship now bore from us, our only comfort being that, by observation of the cross, we were not making a direct course, but travelling on the circumference of an immense circle. whatever damage we had done to him so far was evidently quite superficial, for, accustomed as we were to tremendous displays of vigour on the part of these creatures, this specimen fairly surprised us. the time could only be guessed at; but, judging from our feelings, it might have been two or three nights long. still, to all things an end, so in the midst of our dogged endurance of all this misery we felt the pace give, and took heart of grace immediately. calling up all our reserves, we hauled up on to him, regardless of pain or weariness. the skipper and mate lost no opportunities of lancing, once they were alongside, but worked like heroes, until a final plunging of the fast-dying leviathan warned us to retreat. up he went out of the glittering foam into the upper darkness, while we held our breath at the unique sight of a whale breaching at night. but when he fell again the effect was marvellous. green columns of water arose on either side of the descending mass as if from the bowels of the deep, while their ghostly glare lit up the encircling gloom with a strange, weird radiance, which reflected in our anxious faces, made us look like an expedition from the flying dutchman. a short spell of gradually quieting struggle succeeded as the great beast succumbed, until all was still again, except the strange, low surge made by the waves as they broke over the bank of flesh passively obstructing their free sweep. while the final touch was being given to our task--i.e. the hole-boring through the tail-fin--all hands lay around in various picturesque attitudes, enjoying a refreshing smoke, care forgetting. while thus pleasantly employed, sudden death, like a bolt from the blue, leapt into our midst in a terrible form. the skipper was labouring hard at his task of cutting the hole for the tow-line, when without warning the great fin swung back as if suddenly released from tremendous tension. happily for us, the force of the blow was broken by its direction, as it struck the water before reaching the boat's side, but the upper lobe hurled the boat-spade from the captain's hands back into our midst, where it struck the tub oarsman, splitting his head in two halves. the horror of the tragedy, the enveloping darkness, the inexplicable revivifying of the monster, which we could not have doubted to be dead, all combined to stupefy and paralyze us for the time. not a sound was heard in our boat, though the yells of inquiry from our companion craft arose in increasing volume. it was but a brief accession of energy, only lasting two or three minutes, when the whale collapsed finally. having recovered from our surprise, we took no further chances with so dangerous an opponent, but bored him as full of holes as a colander. mournful and miserable were the remaining hours of our vigil. we sat around poor miguel's corpse with unutterable feelings, recalling all the tragical events of the voyage, until we reached the nadir of despondency. with the rosy light of morning came more cheerful feelings, heightened by the close proximity of the ship, from which it is probable we had never been more than ten miles distant during the whole night. she had sighted us with the first light, and made all sail down to us, all hands much relieved at our safety. we were so sorely exhausted that we could hardly climb on board; and how we hoisted the boats i hardly know. the whale was secured by the efforts of the cripples we had left on board, while we wayfarers, after a good meal, were allowed four hours' sound, sweet sleep. when we returned to our duties, the first thing that awaited us was the burial of the poor body. very reverently were the last sad offices performed, the flag hoisted half-mast, the bell solemnly tolled. then we gathered at the gangway while the eternal words of hope and consolation were falteringly read, and with a sudden plunge the long, straight parcel slid off the hatch into the vast tomb ever ready for the dead sailor. our dead out of sight, work claimed all our attention and energy, wiping with its benificent influence all gloomy musings over the inevitable, and replacing them with the pressing needs of life. the whale was not a large one, but peculiar to look at. like the specimen that fought so fiercely with us in the indian ocean, its jaw was twisted round in a sort of hook, the part that curved being so thickly covered with long barnacles as to give the monster a most eerie look. one of the portuguese expressed his decided opinion that we had caught davy jones himself, and that, in consequence, we should have no more accidents. it was impossible not to sympathize with the conceit, for of all the queer-looking monstrosities ever seen, this latest acquisition of ours would have taken high honours. such malformations of the lower mandible of the cachalot have often been met with, and variously explained; but the most plausible opinion seems to be that they have been acquired when the animal is very young and its bones not yet indurated, since it is impossible to believe that an adult could suffer such an accident without the broken jaw drooping instead of being turned on one side. the yield of oil was distressingly scanty, the whale being what is technically known as a "dry skin." the blubber was so hard and tough that we could hardly cut it up for boiling, and altogether it was one of the most disappointing affairs we had yet dealt with. this poorness of blubber was, to my mind, undoubtedly due to the difficulty the animal must have had in obtaining food with his disabling defect of jaw. whatever it was, we were heartily glad to see the last of the beast, fervently hoping we should never meet with another like him. during the progress of these melancholy operations we had drifted a considerable distance out of our course, no attention being paid, as usual, to the direction of our drift until the greasy work was done. once the mess was cleared away, we hauled up again for our objective--futuna--which, as it was but a few hours' sail distant, we hoped to make the next day. chapter xxiii. at futuna, recruiting sure enough, in accordance with our expectations, break of day revealed the twin masses of futuna ahead, some ten or fifteen miles away. with the fine, steady breeze blowing, by breakfast-time we were off the entrance to a pretty bight, where sail was shortened and the ship hove-to. captain count did not intend to anchor, for reasons of his own, he being assured that there was no need to do so. nor was there. although the distance from the beach was considerable, we could see numbers of canoes putting off, and soon they began to arrive. now, some of the south sea islands are famous for the elegance and seaworthiness of their canoes; nearly all of them have a distinctly definite style of canoe-building; but here at futuna was a bewildering collection of almost every type of canoe in the wide world. dugouts, with outriggers on one side, on both sides, with none at all; canoes built like boats, like prams, like irregular egg-boxes, many looking like the first boyish attempt to knock something together that would float; and--not to unduly prolong the list by attempted classification of these unclassed craft--coracles. yes; in that lonely pacific island, among that motley crowd of floating nondescripts, were specimens of the ancient coracle of our own islands, constructed in exactly the same way; that is, of wicker-work, covered with some waterproof substance, whether skin or tarpaulin. but the ingenious kanaka, not content with his coracles, had gone one better, and copied them in dugouts of solid timber. the resultant vessel was a sort of cross between a butcher's tray and a wash-basin-- "a thing beyond conception: such a wretched wherry, perhaps ne'er ventured on a pond, or crossed a ferry." the proud possessors of the coracles, both wicker and wood, must have been poor indeed, for they did not even own a paddle, propelling their basins through the water with their hands. it may be imagined what a pace they put on! at a little distance they were very puzzling, looking more like a water-beetle grown fat and lazy than aught else. and so, in everything floatable, the whole male population of that part of the coast came to visit us. we were speedily the centre of a great crowd of canoes, some of which were continually capsizing and spilling their occupants, who took no more notice of such incidents than one would of a sneeze. underneath a canoe, or on top, made but little difference to these amphibious creatures. they brought nothing with them to trade; in fact, few of their vessels were capable of carrying anything that could not swim and take care of itself. as they came on board, each crossed himself more or less devoutly, revealing the teaching of a roman catholic mission; and as they called to one another, it was not hard to recognize, even in their native garb, such names as erreneo (irenaeus), al'seo (aloysius), and other favourite cognomens of saints. a laughing chattering good-tempered crowd they were--just like a bevy of children breaking up, and apparently destitute of the slightest sense of responsibility. they spoke a totally different dialect, or maybe language, to that of vau vau, for it was only an isolated word here and there that samuela could make out. but presently, going forward through the crowd that thronged every part of the deck, i saw a man leaning nonchalantly against the rail by the fore-rigging, who struck me at once as being an american negro. the most casual observer would not have mistaken him for a kanaka of those latitudes, though he might have passed as a papuan. he was dressed in all the dignity of a woollen shirt, with a piece of fine "tapa" for a waistcloth, feet and legs bare. around his neck was a necklace composed of a number of strings of blue and white beads plaited up neatly, and carrying as a pendant a george shilling. going up to him, i looked at the coin, and said, "belitani money?" "oh yes," he said, "that's a shilling of old georgey fourf," in perfectly good english, but with an accent which quite confirmed my first idea. i at once invited him aft to see the skipper, who was very anxious to find an interpreter among the noisy crowd, besides being somewhat uneasy at having so large a number on board. to the captain's interrogations he replied that he was "tui tongoa"--that is, king of tonga, an island a little distance away--but that he was at present under a cloud, owing to the success of a usurper, whom he would reckon with by-and-by. in the mean time he would have no objection to engaging himself with us as a harpooner, and would get us as many men as we wanted, selecting from among the crowd on board, fellows that would, he knew, be useful to us. a bargain was soon struck, and tui entered upon his self-imposed task. it was immediately evident that he had a bigger contract on hand than he had imagined. the natives, who had previously held somewhat aloof from him in a kind of deferential respect, no sooner got wind of the fact that we needed some of them than they were seized with a perfect frenzy of excitement. there were, i should think, at least a hundred and fifty of them on board at the time. of this crowd, every member wanted to be selected, pushing his candidature with voice and gesture as vigorously as he knew how. the din was frightful. tui, centre of the frantic mob, strove vainly to make himself heard, to reduce the chaos to some sort of order, but for a great while it was a hopeless attempt. at last, extricating himself from his importunate friends, he gained the captain's side. panting, almost breathless, with sweat streaming off him, he gasped out, "oh, cap'n, dese yer darn niggers all gone mad! dribe 'em oberbord; clar 'em out, 'n i'll stan' by to grab some o' der likely ones as de res' scatter." "but what about the wages?" said the skipper. "i'm not goin' ter give 'em whatever they like to ask." "you leab it ter me, cap'n. i bet you'll be satisfy. anyhow, dishyers no time fer tradin'; de blame niggers all off dere coco-nuts. anybody fink you'se payin' off 'stead o' shippin', an' deyse all afraid dey won't get 'nough." unpleasant as the job was to all of us, it had to be done; so we armed ourselves with ropes'-ends, which we flourished threateningly, avoiding where possible any actual blows. many sprang overboard at once, finding their way ashore or to their canoes as best they could. the majority, however, had to swim, for we now noticed that, either in haste or from carelessness, they had in most cases omitted to fasten their canoes securely when coming alongside, so that many of them were now far out to sea. the distance to shore being under three miles, that mattered little, as far as their personal safety was concerned. this summary treatment was eminently successful, quiet being rapidly restored, so that tui was able to select a dozen men, who he declared were the best in the islands for our purpose. although it seems somewhat premature to say so, the general conduct of the successful candidates was so good as to justify tui fully in his eulogium. perhaps his presence had something to do with it? we now had all that we came for, so that we were anxious to be off. but it was a job to get rid of the visitors still remaining on board. they stowed themselves away in all manner of corners, in some cases ludicrously inadequate as hiding-places, and it was not until we were nearly five miles from the land that the last of them plunged into the sea and struck out for home. it was very queer. ignorant of our destination, of what would be required of them; leaving a land of ease and plenty for a certainty of short commons and hard work, without preparation or farewells, i do not think i ever heard of such a strange thing before. had their home been famine or plague-stricken, they could not have evinced greater eagerness to leave it, or to face the great unknown. as we drew farther off the island the wind freshened, until we had a good, whole-sail breeze blustering behind us, the old ship making, with her usual generous fuss, a tremendous rate of seven knots an hour. our course was shaped for the southward, towards the bay of islands, new zealand. in that favourite haunt of the south-seaman we were to wood and water, find letters from home (those who had one), and prepare for the stormy south. obviously the first thing to be done for our new shipmates was to clothe them. when they arrived on board, all, with the single exception of tui, were furnished only with a "maro" of "tapa," scanty in its proportions, but still enough to wrap round their loins. but when they were accepted for the vacant positions on board, they cast off even the slight apology for clothing which they had worn, flinging the poor rags to their retreating and rejected compatriots. thus they were strutting about, in native majesty unclad, which, of course, could not be endured among even so unconventional a crowd as we were. so they were mustered aft, and, to their extravagant delight, a complete rig-out was handed to each of them, accompanied by graphic instructions how to dress themselves. very queer they looked when dressed, but queerer still not long afterwards, when some of them, galled by the unaccustomed restraint of the trousers, were seen prowling about with shirts tied round their waists by the sleeves, and pants twisted turban-wise about their heads. tui was called, and requested to inform them that they must dress properly, after the fashion of the white man, for that any impromptu improvements upon our method of clothes-wearing could not be permitted. as they were gentle, tractable fellows, they readily obeyed, and, though they must have suffered considerably, there were no further grounds for complaint on the score of dress. it has been already noticed that they were roman catholics--all except tui, who from his superior mental elevation looked down upon their beliefs with calm contempt, although really a greater heathen than any of them had ever been. it was quite pathetic to see how earnestly they endeavoured to maintain the form of worship to which they had been accustomed, though how they managed without their priest, i could not find out. every evening they had prayers together, accompanied by many crossings and genuflexions, and wound up by the singing of a hymn in such queer latin that it was almost unrecognizable. after much wondering i did manage to make out "o salutaris hostia!" and "tantum ergo," but not until their queer pronunciation of consonants had become familiar. some of the hymns were in their own tongue, only one of which i call now remember. phonetically, it ran thus-- "mah-lee-ah, kollyeea leekee; obselloh mo mallamah. alofah, keea ma toh; fah na oh, mah lah ee ah"-- which i understood to be a native rendering of "o stella maris!" it was sung to the well-known "processional" in good time, and on that account, i suppose, fixed itself in my memory. whenever any of them were ordered aloft, they never failed to cross themselves before taking to the rigging, as if impressed with a sense of their chance of not returning again in safety. to me was given the congenial task of teaching them the duties required, and i am bound to admit that they were willing, biddable, and cheerful learners. another amiable trait in their characters was especially noticeable: they always held everything in common. no matter how small the portion received by any one, it was scrupulously shared with the others who lacked, and this subdivision was often carried to ludicrous lengths. as there was so reason to hurry south, we, took a short cruise on the vasquez ground, more, i think, for the purpose of training our recruits than anything else. as far as the results to our profit were concerned, we might almost as well have gone straight on, for we only took one small cow-cachalot. but the time spent thus cruising was by no means wasted. before we left finally for new zealand, every one of those kanakas was as much at home in the whale-boats as he would have been in a canoe. of course they were greatly helped by their entire familiarity with the water, which took from them all that dread of being drowned which hampers the white "greenie" so sorely, besides which, the absolute confidence they had in our prowess amongst the whales freed them from any fear on that head. tui proved himself to be a smart harpooner, and was chosen for the captain's boat. during our conversations, i was secretly amused to hear him allude to himself as sam, thinking how little it accorded with his soi-disant kanaka origin. he often regaled me with accounts of his royal struggles to maintain his rule, all of which narrations i received with a goodly amount of reserve, though confirmed in some particulars by the kanakas, when i became able to converse with them. but i was hardly prepared to find, as i did many years after, upon looking up some detail in findlay's "south pacific directory," this worthy alluded to as "the celebrated sam," in a brief account of futuna. there he was said to be king of the twin isles; so i suppose he found means to oust his rival, and resume his sovereignty; though, how an american negro, as sam undoubtedly was, ever managed to gain such a position, remains to me an unfathomable mystery. certainly he did not reveal any such masterful attributes as one would have expected in him, while he served as harpooner on board the cachalot. gradually we crept south, until one morning we sighted the towering mass of sunday island, the principal member of the small kermadec group, which lies nearly on the prime meridian of one hundred and eighty degrees, and but a short distance north of the extremity of new zealand. we had long ago finished the last of our fresh provisions, fish had been very scarce, so the captain seized the opportunity to give us a run ashore, and at the same time instructed us to do such foraging as we could. it was rumoured that there were many wild pigs to be found, and certainly abundance of goats; but if both these sources of supply failed, we could fall back on fish, of which we were almost sure to get a good haul. the island is a stupendous mass of rock, rising sheer from the waves, in some places to a height of fifteen hundred feet. these towering cliffs are clothed with verdure, large trees clinging to their precipitous sides in a marvellous way. except at one small bight, known as denham bay, the place is inaccessible, not only from the steepness of its cliffs, but because, owing to its position, the gigantic swell of the south pacific assails those immense bastions with a force and volume that would destroy instantly any vessel that unfortunately ventured too near. denham bay, however, is in some measure protected by reefs of scattered boulders, which break the greatest volume of the oncoming rollers. within those protecting barriers, with certain winds, it is possible to effect a landing with caution; but even then no tyro in boat-handling should venture to do so, as the experiment would almost certainly be fatal to boat and crew. we hove-to off the little bay, the waters of which looked placid enough for a pleasure-party, lowered two boats well furnished with fishing gear and such other equipment as we thought would be needed, and pulled away for the landing-place. as we drew near the beach, we found that, in spite of the hindrance to the ocean swell afforded by the reefs, it broke upon the beach in rollers of immense size. in order to avoid any mishap, then, we turned the boats' heads to seaward, and gently backed towards the beach, until a larger breaker than usual came thundering in. as it rushed towards us, we pulled lustily to meet it, the lovely craft rising to its foaming crest like sea-birds. then, as soon as we were on its outer slope, we reversed the stroke again, coming in on its mighty shoulders at racing speed. the instant our keels touched the beach we all leapt out, and exerting every ounce of strength we possessed, ran the boats up high and dry before the next roller had time to do more than hiss harmlessly around our feet. it was a task of uncommon difficulty, for the shore was wholly composed of loose lava and pumice-stone grit, into which we sank ankle-deep at every step, besides being exceedingly steep. we managed, however, to escape without any mishap, for the drenching was a boon to our burnt-up skins. off we started along the level land, which, as far as i could judge, extended inland for perhaps a mile and a half by about two miles wide. from this flat shelf the cliffs rose perpendicularly, as they did from the sea. up their sides were innumerable goat-tracks, upon some of which we could descry a few of those agile creatures climbing almost like flies. the plateau was thickly wooded, many of the trees having been fruit-bearing once, but now, much to our disappointment, barren from neglect. a ruined house, surrounded by other vestiges of what had once been a homestead, stood in the middle of this piece of land. feeling curious to know what the history of this isolated settlement might be, i asked the mate if he knew anything of it. he told me that an american named halstead, with his family, lived here for years, visited only by an occasional whaler, to whom they sold such produce as they might have and be able to spare at the time. what their previous history had been, or why they thus chose to cut themselves off from the world, he did not know; but they seemed contented enough with their tiny kingdom, nor had any wish to leave it. but it came to pass that one night they felt the sure and firm-set earth trembling convulsively beneath their feet. rushing out of their house, they saw the heavens bespread with an awful pall of smoke, the under-side of which was glowing with the reflected fires of some vast furnace. their terror was increased by a smart shower of falling ashes and the reverberations of subterranean thunders. at first they thought of flight in their boat, not reckoning the wide stretch of sea which rolled between them and the nearest land, but the height and frequency of the breakers then prevailing made that impossible. their situation was pitiable in the extreme. during the years of peace and serenity they had spent here, no thought of the insecurity of their tenure had troubled them. though they had but been dwellers on the threshold of the mountain, as it were, and any extension of their territory impossible by reason of the insurmountable barrier around them, they had led an untroubled life, all unknowing of the fearful forces beneath their feet. but now they found the foundations of the rocks beneath breaking up; that withering, incessant shower of ashes and scoriae destroyed all their crops; the mild and delicate air changed into a heavy, sulphurous miasma; while overhead the beneficent face of the bright-blue sky had become a horrible canopy of deadly black, about which played lurid coruscations of infernal fires. what they endured throughout those days and nights of woe, could never be told. they fled from the home they had reared with such abundance of loving labour, taking refuge in a cave; for not even the knowledge that the mountain itself seemed to be in the throes of dissolution could entirely destroy their trust in those apparently eternal fastnesses. here their eldest son died, worried to death by incessant terror. at last a passing whaler, remembering them and seeing the condition of things, had the humanity and courage to stand in near enough to see their agonized signals of distress. all of them, except the son buried but a day or two before, were safely received and carried away, leaving the terrible mountain to its solitude. as i listened, i almost involuntarily cast my eyes upwards; nor was i at all surprised to see far overhead a solitary patch of smoky cloud, which i believe to have been a sure indication that the volcano was still liable to commence operations at any time. so far, we had not happened upon any pigs, or goats either, although we saw many indications of the latter odoriferous animal. there were few sea-birds to be seen, but in and out among the dense undergrowth ran many short-legged brown birds, something like a partridge--the same, i believe, as we afterwards became familiar with in stewart's island by the name of "maori hens." they were so tame and inquisitive that we had no difficulty in securing a few by the simple process of knocking them over with sticks. from the main branch of a large tree hung a big honey-comb, out of which the honey was draining upon the earth. around it buzzed a busy concourse of bees, who appeared to us so formidable that we decided to leave them to the enjoyment of their sweet store, in case we should invite an attack. so far, our rambling had revealed nothing of any service to us; but just then, struck by the appearance of a plant which was growing profusely in a glade we were passing over, i made bold to taste one of the leaves. what the botanical name of the vegetable is, i do not know; but, under the designation of "maori cabbage," it is well known in new zealand. it looks like a lettuce, running to seed; but it tastes exactly like young turnip-tops, and is a splendid anti-scorbutic. what its discovery meant to us, i can hardly convey to any one who does not know what an insatiable craving for potatoes and green vegetables possesses seamen when they have for long been deprived of these humble but necessary articles of food. under the circumstances, no "find" could have given us greater pleasure--that is, in the food line--than this did. taking it all round, however, the place as a foraging ground was not a success. we chased a goat of very large size, and beard voluminous as a rabbi's, into a cave, which may have been the one the halsteads took shelter in, for we saw no other. one of the kanakas volunteered to go in after him with a line, and did so. the resultant encounter was the best bit of fun we had had for many a day. after a period of darksome scuffling within, the entangled pair emerged, fiercely wrestling, billy being to all appearance much the fresher of the two. fair play seemed to demand that we should let them fight it out; but, sad to say, the other kanakas could not see things in that light, and billy was soon despatched. rather needless killing, too; for no one, except at starvation-point, could have eaten the poor remains of leathery flesh that still decorated that weather-beaten frame. but this sort of thing was tiring and unprofitable. the interest of the place soon fizzled out, when it was found there was so little worth taking away; so, as the day was getting on, it was decided to launch off and start fishing. in a few minutes we were afloat again, and anchored, in about four fathoms, in as favourable a spot for our sport as ever i saw. fish swarmed about us of many sorts, but principally of the "kauwhai," a kind of mullet very plentiful about auckland, and averaging five or six pounds. much to my annoyance, we had not been able to get any bait, except a bit of raw salt-pork, which hardly any fish but the shark tribe will look at. had i known or thought of it, a bit of goat would have been far more attractive. however, as there was no help for it, we baited up and started. "nary nibble ermong 'em!" growled sam, as we sat impatiently waiting for a bite. when we hauled up to see what was wrong, fish followed the hook up in hundreds, letting us know plainly as possible that they only wanted something tasty. it was outrageous, exasperating beyond measure! at last samuela grew so tired of it that he seized his harpoon, and hurled it into the middle of a company of kauwhai that were calmly nosing around the bows. by the merest chance he managed to impale one of them upon the broad point. it was hardly in the boat before i had seized it, scaled it, and cut it into neat little blocks. all hands rebaited with it, and flung out again. the change was astounding. up they came, two at a time, dozens and dozens of them kauwhai, cavalle, yellow-tail, schnapper--lovely fish of delicious flavour and goodly size. then one of us got a fish which made him yell, "shark! shark!" with all his might. he had a small line of american cotton, staunch as copper wire, but dreadfully cutting to the hands. when he took a turn round the logger-head, the friction of the running line cut right into the white oak, but the wonderful cord and hook still held their own. at last the monster yielded, coming in at first inch by inch, then more rapidly, till raised in triumph above the gunwhale--a yellow-tail six feet long. i have caught this splendid fish (elagatis bipinnulatis) many times before and since then, but never did i see such a grand specimen as this one--no, not by thirty or forty pounds. then i got a giant cavalle. his broad, shield-like body blazed hither and thither as i struggled to ship him, but it was long ere he gave in to superior strength and excellence of line and hook. meanwhile, the others had been steadily increasing our cargo, until, feeling that we had quite as much fish as would suffice us, besides being really a good load, i suggested a move towards the ship. we were laying within about half a mile of the shore, where the extremity of the level land reached the cliffs. up one of the well-worn tracks a fine, fat goat was slowly creeping, stopping every now and then to browse upon the short herbage that clung to the crevices of the rock. without saying a word, polly the kanaka slipped over the side, and struck out with swift overhead strokes for the foot of the cliff. as soon as i saw what, he was after, i shouted loudly for him to return, but he either could not or would not hear me. the fellow's seal-like ability as a swimmer was, of course, well known to me, but i must confess i trembled for his life in such a weltering whirl of rock-torn sea as boiled among the crags at the base of that precipice. he, however, evidently knew what he was going to do, and, though taking risks which would have certainly been fatal to an ordinary swimmer, was quite unafraid of the result. we all watched him breathlessly as he apparently headed straight for the biggest outlying rock--a square, black boulder about the size of an ordinary railway car. he came up to it on the summit of a foaming wave; but just as i looked for him to be dashed to pieces against its adamantine sides, he threw his legs into the air and disappeared. a stealthy, satisfied smile glowed upon samuela's rugged visage, and, as he caught my eye, he said jauntily, "polly savee too much. lookee him come on top one time!" i looked, and sure enough there was the daring villain crawling up among the kelp far out of reach of the hungry rollers. it was a marvellous exhibition of coolness and skill. without waiting an instant, he began to stalk the goat, dodging amongst the bushes with feet that clung to the steep sides of the cliff as well as the animal's. before he could reach her, she had winded him, and was off up the track. he followed, without further attempt to hide himself; but, despite his vigour and ability, would, i fancy, have stood a microscopic chance of catching her had she not been heavy with kid. as it was, he had all his work cut out for him. when he did catch her, she made so fierce it struggle for life and liberty that, in the endeavour to hold her, he missed his insecure foothold, and the pair came tumbling over and over down the cliff in a miniature avalanche of stones and dust. at the bottom they both lay quiet for a time; while i anxiously waited, fearing the rash fool was seriously injured; but in a minute or two he was on his feet again. lashing the goat to his body, and ignoring her struggles, he crawled out as far among the rocks as he could; then, at the approach of a big breaker, he dived to meet it, coming up outside its threatening top like a life-buoy. i pulled in, as near as i could venture, to pick him up, and in a few minutes had him safely on board again, but suffering fearfully. in his roll down the cliff he had been without his trousers, which would have been some protection to him. consequently, his thighs were deeply cut and torn in many places, while the brine entering so many wounds, though a grand styptic, must have tortured him unspeakably. at any rate, though he was a regular stoic to bear pain, he fainted while i was "dressing him down" in the most vigorous language i could command for his foolhardy trick. then we all realized what he must be going through, and felt that he was getting all the punishment he deserved, and more. the goat, poor thing! seemed none the worse for her rough handling. the mate gave the signal to get back on board just as polly revived, so there were no inconvenient questions asked, and we returned alongside in triumph, with such a cargo of fish as would have given us a good month's pay all round could we have landed them at billingsgate. although the mate had not succeeded as well as we, the catch of the two boats aggregated half a ton, not a fish among the lot less than five pounds weight, and one of a hundred and twenty--the yellow-tail aforesaid. as soon as we reached the ship, the boats were run up, sails filled, and away we lumbered again towards new zealand. as the great mass of that solitary mountain faded away in the gathering shades of evening, it was impossible to help remembering the sufferings of that afflicted family, confined to those trembling, sulphurous, ash-bestrewn rocks, amid gloom by day, and unnatural glare by night, for all that weary while. and while i admit that there is to some people a charm in being alone with nature, it is altogether another thing when your solitude becomes compulsory, your paradise a prison from which you cannot break away. there are many such nooks scattered about the ocean, where men have hidden themselves away from the busy world, and been forgotten by it; but few of them, i fancy, offer such potentialities of terror as sunday island. we had hardly lost sight of the land, when polly's capture gave birth to a kid. this event was the most interesting thing that had happened on board for a great while, and the funny little visitor would have run great risk of being completely spoiled had he lived. but, to our universal sorrow, the mother's milk failed--from want of green food, i suppose--and we were obliged to kill the poor little chap to save him from being starved to death. he made a savoury mess for some whose appetite for flesh-meat was stronger than any sentimental considerations. to an ordinary trader, the distance between the kermadecs and the bay of islands, new zealand, roughly represents a couple of days' sail; but to us, who were apparently incapable of hurry under any circumstances, it meant a good week's bludgeoning the protesting waves before the grim outliers of the three kings came into view. even then, although the distance was a mere bagatelle, it was another two days before we arrived off that magnificent harbour where reposes the oldest township in new zealand--russell, where rest the mortal remains of the first really pakeha maori, but which, for some unaccountable reason, is still left undeveloped and neglected, visited only by the wandering whalers (in ever-decreasing numbers) and an occasional trim, business-like, and gentlemanly man-o'-war, that, like a guardsman strolling the west end in mufti, stalks the sea with never an item of her smart rig deviating by a shade from its proper set or sheer. chapter xxiv. the bay of islands and new zealand coast in a comparative new colony like new zealand, where the marvellous growth of the young state can be traced within living memory, from the privations of the pioneer to the fully developed city with all the machinery of our latest luxurious civilization, it is exceedingly interesting to note how the principal towns have sprung up arbitrarily, and without any heed to the intentions of the ruling powers. the old-fashioned township of kororarika, or port russell, is a case very much in point. as we sailed in between the many islets from which the magnificent bay takes its name, for all appearances to the contrary, we might have been the first, discoverers. not a house, not a sail, not a boat, broke the loneliness and primeval look of the placid waters and the adjacent shores. not until we drew near the anchorage, and saw upon opening up the little town the straight-standing masts of three whale-ships, did anything appear to dispel the intense air of solitude overhanging the whole. as we drew nearer, and rounded-to for mooring, i looked expectantly for some sign of enterprise on the part of the inhabitants--some tradesman's boat soliciting orders; some of the population on the beach (there was no sign of a pier), watching the visitor come to an anchor. not a bit of it. the whole place seemed a maritime sleepy hollow, the dwellers in which had lost all interest in life, and had become far less energetic than the much-maligned kanakas in their dreamy isles of summer. yet this was once intended for the capital of new zealand. when the large and splendidly-built city of dunedin, otago, was a barren bush, haunted only by the "morepork" and the apteryx, russell was humming with vitality, her harbour busy with fleets of ships, principally whalers, who found it the most convenient calling-place in the southern temperate zone. terrible scenes were enacted about its "blackguard beach," orgies of wild debauchery and bloodshed indulged in by the half-savage and utterly lawless crews of the whaleships. but it never attained to any real importance. as a port of call for whalers, it enjoyed a certain kind of prosperity; but when the south sea fishery dwindled, russell shrank in immediate sympathy. it never had any vitality of its own, no manufactures or products, unless the wretched coalmines adjacent, with their dirty output, which is scoffed at by the grimiest tug afloat, could be dignified by the name. remembering, as i did, the beauty, the energy, and prosperity of the great new zealand ports, some of them with not a tithe of the natural advantages of russell, i felt amazed, almost indignant, at its dead-and-alive appearance. our anchor was no sooner down than the captains of the james arnold, matilda sayer, and coral lowered and came on board, eager to hear or to tell such news as was going. as we had now grown to expect, all work was over immediately the sails were fast and decks cleared up, so that we were free to entertain our visitors. and a high old time we had of it that afternoon! what with songs, dances, and yarns, the hours flew by with lightning speed. our kanakas, too, were overjoyed to find compatriots among the visitors, and settled down to a steady stream of talk which lasted, without intermission, the whole night through. it was a wonderful exhibition of tongue-wagging, though what it was all about puzzled me greatly. life on board those three ships, though described in glowing terms by the visitors, was evidently not to be mentioned for comfort in the same breath as ours. but we found that our late captain's fame as a "hard citizen" was well known to all; so that it is only ordinary justice to suppose that such a life as he led us was exceptional for even a yankee spouter. our friends gave us a blood-curdling account of the solander whaling ground, which we were about to visit, the james arnold and coral having spent a season there that cruise. i did not, however, pay much attention to their yarns, feeling sure that, even if they were fact, it would not help to brood over coming hardships, and inclined to give liberal discount to most of their statements. the incessant chatter, got wearisome at last, and i, for one, was not sorry when, at two in the morning, our visitors departed to their several ships, and left us to get what sleep still remained left to us. a pleasant expedition was planned for the next day. our visit being principally for wooding and watering, both of which it was necessary for us to do ourselves, captain count showed his usual promptitude in commencing at once. permission having been obtained and, i suppose, paid for, we set out with two boats and a plentiful supply of axes for a well-wooded promontory to prepare a store of wood. wood chopping is not usually looked upon as a sailor's pastime; but we had had considerable experience during the voyage, as a result of which most of us could swing an axe in fine style. but the kanakas beat us all hollow. delighted to get ashore again, pleased with the fine axes as children with new toys, they laid about them in grand style, the young trees falling right and left in scores. anybody would have judged that we were working piece-work, at so much a cord, the pile grew so fast. there was such a quantity collected that, instead of lightering it off in the boats, which is very rough and dirty usage for them, i constructed a sort of raft with four large spars arranged in the form of an oblong, placing an immense quantity of the smaller stuff in between. upright sticks were rudely lashed here and there, to keep the pile from bobbing out underneath, and thus loaded we proceeded slowly to the ship with sufficient wood for our wants brought in one journey. it was immediately hoisted on board, sawn into convenient lengths, and stowed away, the whole operation being completed, of getting between eight and ten tons of firewood cut, ferried, and stowed, in less than eight hours. next day was devoted to watering; but as i have elsewhere described that necessary if prosaic occupation, i will not repeat the story. sufficient to say that the job was successfully "did" in the course of the day. all the work being accomplished for which we had come, it only remained to give the crew "liberty." so the port watch, in their best (?) rig, were mustered aft; each man received ten shillings, and away they went in glee for the first genuine day's liberty since leaving honolulu. for although they had been much ashore in vau vau, that was not looked upon in the same light as a day's freedom in a town where liquor might be procured, and the questionable privilege of getting drunk taken advantage of. envious eyes watched their progress from the other ships, but, much to my secret satisfaction, none of their crews were allowed ashore at the same time. there were quite sufficient possibilities of a row among our own crowd, without farther complications such as would almost certainly have occurred had the strangers been let loose at the same time. unfortunately, to the ordinary sailor-man, the place presented no other forms of amusement besides drinking, and i was grieved to see almost the whole crowd, including the kanakas, emerge from the grog-shop plentifully supplied with bottles, and, seating themselves on the beach, commence their carouse. the natives evinced the greatest eagerness to get drunk, swallowing down the horrible "square gin" as if it were water. they passed with the utmost rapidity through all the stages of drunkenness. before they had been ashore an hour, most of them were lying like logs, in the full blaze of the sun, on the beach. seeing this, the captain suggested the advisability of bringing them on board at once, as they were only exposed to robbery by the few prowling maories that loafed about the beach--a curious contrast to the stately fellows met with in other parts of new zealand. so we set to work, and brought them on board again, handing them over to their compatriots by way of warning against similar excesses, although, it must be confessed, that they were hardly to blame, with the example of their more civilized shipmates before their eyes. sam was energetic in his condemnation of both the kanakas for getting drunk, and the captain for giving them any money wherewith to do so. the remainder of the watch fortunately concluded their carouse without any serious disorder. a few bruises bestowed upon one another, more in clumsy horseplay than real fighting summed up the casualties among them. by ten o'clock that evening we had them all safely on board again, ready for sore heads and repentance in the morning. during the day i had evolved a scheme, which i had great hopes of carrying out when our watch should be let loose on the morrow. when morning came, and the liberty men received their money, i called them together and unfolded my plan. briefly, i proposed a sort of picnic at a beautiful spot discovered during our wooding expedition. i was surprised and very pleased at the eager way in which all, with the sole exceptions of tui and his fellow-harpooner, a portuguese, fell in with my suggestions. without any solicitation on my part, my kanakas brought me their money, begging me to expend it for them, as they did not know how, and did not want to buy gin. under such favourable auspices as these, we landed shortly after eight a.m., making a bee-line for the only provision shop the place boasted. here we laid in a stock of such savouries as we had long been strangers to, both eatables and drinkables, although i vetoed fire-water altogether. beer in bottle was substituted, at my suggestion, as being, if we must have drinks of that nature, much the least harmful to men in a hot country, besides, in the quantity that we were able to take, non-intoxicant. we also took tea, sugar, milk, and a kettle, thus furnished, we struck for the country, merry as a group of schoolboys, making the quiet air ring again with song, shout, and laughter--all of which may seem puerile and trivial in the extreme; but having seen liberty men ashore in nearly every big port in the world, watched the helpless, dazed look with which they wander about, swinging hands, bent shoulders, and purposeless rolling gait, i have often fervently wished that some one would take a party of them for a ramble with a definite purpose, helping them to a little enjoyment, instead of them falling, from sheer lack of knowing what else to do, into some dirty, darksome gin-mill, to be besotted, befooled, and debased. i do earnestly wish that some of the good folk in london and liverpool, who are wringing their hands for want of something to do among their fellow-men, would pay a visit to sailor-town for the purpose of getting up a personally-conducted party of sailors to see the sights worth seeing. it is a cheap form of pleasure, even if they paid all expenses, though that would not be likely. they would have an uphill job at first, for the sailor has been so long accustomed to being preyed upon by the class he knows, and neglected by everybody else except the few good people who want to preach to him, that he would probably, in a sheepish shame-faced sort of way, refuse to have any "truck" with you, as he calls it. if the "sailors' home" people were worth their salt, they would organize expeditions by carriage to such beautiful places as--in london, for instance--hampton court, zoological gardens, crystal palace, epping forest, and the like, with competent guides and good catering arrangements. but no; the sailor is allowed to step outside the door of the "home" into the grimy, dismal streets with nothing open to him but the dance-house and brothel on one side, and the mission hall or reading-room on the other. god forbid that i should even appear to sneer at missions to seamen; nothing is farther from my intention; but i do feel that sailors need a little healthy human interest to be taken in providing some pleasure for them, and that there are unorthodox ways of "missioning" which are well worth a trial. i once took a party (while i was an a.b.) from wells-street home to the south kensington museum. there were six of them--a frenchman, a dane, a russian finn, two englishmen, and an irishman. though continually sailing from london for years, this was the first occasion they had ever been west of aldgate. the only mistake i made was in going too deep at one step. the journey from shadwell to south kensington, under the guidance of one familiar, through the hardest personal experiences, with every corner of the vast network, was quite enough for one day. so that by the time we entered the museum they were surfeited temporarily with sight-seeing, and not able to take in the wonders of the mighty place. seeing this, i did not persist, but, after some rest and refreshment, led them across the road among the naval models. ah! it was a rare treat to see them there. for if there is one thing more than another which interests a sailor, it is a well-made model of a ship. sailors are model-makers almost by nature, turning out with the most meagre outfit of tools some wonderfully-finished replicas of the vessels is which they have sailed. and the collection of naval models at south kensington is, i suppose, unsurpassed in the world for the number and finish of the miniature vessels there shown. our day was a great success, never to be forgotten by those poor fellows, whose only recreation previously had been to stroll listlessly up and down the gloomy, stone-flagged hall of the great barracks until sheer weariness drove them out into the turbid current of the "highway," there to seek speedily some of the dirty haunts where the "runner" and the prostitute: awaited them. but i have wandered far from the bay of islands while thus chattering of the difficulties that beset the path of rational enjoyment for the sailor ashore. returning to that happy day, i remember vividly how, just after we got clear of the town, we were turning down a lane between hedgerows wonderfully like one of our own country roads, when something--i could not tell what--gripped my heart and sent a lump into my throat. tears sprang unbidden to my eyes, and i trembled from head to foot with emotion. whatever could it be? bewildered for the moment, i looked around, and saw a hedge laden with white hawthorn blossom, the sweet english "may." every londoner knows how strongly that beautiful scent appeals to him, even when wafted from draggled branches borne slumwards by tramping urchins who have been far afield despoiling the trees of their lovely blossoms, careless of the damage they have been doing. but to me, who had not seen a bit for years, the flood of feeling undammed by that odorous breath, was overwhelming. i could hardly tear myself away from the spot, and, when at last i did, found myself continually turning to try and catch another whiff of one of the most beautiful scents in the world. presently we came to a cottage flooded from ground to roof-ridge with blossoms of scarlet geranium. there must have been thousands of them, all borne by one huge stem which was rooted by the door of the house. a little in front of it grew a fuchsia, twelve or fourteen feet high, with wide-spreading branches, likewise loaded with handsome blooms; while the ground beneath was carpeted with the flowers shaken from their places by the rude wind. so, through scenes of loveliness that appealed even to the dusky kanakas, we trudged gaily along, arriving pretty well fagged at our destination--a great glade of tenderest green, surrounded by magnificent trees on three sides; the fourth opening on to a dazzling white beach sloping gently down to the sea. looking seaward, amidst the dancing, sparkling wavelets, rose numerous tree-clothed islets, making a perfectly beautiful seascape. on either side of the stretch of beach fantastic masses of rock lay about, as if scattered by some tremendous explosion. where the sea reached them, they were covered with untold myriads of oysters, ready to be eaten and of delicious flavour. what need to say more? with oyster-feeding, fishing, bathing, tree-climbing, tea-making, song-singing the hours fled with pitiless haste, so that, before we had half emptied the brimming cup of joys proffered us, the slanting rays of the setting sun warned us to return lest we should get "hushed" in the dark. we came on board rejoicing, laden with spoils of flowers and fish, with two-thirds of our money still in our pockets, and full of happy memories of one of the most delightful days in our whole lives. a long night's sound sleep was rudely broken into in the morning by the cry of "man the windlass." having got all we wanted, we were bound away to finish, if luck were with us, the lading of our good ship from the teeming waters of the solander grounds. i know the skipper's hopes were high, for he never tired of telling how, when in command of a new ship, he once fished the whole of his cargo--six thousand barrels of sperm oil--from the neighbourhood to which we were now bound. he always admitted, though, that the weather he experienced was unprecedented. still, nothing could shake his belief in the wonderful numbers of sperm whales to be found on the south coasts of new zealand, which faith was well warranted, since he had there won from the waves, not only the value of his new ship, but a handsome profit in addition, all in one season. hearing this kind of thing every day made me feel quite hungry to reach the battle-field; but, for reasons which doubtless were excellent, although i cannot pretend to explain them, we started north about, which not only added nearly one hundred miles to the distance we had to go, but involved us in a gale which effectually stopped our progress for a week. it was our first taste of the gentle zephyrs which waft their sweetness over new zealand, after sweeping over the vast, bleak, iceberg-studded expanse of the antarctic ocean. our poor kanakas were terribly frightened, for the weather of their experience, except on the rare occasions when they are visited by the devastating hurricane, is always fine, steady, and warm. for the first time in their lives they saw hail, and their wonder was too great for words. but the cold was very trying, not only to them, but to us, who had been so long in the tropics that our blood was almost turned to water. the change was nearly as abrupt as that so often experienced by our seamen, who at the rate of sixteen knots an hour plunge from a temperature of eighty degrees to one of thirty degrees in about three days. we, with the ready adaptability of seamen, soon got accustomed to the bleak, bitter weather, but the kanakas wilted like hothouse plants under its influence. they were well fed and well clothed, yet they seemed to shrivel up, looking thinner every day, several of them getting deep coughs strongly suggestive of a cemetery. it was no easy task to get them to work, or even move, never a one of them lumbering aloft but i expected him to come down by the run. this was by no means cheering, when it was remembered what kind of a campaign lay before us. captain count seemed to be quite easy in his mind, however, and as we had implicit confidence in his wisdom and judgment, we were somewhat reassured. the gale at last blew itself out, the wind veering to the northward again, with beautiful, spring-like weather, just cool enough to be pleasant, and, withal, favourable for getting to our destination. we soon made the land again about new plymouth, jogging along near enough to the coast to admire the splendid rugged scenery of the britain of the south. all hands were kept busily employed preparing for stormy weather--reeving new running-gear, bending the strongest suit of sails, and looking well to all the whaling gear. in this active exercise of real sailor-work, the time, though long for an ordinary passage, passed quickly and pleasantly away, so that when we hauled round the massive promontory guarding the western entrance to foveaux straits, we were almost surprised to find ourselves there so soon. this, then, was the famous and dreaded solander whaling ground. almost in the centre of the wide stretch of sea between preservation inlet, on the middle island, and the western end of the south, or stewart's island, rose a majestic mass of wave-beaten rock some two thousand feet high, like a grim sentinel guarding the straits. the extent of the fishing grounds was not more than a hundred and fifty square miles, and it was rarely that the vessels cruised over the whole of it. the most likely area for finding whales was said to be well within sight of the solander rock itself, but keeping on the western side of it. it was a lovely day when we first entered upon our cruising ground, a gentle north-east wind blowing, the sky a deep, cloudless blue, so that the rugged outline of stewart's island was distinctly seen at its extreme distance from us. to the eastward the straits narrowed rapidly, the passage at the other end being scarcely five miles wide between the well-known harbour of the bluff, the port of invercargill, and a long rocky island which almost blocked the strait. this passage, though cutting off a big corner, not only shortening the distance from the westward considerably, but oftentimes saving outward bounders a great deal of heavy weather off the snares to the south of stewart's island, is rarely used by sailing-ships, except coasters; but steamers regularly avail themselves of it, being independent of its conflicting currents and baffling winds. chapter xxv. on the solander grounds our opening day was an auspicious one. we had not been within the cruising radius more than four hours before the long-silent; cry of "blo-o-o-w!" resounded from the mainmast head. it was a lone whale, apparently of large size, though spouting almost as feebly as a calf. but that, i was told by the skipper, was nothing to go by down here. he believed right firmly that there were no small whales to be found in these waters at all. he averred that in all his experience he had never seen a cow-cachalot anywhere around stewart's island, although, as usual, he did no theorizing as to the reason why. eagerly we took to the boats and made for our first fish, setting alongside of him in less than half an hour from our first glimpse of his bushy breath. as the irons sank into his blubber, he raised himself a little, and exposed a back like a big ship bottom up. verily, the skipper's words were justified, for we had seen nothing bigger of the whale-kind that voyage. his manner puzzled us not a little. he had not a kick in him. complacently, as though only anxious to oblige, he laid quietly while we cleared for action, nor did he show any signs of resentment or pain while he was being lanced with all the vigour we possessed. he just took all our assaults with perfect quietude and exemplary patience, so that we could hardly help regarding him with great suspicion, suspecting some deep scheme of deviltry hidden by this abnormally sheep-like demeanour. but nothing happened. in the same peaceful way he died, without the slightest struggle sufficient to raise even an eddy on the almost smooth sea. leaving the mate by the carcass, we returned on board, the skipper hailing us immediately on our arrival to know what was the matter with him. we, of course, did not know, neither did the question trouble us. all we were concerned about was the magnanimous way in which he, so to speak, made us a present of himself, giving us no more trouble to secure his treasure than as if he had been a lifeless thing. we soon had him alongside, finding, upon ranging him by the ship, that he was over seventy feet long, with a breadth of bulk quite in proportion to such a vast length. cutting-in commenced at once, for fine weather there was by no means to be wasted, being of rare occurrence and liable at the shortest notice to be succeeded by a howling gale. our latest acquisition, however, was of such gigantic proportions that the decapitation alone bade fair to take us all night. a nasty cross swell began to get up, too--a combination of north-westerly and south-westerly which, meeting at an angle where the straits began, raised a curious "jobble," making the vessel behave in a drunken, uncertain manner. sailors do not mind a ship rolling or pitching, any more than a rider minds the motion of his horse; but when she does both at once, with no approach to regularity in her movements, it makes them feel angry with her. what, then, must our feelings have been under such trying conditions, with that mountain of matter alongside to which so much sheer hard labour had to be done, while the sky was getting greasy and the wind beginning to whine in that doleful key which is the certain prelude to a gale? everybody worked like chinamen on a contract, as if there was no such feeling as fatigue. little was said, but we all realized that unless this job was got over before what was brooding burst upon us, we should certainly lose some portion of our hard-won whale. still, our utmost possible was all we could do; and when at daylight the head was hauled alongside for cutting up, the imminent possibility of losing it, though grievous to think of, worried nobody, for all had done their best. the gale had commenced in business-like fashion, but the sea was horrible. it was almost impossible to keep one's footing on the stage. at times the whole mass of the head would be sucked down by the lee roll of the ship, and go right under her keel, the fluke-chain which held it grinding and straining as if it would tear the bows out of her. then when she rolled back again the head would rebound to the surface right away from the ship, where we could not reach it to cut. once or twice it bounced up beneath our feet, striking the stage and lifting it with its living load several inches, letting it fall again with a jerk that made us all cling for dear life to our precarious perch. in spite of these capers, we managed to get the junk off the head. it was a tremendous lift for us; i hardly think we had ever raised such a weight before. the skipper himself estimated it at fifteen tons, which was no small load for the tackles in fine weather, but with the ship tumbling about in her present fashion, it threatened to rip the mainmast out by the roots--not, of course, the dead-weight strain; but when it was nearly aboard, her sudden lee wallow sometimes floated the whole mass, which the next instant, on the return roll, would be torn out of water, with all the force of the ship suddenly rolling the other way. every splinter, every rope-yarn of her groaned again under this savage treatment; but so splendid was her construction that she never made a drop of water more than just sufficient to sweeten the limbers. it was with great and genuine satisfaction that we saw it at last safely lowered on deck and secured. but when we turned our attention to the case, which, still attached to the skull, battered alongside, any chance of saving it was at once seen to be hopeless. indeed, as the old man said, it was time for us to "up stick" and run for shelter. we had been too fully occupied to notice the gradual increase of the wind; but when we did, there was no gainsaying the fact that it was blowing a very stiff breeze (anglice, a violent gale). fortunately for us, it was from the westward, fair for the harbour of port william, on the stewart's island side of the straits, so that we were free from the apprehension of being blown out to sea or on a jagged lee shore. while we were thus thinking during a brief pause to take breath, the old packet herself solved our last difficulty in emphatic fashion. she gave a tremendous lee lurch, which would inevitably have destroyed the cutting stage if we had not hoisted it, driving right over the head, which actually rose to the surface to windward, having passed under her bottom. the weather roll immediately following was swift and sudden. from the nature of things, it was evident that something must give way this time. it did. for the first and only time in my experience, the fluke-chain was actually torn through the piece to which it was fast--two feet of solid gristle ripped asunder. away went the head with its l to l worth of pure spermaceti, disappearing from view almost immediately. it had no sooner gone than more sail was set, the yards were squared, and the vessel kept away up the straits for shelter. it was a big improvement, for she certainly had begun to make dirty weather of it, and no wonder. now, however, running almost dead before the gale, getting into smoother water at every fathom, she was steady as a rock, allowing us to pursue our greasy avocation in comparative comfort. the gale was still increasing, although now blowing with great fury; but, to our satisfaction, it was dry and not too cold. running before it, too, lessened our appreciation of its force; besides which, we were exceedingly busy clearing away the enormous mass of the junk, which, draining continually, kept the decks running with oil. we started to run up the straits at about ten a.m. at two p.m. we suddenly looked up from our toil, our attention called by a sudden lull in the wind. we had rounded saddle point, a prominent headland, which shut off from us temporarily the violence of the gale. two hours later we found ourselves hauling up into the pretty little harbour of port william, where, without taking more than a couple of hands off the work, the vessel was rounded-to and anchored with quite as little fuss as bringing a boat alongside a ship. it was the perfection of seamanship. once inside the bay, a vessel was sheltered from all winds, the land being high and the entrance intricate. the water was smooth as a mill-pond, though the leaden masses of cloud flying overhead and the muffled roar of the gale told eloquently of the unpleasant state affairs prevailing outside. two whale-ships lay here--the tamerlane, of new bedford, and the chance, of bluff harbour. i am bound to confess that there was a great difference is appearance between the yankee and the colonial--very much in favour of the former. she was neat, smart, and seaworthy, looking as if just launched; but the chance looked like some poor old relic of a bygone day, whose owners, unable to sell her, and too poor to keep her in repair, were just letting her go while keeping up the insurance, praying fervently each day that she might come to grief, and bring them a little profit at last. but although it is much safer to trust appearances in ships than in men, any one who summed up the chance from her generally outworn and poverty-stricken looks would have been, as i was, "way off." old she was, with an indefinite antiquity, carelessly rigged, and vilely unkempt as to her gear, while outside she did not seem to have had a coat of paint for a generation. she looked what she really was--the sole survivor of the once great whaling industry of new zealand. for although struggling bay whaling stations did exist in a few sheltered places far away from the general run of traffic, the trade itself might truthfully be said to be practically extinct. the old chance alone, like some shadow of the past, haunted foveaux straits, and made a better income for her fortunate owners than any of the showy, swift coasting steamers that rushed contemptuously past her on their eager way. in many of the preceding pages i have, though possessing all an englishman's pride in the prowess of mine own people, been compelled to bear witness to the wonderful smartness and courage shown by the american whalemen, to whom their perilous calling seems to have become a second nature. and on other occasions i have lamented that our own whalers, either at home or in the colonies, never seemed to take so kindly to the sperm whale fishery as the hardy "down easters," who first taught them the business; carried it on with increasing success, in spite of their competition and the depredations of the alabama; flourished long after the english fishery was dead; and even now muster a fleet of ships engaged in the same bold and hazardous calling. therefore, it is the more pleasant to me to be able to chronicle some of the doings of captain gilroy, familiarly known as "paddy," the master of the chance, who was unsurpassed as a whale-fisher or a seaman by any yankee that ever sailed from martha's vineyard. he was a queer little figure of a man--short, tubby, with scanty red hair, and a brogue thick as pea-soup. eccentric in most things, he was especially so in his dress, which he seemed to select on the principle of finding the most unfitting things to wear. rumour credited him with a numerous half-breed progeny--certainly he was greatly mixed up with the maories, half his crew being made up of his dusky friends and relations by marriage. overflowing with kindliness and good temper, his ship was a veritable ark of refuge for any unfortunate who needed help, which accounted for the numerous deserters from yankee whalers who were to be found among his crew. such whaling skippers as our late commander hated him with ferocious intensity; and but for his maori and half-breed bodyguard, i have little doubt he would have long before been killed. living as he had for many years on that storm-beaten coast, he had become, like his maories, familiar with every rock and tree in fog or clear, by night or day; he knew them, one might almost say, as the seal knows them, and feared them as little. his men adored him. they believed him capable of anything in the way of whaling, and would as soon have thought of questioning the reality of daylight as the wisdom of his decisions. i went on board the evening of, our arrival, hearing some rumours of the doings of the old chance and her crew, also with the idea that perhaps i might find some countrymen among his very mixed crowd. the first man i spoke to was whitechapel to the backbone, plainly to be spotted as such as if it had been tattooed on his forehead. making myself at home with him, i desired to know what brought him so far from the "big smoke," and on board a whaler of all places in the world. he told me he had been a pickford's van-driver, but had emigrated to new zealand, finding that he did not at all like himself in the new country. trying to pick and choose instead of manfully choosing a pick and shovel for a beginning, he got hard up. during one of captain gilroy's visits to the bluff, he came across my ex-drayman, looking hungry and woebegone. invited on board to have a feed, he begged to be allowed to remain; nor, although his assistance was not needed, was he refused. "an nar," he said, his face glowing with conscious pride, "y'ort ter see me in a bloomin' bowt. i ain't a-goain' ter say as i kin fling wun o' them 'ere bloomin' 'arpoones like ar bowt-steerers kin; but i kin do my bit o' grawft wiv enny on 'em--don'tchu make no bloomin' herror." the glorious incongruity of the thing tickled me immensely; but i laughed more heartily still when on going below i was hailed as "wot cher, chummy; 'ow yer hoppin' up?" by another barbarian from the wilds of spitalfields, who, from the secure shelter of his cats'-meat round in 'oxton, had got adrift, and, after being severely buffeted by tempestuous ill-fortune, had finally found himself in the comfortable old chance, a haven of rest in the midst of storms. there were sixteen white men on board the chance, including the skipper, drawn as usual from various european and american sources, the rest of her large crew of over forty all told being made up of maories and half-breeds. one common interest united them, making them the jolliest crowd i ever saw--their devotion to their commander. there was here to be found no jealousy of the maories being officers and harpooners, no black looks or discontented murmuring; all hands seemed particularly well satisfied with their lot in all its bearings; so that, although the old tub was malodorous enough to turn even a pretty strong stomach, it was a pleasure to visit her cheerful crowd for the sake of their enlivening society. of course, under our present circumstances, with the debris of our late enormous catch filling every available space and loudly demanding attention, we had little time to spare for ship visiting. some boat or other from the two ships was continually alongside of us, though, for until the gale abated they could not get out to the grounds again, and time hung heavy on their hands. the tamerlane's captain avoided paddy as if he were a leper--hated the sight of him, in fact, as did most of his confreres; but our genial skipper, whose crew were every whit as well treated and contented as the chance's, and who therefore needed not to dread losing them, met the little philanthropist on the most friendly terms. the first fine weather, which came four days after our arrival, both our harbour mates cleared out. characteristically, the chance was away first, before daylight had quite asserted itself, and while the bases of the cliffs and tops of the rocks were as yet hidden in dense wreaths of white haze. paddy lolled on the taff-rail near the wheel, which was held by an immense half-breed, who leant back and carried on a desultory, familiar conversation with his skipper; the rest of the crew were scattered about the decks, apparently doing what they liked in any manner they chose. the anchor was being catted, sails going up, and yards being trimmed; but, to observers like us, no guiding spirit was noticeable. it seemed to work all right, and the old ark herself looked as if she was as intelligent as any of them; but the sight was not an agreeable one to men accustomed to discipline. the contrast when the tamerlane came along an hour or so after was emphatic. every man at his post; every order carried out with the precision of clockwork; the captain pacing the quarter-deck as if she were a line-of-battle ship--here the airs put on were almost ludicrous in the other direction. although she was only "a good jump" long, as we say, whenever an order was given, it was thundered out as if the men were a mile away each officer appearing to vie with the others as to who could bellow the loudest. that was carrying things to the opposite extreme, and almost equally objectionable to merchant seamen. we were thus left alone to finish our trying-out except for such company as was afforded by the only resident's little schooner, in which he went oyster-dredging. it was exceedingly comfortable in the small harbour, and the fishing something to remember all one's life. that part of new zealand is famous for a fish something like a bream, but with a longer snout, and striped longitudinally with black and yellow. i am ignorant of any polysyllabic prefix for it, only knowing it by its trivial and local appellation of the "trumpeter," from the peculiar sound it makes when out of water. but no other fish out of the innumerable varieties which i have sampled in all parts of the world could compare with the trumpeter for flavour and delicacy. these qualities are well known to the inhabitants of the large towns, who willingly pay high prices for the scanty supply of these delicious fish which they are able to obtain. of other succulent fish there was a great variety, from the majestic "grouper," running up to over a hundredweight, down to the familiar flounder. very little fishing could be done at night. just as day was dawning was the ideal time for this enticing sport. as soon as the first few streaks of delicate light enlivened the dull horizon, a stray nibble or two gladdened the patient fishermen; then as the light strengthened the fun became general, and in about an hour enough fish would be caught to provide all hands with for the day. one morning, when a stark calm left, the surface of the bay as smooth as a mirror, i was watching a few stealthily-gliding barracouta sneaking about over the plainly visible bottom, though at a depth of seven or eight fathoms. ordinarily, these fish must be taken with a live bait; but, remembering my experience with the dolphin, i determined to try a carefully arranged strip of fish from one recently caught. in precisely the same way as the dolphin, these long, snaky rascals carefully tested the bait, lying still for sometimes as long as two minutes with the bait in their mouths, ready to drop it out on the first intimation that it was not a detached morsel. after these periods of waiting the artful creature would turn to go, and a sudden jerk of the line then reminded him that he was no longer a free agent, but mounting at headlong speed to a strange bourne whence he never returned to tell the tale. my catch that lovely morning scaled over a hundredweight in less than an hour, none of the fish being less than ten pounds in weight. the maories have quite an original way of catching barracouta. they prepare a piece of "rimu" (red pine) about three inches long, by an inch broad, and a quarter of an inch thick. through one end of this they drive an inch nail bent upwards, and filed to a sharp point. the other end is fastened to about a fathom of stout fishing-line, which is in turn secured to the end of a five-foot pole. seated in a boat with sail set, they slip along until a school of barracouta is happened upon. then the peak of the sail is dropped, so as to deaden the boat's way, while the fishermen ply their poles with a sidelong sweep that threshes the bit of shining red through the water, making it irresistibly attractive to a struggling horde of ravenous fish. one by one, as swiftly as the rod can be wielded, the lithe forms drop off the barbless hook into the boat, till the vigorous arm can no longer respond to the will of the fisherman, or the vessel will hold no more. such were the goodly proportions of this first solander whale of ours that, in spite of the serious loss of the case, we made thirteen and a half tuns of oil. when the fifteen huge casks containing it were stowed in their final positions, they made an imposing show, inspiring all of us with visions of soon being homeward bound. for the present we were, perforce, idle; for the wind had set in to blow steadily and strongly right up the straits, preventing any attempts to get out while it lasted. the time did not hang heavy on our hands, for the surrounding country offered many attractions, which we were allowed to take full advantage of. spearing eels and flounders at night by means of a cresset hung out over the boat's bow, as she was slowly sculled up the long, shallow creeks, was a favourite form of amusement. mr. cross, the resident, kindly allowed us to raid his garden, where the ripe fruit was rotting by the bushel for want of consumers. we needed no pressing; for fruit, since we left vau vau, of any kind had not come in our way; besides, these were "homey"--currants, gooseberries, strawberries--delightful to see, smell, and taste. so it came to pass that we had a high old time, unmarred by a single regrettable incident, until, after an enforced detention of twenty days, we were able to get to sea again. halfway down the straits we sighted the chance, all hands ripping the blubber off a sizeable whale in the same "anyhow" fashion as they handled their ship. they were in high glee, giving us a rousing cheer as we passed them on our westward course. arriving on the ground, we found a goodly company of fine ships, which i could not help thinking too many for so small an area. during our absence, the tamerlane had been joined by the eliza adams, the matilda sayer, the coral, and the rainbow; and it was evident that no whale venturing within the radius of the solander in the daytime would stand much chance of escaping such a battery of eager eyes. only three days elapsed after our arrival when whales were seen. for the first time, i realized how numerous those gigantic denizens of the sea really are. as far as the eye could reach, extending all round one-half of the horizon, the sea appeared to be alive with spouts--all sperm whales, all bulls of great size. the value of this incredible school must have been incalculable. subsequent experience satisfied me that such a sight was by no means uncommon here; in fact, "lone whales" or small "pods" were quite the exception. well, we all "waded in," getting, some two, some one whale apiece, according to the ability of the crews or the fortune of war. only one fell to our lot in the cachalot, but it was just as well. we had hardly, got him fast by the fluke alongside when it began to pipe up from the north-east. in less than one watch the sea was fairly smoking with the fierceness of the wind. we were unable to get in anywhere, being, with a whale alongside, about as handy as a barge loaded with a haystack; while those unfortunate beggars that had two whales fast to them were utterly helpless as far as independent locomotion went, unless they could run dead before the wind. every ship made all snug aloft, and hoisted the boats to the top notch of the cranes, fully anticipating a long, hard struggle with the elements before they got back to the cruising ground again. cutting-in was out of the question in such weather; the only thing possible was to hope for a shift of wind before she got too far out, or a break in the weather. neither of these events was probable, as all frequenters of south new zealand know, bad weather having there an unhappy knack of being as persistent as fine weather is brief. night drew on as our forlorn and heavily handicapped little fleet bore steadily seaward with their burdens, the angry, ever-increasing sea, battering at us vengefully, while the huge carcasses alongside tore and strained at their fastenings as if they would rend the ships asunder. slowly our companions faded from sight as the murky sky shut down on us, until in lonely helplessness we drifted on our weary way out into the vast, inhospitable southern ocean. throughout the dark and stormy night our brave old ship held on her unwilling way right gallantly, making no water, in spite of the fearful strain to which she was subjected, nor taking any heavy sea over all. morning broke cheerlessly enough. no abatement in the gale or change in its direction; indeed, it looked like lasting a month. only one ship was visible far to leeward of us, and she was hull down. our whale was beginning to swell rapidly, already floating at least three feet above the surface instead of just awash, as when newly killed. the skipper eyed it gloomily, seeing the near prospect of its entire loss, but he said nothing. in fact, very little was said; but the stories we had heard in the bay of islands came back to us with significant force now that their justification was so apparent. hour after hour went by without any change whatever, except in the whale, which, like some gradually filling balloon, rose higher and higher, till at nightfall its bulk was appalling. all through the night those on deck did little else but stare at its increasing size, which when morning dawned again, was so great that the animal's bilge rode level with the ship's rail, while in her lee rolls it towered above the deck like a mountain. the final scene with it was now a question of minutes only, so most of us, fascinated by the strange spectacle, watched and waited. suddenly, with a roar like the bursting of a dam, the pent-up gases tore their furious way out of the distended carcass, hurling the entrails in one horrible entanglement widespread over the sea. it was well for us that it was to leeward and a strong gale howling; for even then the unutterable foetor wrought its poisonous way back through that fierce, pure blast, permeating every nook of the ship with its filthy vapour till the stoutest stomach there protested in unmistakable terms against such vile treatment. knowing too well that the blubber was now worthless, the skipper gave orders to cut the corrupt mass adrift. this was speedily effected by a few strokes of a spade through the small. away went eight hundred pounds' worth of oil--another sacrifice to the exigencies of the solander, such as had gained for it so evil a reputation. doubtless a similar experience had befallen all the other ships, so that the aggregate loss must have run into thousands of pounds, every penny of which might have been saved had steam been available. that gale lasted, with a few short lulls, for five days longer. when at last it took off, and was succeeded by fine weather, we were so far to the southward that we might have fetched the aucklands in another twenty-four hours. but, to our great relief, a strong southerly breeze set in, before which, under every rag of canvas, we sped north again. steady and reliable as ever, that good south wind carried us back to our old cruising ground ere it blew itself out, and we resumed our usual tactics as if nothing had happened, being none the worse as regards equipment for our adventures. not so fortunate our companions, who at the same time as ourselves were thrust out into the vast southern ocean, helplessly burdened and exposed defenceless to all the ferocity of that devouring gale, two of them were here prowling about, showing evident signs of their conflict in the battered state of their hulls. the glaring whiteness of new planking in many places along the bulwarks told an eloquent story of seas bursting on board carrying all before them, while empty cranes testified to the loss of a boat in both of them. as soon as we came near enough, "gamming" commenced, for all of us were anxious to know how each other had fared. as we anticipated, every whale was lost that had been caught that day. the disappointment was in nowise lessened by the knowledge that, with his usual good fortune captain gilroy had not only escaped all the bad weather, but while we were being threshed within an inch of our lives down in the bitter south, he was calmly trying-out his whale (which we had seen him with on our outward journey) in the sheltered haven of port william. many and deep were the curses bestowed upon him by the infuriated crews of those two ships, although he had certainly done them no harm. but the sight of other people's good fortune is gall and wormwood to a vast number of people, who seem to take it as a personal injury done to themselves. only two days elapsed, however, before we again saw an immense school of sperm whales, and each ship succeeded in securing one. we made no attempt to get more this time, nor do i think either of the others did; at any rate, one each was the result of the day's work. they were, as usual, of huge size and apparently very fat. at the time we secured our fish alongside, a fresh north-westerly wind was blowing, the weather being clear and beautiful as heart could wish. but instead of commencing at once to cut-in, captain count gave orders to pile on all sail and keep her away up the straits. he was evidently determined to take no more chances, but, whenever opportunity offered, to follow the example set by the wily old skipper of the chance. the other ships both started to cut-in at once, tempted, doubtless, by the settled appearance of the weather, and also perhaps from their hardly concealed dislike of going into port. we bowled along at a fine rate, towing our prize, that plunged and rolled by our side in eccentric style, almost as if still alive. along about midnight we reached saddle point, where there was some shelter from the sea which rolled up the wide open strait, and there we anchored. leaving me and a couple of kanakas on watch, the captain, and all hands besides, went below for a little sleep. my instructions were to call the captain if the weather got at all ugly-looking, so that we might run in to port william at once, but he did not wish to do so if our present position proved sufficiently sheltered. he had not been below an hour before there was a change for the worse. that greasy, filmy haze was again drawn over the clear blue of the sky, and the light scud began to fly overhead at an alarmingly rapid rate. so at four bells i called him again. he came on deck at once, and after one look round ordered the hands up to man the windlass. by eight bells (four a.m.) we were rounding the frowning rocks at the entrance of port william, and threading our way between the closely-set, kelp-hidden dangers as if it were broadest, dearest daylight. at . we let go the anchor again, and all hands, except the regular "anchor-watch," bolted below to their bunks again like so many rabbits. it was very comfortable, cutting-in a sperm whale in harbour, after the dire difficulty of performing the same operation in a seaway. and, although it may seem strange, this was the first occasion that voyage that i had had a really good opportunity of closely studying the whale's anatomy. consequently the work was exceedingly interesting, and, in spite of the labour involved, i was almost sorry when the job was done. under the present favourable circumstances we were ready to cut the carcass adrift shortly after midday, the head, of course, having been taken off first. just after we started to cut-in a boat appeared alongside with six maories and half-breeds on board. their leader came up and civilly asked the skipper whether he intended doing anything with the carcass. upon being promptly answered in the negative, he said that he and his companions proposed hooking on to the great mass when we cut it adrift, towing it ashore, and getting out of it what oil we had been unable to extract, which at sea is always lost to the ship. he also suggested that he would be prepared to take reasonable terms for such oil, which we should be able to mingle with ours to our advantage. an arrangement was speedily arrived at to give him l per tun for whatever oil he made. they parted on the best of terms with each other, and as soon as we cut the carcass loose the maories made fast, to it, speedily beaching it in a convenient spot near where they had previously erected a most primitive try-works. that afternoon, after the head was inboard, the skipper thought he would go ashore and see how they were getting on. i was so fortunate as to be able to accompany him. when we arrived at the spot, we found them working as i have never seen men work, except perhaps the small riggers that at home take a job--three or four of them--to bend or unbend a big ship's sails for a lump sum to be paid when the work is done. they attacked the carcass furiously, as if they had a personal enmity against it, chopping through the massive bones and rending off huge lumps of the flesh with marvellous speed. they had already laid open the enormous cavity of the abdomen, and were stripping the interminable intestines of their rich coating of fat. in the maw there were, besides a large quantity of dismembered squid of great size, a number of fish, such as rock-cod, barracouta, schnapper, and the like, whose presence there was a revelation to me. how in the name of wonder so huge and unwieldy a creature as the cachalot could manage to catch those nimble members of the finny tribe, i could not for the life of me divine! unless--and after much cogitation it was the only feasible explanation that i could see--as the cachalot swims about with his lower jaw hanging down in its normal position, and his huge gullet gaping like some submarine cavern, the fish unwittingly glide down it, to find egress impossible. this may or may not be the case; but i, at any rate, can find no more reasonable theory, for it is manifestly absurd to suppose the whale capable of catching fish in the ordinary sense, indicating pursuit. every part of the animal yielded oil. even the bones, broken up into pieces capable of entering the pot, were boiled; and by the time we had finished our trying-out, the result of the maories' labour was ready for us. less than a week had sufficed to yield them a net sum of six guineas each, even at the very low rate for which they sold us the oil. except that it was a little darker in colour, a defect that would disappear when mixed with our store, there was no difference between the products that could be readily detected. and at the price we paid for it, there was a clear profit of cent. per cent., even had we kept it separate and sold it for what it was. but i suppose it was worth the maories' while thus to dispose of it and quickly realize their hard earnings. so far, our last excursion had been entirely satisfactory. we had not suffered any loss or endured any hardship; and if only such comfortable proceedings were more frequent, the solander ground would not have any terrors for us at least. but one afternoon there crept in around the eastern horn of the harbour three forlorn and half-dismantled vessels, whose weather-worn crews looked wistfully at us engaged in clearing up decks and putting away gear upon the finishing of our trying-out. poor fellows! they had seen rough times since that unforgettable evening when we parted from them at the other end of the island, and watched them slowly fade into the night. two of them were so badly damaged that no further fishing was possible for them until they had undergone a thorough refit, such as they could not manage there. one was leaking badly, the tremendous strain put upon her hull in the vain attempt to hold on to the two whales she had during the gale having racked her almost all to pieces. the third one was still capable of taking the ground again, with sundry repairs such as could be effected by her crew. but the general feeling among all three crews was that there was more loss than gain to be expected here, in spite of the multitude of whales visiting the place. as if to fill up their cup, in came the old chance again, this time with a whale on each side. captain gilroy was on the house aft, his chubby red face in a ruddy glow of delight, and his crew exuberant. when he passed the american ships, as he was bound to do very closely, the sight of their scowling faces seemed to afford him the most exquisite amusement, and he laughed loud and long. his crew, on the impulse of the moment, sprang to the rail and cheered with might and main. no one could gainsay that they had good reason, but i really feared for a time that we should have "ructions," as paddy said, it was not wise or dignified for those officers to be so angry with him on account of his success, which he frankly owned was due almost entirely to the local knowledge he possessed, gained in many years' study of the immediate neighbourhood. he declared that, as far as the technical duties of whale-fishing went, all the americans could beat him hollow; but they ought to realize that something else was needed here which no man could hope to have unless he were content to remain on the coast altogether. with which words of wisdom our skipper cordially agreed, bearing in mind his own exploits in the bygone time around those rugged shores. the strong breeze which brought paddy and his whales home died down that night, enabling us to start for the grounds again--a concession gratefully received, for not the least of the hindrances felt there was the liability to be "wind-bound" for a long time, while fine weather was prevailing at the fishing grounds. we made a fine passage down the straits with a leading wind, finding our two late companions still cruising, having managed to get their whales aboard without mishap, and being somewhat inclined to chaff our old man for running in. he gave a wink full of wisdom, as he replied, "i'm pretty ole whale myself naouw; but i guess i ain't too old to learn; 'n wut i learn i'm goin' ter use. see?" of course the fine weather did not last long--it never does; and seeing the gloomy masses of violet-edged cumuli piling up on the southern horizon, we hugged the solander rock itself pretty close, nor ventured far to seaward. our two consorts, on the contrary, kept well out and on the northern verge, as if they intended the next gale that blew to get north, if they could. the old man's object in thus keeping in was solely in order that he might be able to run for shelter; but, much to his delight and certainly surprise, as we passed about a mile to the southward of the lonely, towering crags of the great rock, there came from aloft the welcome cry of "sperm whale!" there was only one, and he was uncomfortably near the rock; but such a splendid chance was not to be missed, if our previous training was of any avail. there was some speculation as to what he could be doing so close inshore, contrary to the habit of this animal, who seems to be only comfortable when in deep waters; but except a suggestion that perhaps he had come in to scrape off an extra accumulation of barnacles, nobody could arrive at any definite conclusion. when we reached him, we found a frightful blind swell rolling, and it needed all our seamanship to handle the boats so that they should not be capsized. fortunately, the huge rollers did not break, or we should hardly have got back safely, whale or no whale. two irons were planted in him, of which he took not the slightest notice. we had taken in sail before closing in to him on account of the swell, so that we had only to go in and finish him at once, if he would let us. accordingly, we went in with a will, but for all sign of life he showed he might as well have been stuffed. there he lay, lazily spouting, the blood pouring, or rather spirting, from his numerous wounds, allowing us to add to their number at our pleasure, and never moving his vast body, which was gently swayed by the rolling sea. seeing him thus quiescent, the mate sent the other two boats back to the ship with the good news, which the captain received with a grave smile of content, proceeding at once to bring the ship as near as might be consistent with her safety. we were now thoroughly sheltered from sight of the other ships by the enormous mass of the island, so that they had no idea of our proceedings. finding that it was not wise to take the ship in any closer, while we were yet some distance from our prize, a boat was sent to mr. cruce with the instructions that he was to run his line from the whale back to the ship, if the creature was dead. he (the mate) replied that the whale died as quietly as he had taken his wounds, and immediately started for the ship. when he had paid out all his line, another boat bent on, until we got the end on board. then we merrily walked him up alongside, while sufficient sail was kept drawing to prevent her being set in any nearer. when he was fast, we crowded on all canvas to get away; for although the sea was deep close up to the cliff, that swell was a very ugly feature, and one which has been responsible for the loss of a great number of ships in such places all over the world. notwithstanding all our efforts, we did get so near that every detail of the rock was clearly visible to the naked eye, and we had some anxious minutes while the old ship, rolling tremendously, crawled inch after inch along the awful side of that sea-encircled pyramid. at one point there was quite a cave, the floor of which would be some twenty feet above high-water mark, and its roof about the same distance higher. it appeared to penetrate some distance into the bowels of the mountain, and was wide and roomy. sea-birds in great numbers hovered around its entrance, finding it, no doubt, an ideal nesting-place. it appeared quite inaccessible, for even with a perfect calm the swell dashed against the perpendicular face of the cliff beneath with a force that would have instantly destroyed any vessel unfortunate enough to get within its influence. slowly, slowly we forged past the danger; but the moment we opened out the extremity of the island, a fresh breeze, like a saving hand, swept across the bows, filling the head-sails and swinging the old vessel away from the island in grand style. another minute, and the other sails filled also. we were safe, all hands breathing freely once more. now the wind hung far round to the eastward--far enough to frustrate any design we might have had of going up the straits again. the old man, however, was too deeply impressed with the paramount necessity of shelter to lightly give up the idea of getting in somewhere; so he pointed her for preservation inlet, which was only some thirty miles under her lee. we crowded all sail upon her in the endeavour to get in before nightfall, this unusual proceeding bringing our two friends up from to leeward with a run to see what we were after. burdened as we were, they sailed nearly two knots to our one, and consequently intercepted us some while before we neared our port. great was their surprise to find we had a whale, and very anxious their queries as to where the rest of the school had gone. reassured that they had lost nothing by not being nearer, it being a "lone" whale, off they went again. with all our efforts, evening was fast closing in when we entered the majestic portals of preservation inlet, and gazed with deepest interest upon its heavily wooded shores. chapter xxvi. paddy's latest exploit new zealand is pre-eminently a country of grand harbours; but i think those that are least used easily bear the palm for grandeur of scenery and facility of access. the wonderful harbour, or rather series of harbours, into which we were now entering for the first time, greatly resembled in appearance a norwegian fjord, not only in the character of its scenery, but from the interesting, if disconcerting, fact that the cliffs were so steep-to that in some places no anchorage is found alongside the very land itself. there are, however, many places where the best possible anchorage can be obtained, so securely sheltered that a howling south-wester may be tearing the sea up by the roots outside, and you will know nothing of it within, except what may be surmised from the motion of the clouds overhead. it was an ideal place for a whaling station, being right on the solander. we found it exceedingly convenient, and much nearer than port william, but, from the prevailing winds, difficult of access in nine cases out of ten, especially when hampered with a whale. upon cutting-in our latest catch, an easy explanation of his passive attitude was at once forthcoming. he had been attacked by some whale-ship, whose irons had drawn, leaving deep traces of their presence; but during the battle he had received seven bombs, all of which had entered around his small, but had not exploded. their general effect had been, i should think, to paralyze the great muscles of his flukes, rendering him unable to travel; yet this could not have taken place until some time after he had made good his escape from those aggressors. it was instructive, as demonstrating what amount of injury these colossi really can survive, and i have no doubt that, if he had been left alone, he would have recovered his normal energy, and been as well as ever. from our point of view, of course, what had happened was the best possible thing, for he came almost as a gift--the second capture we had made on these grounds of a like nature. at the close of our operations the welcome news was made public that four more fish like the present one would fill us bung-up, and that we should then, after a brief visit to the bluff, start direct for home. this announcement, though expected for some time past, gave an amazing fillip to everybody's interest in the work. the strange spectacle was witnessed of all hands being anxious to quit a snug harbour for the sea, where stern, hard wrestling with the elements was the rule. the captain, well pleased with the eagerness manifested, had his boat manned for a trip to the entrance of the harbour, to see what the weather was like outside, since it was not possible to judge from where the ship lay. on his return, he reported the weather rough, but moderating, and announced his intention of weighing at daylight next morning. satisfied that our days in the southern hemisphere were numbered, and all anxiety to point her head for home, this news was most pleasing, putting all of us in the best of humours, and provoking quite an entertainment of song and dance until nearly four bells. during the grey of dawn the anchor was weighed. there was no breath of wind from any quarter, so that it was necessary to lower boats and tow the old girl out to her field of duty. before she was fairly clear of the harbour, though, there came a "snifter" from the hills that caught her unprepared, making her reel again, and giving us a desperate few minutes to scramble on board and hoist our boats up. as we drew out from the land, we found that a moderate gale was blowing, but the sky was clear, fathomless blue, the sun rose kindly, a heavenly dream of soft delicate colour preceding him; so that, in spite of the strong breeze, all looked promising for a good campaign. at first no sign could be seen of any of the other ships, though we looked long and eagerly for them. at last we saw them, four in all, nearly hull down to seaward, but evidently coming in under press of sail. so slow, however, was their approach that we had made one "leg" across the ground and halfway back before they were near enough for us to descry the reason of their want of speed. they had each got a whale alongside, and were carrying every rag of canvas they could spread, in order to get in with their prizes. our old acquaintance, the chance, was there, the three others being her former competitors, except those who were disabled, still lying in port william. slowly, painfully they laboured along, until well within the mouth of the straits, when, without any warning, the wind which had been bringing them in suddenly flew round into the northward, putting them at once in a most perilous position. too far within the straits to "up helm" and run for it out to sea; not far enough to get anywhere that an anchor might hold; and there to leeward, within less than a dozen miles, loomed grim and gloomy one of the most terrific rock-bound coasts in the world. the shift of wind had placed the chance farther to leeward than all the rest, a good mile and a half nearer the shore; and we could well imagine how anxiously her movements were being watched by the others, who, in spite of their jealousy of his good luck, knew well and appreciated fully paddy's marvellous seamanship, as well as his unparalleled knowledge of the coast. having no whale to hamper our movements, besides being well to windward of them all, we were perfectly comfortable as long as we kept to seaward of a certain line and the gale was not too fierce, so for the present all our attention was concentrated upon the labouring ships to leeward. the intervention of the land to windward kept the sea from rising to the awful height it attains under the pressure of a westerly, or a south-westerly gale, when, gathering momentum over an area extending right round the globe, it hurls itself upon those rugged shores. still, it was bad enough. the fact of the gale striking across the regular set of the swell and current had the effect of making the sea irregular, short, and broken, which state of things is considered worse, as far as handling the ship goes, than a much heavier, longer, but more regular succession of waves. as the devoted craft drifted helplessly down upon that frowning barrier, our excitement grew intense. their inability to do anything but drift was only too well known by experience to every one of us, nor would it be possible for them to escape at all if they persisted in holding on much longer. and it was easy to see why they did so. while paddy held on so far to leeward of them, and consequently in so much more imminent danger than they were, it would be derogatory in the highest degree to their reputation for seamanship and courage were they to slip and run before he did. he, however, showed no sign of doing so, although they all neared, with an accelerated drift, that point from whence no seamanship could deliver them, and where death inevitable, cruel, awaited them without hope of escape. the part of the coast upon which they were apparently driving was about as dangerous and impracticable as any in the world. a gigantic barrier of black, naked rock, extending for several hundred yards, rose sheer from the sea beneath, like the side of an ironclad, up to a height of seven or eight hundred feet. no outlying spurs of submerged fragments broke the immeasurable landward rush of the majestic waves towards the frowning face of this world-fragment. fresh from their source, with all the impetus accumulated in their thousand-mile journey, they came apparently irresistible. against this perpendicular barrier they hurled themselves with a shock that vibrated far inland, and a roar that rose in a dominating diapason over the continuous thunder of the tempest-riven sea. high as was the summit of the cliff, the spray, hurled upwards by the tremendous impact, rose higher, so that the whole front of the great rock was veiled in filmy wreaths of foam, hiding its solidity from the seaward view. at either end of this vast, rampart nothing could be seen but a waste of breakers seething, hissing, like the foot of niagara, and effectually concealing the chevaux de frise of rocks which produced such a vortex of tormented waters. towards this dreadful spot, then, the four vessels were being resistlessly driven, every moment seeing their chances of escape lessening to vanishing-point. suddenly, as if panic-stricken, the ship nearest to the chance gave a great sweep round on to the other tack, a few fluttering gleams aloft showing that even in that storm they were daring to set some sail. what the manoeuvre meant we knew very well--they had cut adrift from their whale, terrified at last beyond endurance into the belief that paddy was going to sacrifice himself and his crew in the attempt to lure them with him to inevitable destruction. the other two did not hesitate longer. the example once set, they immediately followed; but it was for some time doubtful in the extreme whether their resolve was not taken too late to save them from destruction. we watched them with breathless interest, unable for a long time to satisfy ourselves that they were out of danger. but at last we saw them shortening sail again--a sure sign that they considered themselves, while the wind held in the same quarter, safe from going ashore at any rate, although there was still before them the prospect of a long struggle with the unrelenting ferocity of the weather down south. meanwhile, what of the daring irishman and his old barrel of a ship? the fugitives once safe off the land, all our interest centred in the chance. we watched her until she drew in so closely to the seething cauldron of breakers that it was only occasionally we could distinguish her outline; and the weather was becoming so thick and dirty, the light so bad, that we were reluctantly compelled to lose sight of her, although the skipper believed that he saw her in the midst of the turmoil of broken water at the western end of the mighty mass of perpendicular cliff before described. happily for us, the wind veered to the westward, releasing us from the prospect of another enforced visit to the wild regions south of the island. it blew harder than ever; but being now a fair wind up the straits, we fled before it, anchoring again in port william before midnight. here we were compelled to remain for a week; for after the gale blew itself out, the wind still hung in the same quarter, refusing to allow us to get back again to our cruising station. but on the second day of our enforced detention a ship poked her jibboom round the west end of the little bay. no words could describe our condition of spellbound astonishment when she rounded-to, cumbrously as befitting a ship towing a whale, and revealed to us the well-remembered outlines of the old chance. it was like welcoming the first-fruits of the resurrection; for who among sailor men, having seen a vessel disappear from their sight, as we had, under such terrible conditions, would ever have expected to see her again? she was hardly anchored before our skipper was alongside, thirsting to satisfy his unbounded curiosity as to the unheard-of means whereby she had escaped such apparently inevitable destruction. i was fortunate enough to accompany him, and hear the story at first-hand. it appeared that none of the white men on board, except the redoubtable paddy himself, had ever been placed in so seemingly hopeless and desperate a position before. yet when they saw how calm and free from anxiety their commander was, how cool and business-like the attitude of all their dusky shipmates, their confidence in his ability and resourcefulness kept its usual high level. it must be admitted that the test such feelings were then subjected to was of the severest, for to their eyes no possible avenue of escape was open. along that glaring line of raging, foaming water not a break occurred, not the faintest indication of an opening anywhere wherein even so experienced a pilot as paddy might thrust a ship. the great black wall of rock loomed up by their side, grim and pitiless as doom--a very door of adamant closed against all hope. nearer and nearer they drew, until the roar of the baffled pacific was deafening, maddening, in its overwhelming volume of chaotic sound. all hands stood motionless, with eyes fixed in horrible fascination upon the indescribable vortex to which they were being irresistibly driven. at last, just as the fringes of the back-beaten billows hissed up to greet them, they felt her motion ease. instinctively looking aft, they saw the skipper coolly wave his hand, signing to them to trim the yards. as they hauled on the weather braces, she plunged through the maelstrom of breakers, and before they had got the yards right round they were on the other side of that enormous barrier, the anchor was dropped, and all was still. the vessel rested, like a bird on her nest, in a deep, still tarn, shut in, to all appearance, on every side by huge rock barriers. of the furious storm but a moment before howling and raging all around them, nothing remained but an all-pervading, thunderous hum, causing the deck to vibrate beneath them, and high overhead the jagged, leaden remnants of twisted, tortured cloud whirling past their tiny oblong of sky. just a minute's suspension of all faculties but wonder, then, in one spontaneous, heartfelt note of genuine admiration, all hands burst into a cheer that even overtopped the mighty rumble of the baffled sea. here they lay, perfectly secure, and cut in their whale as if in dock; then at the first opportunity they ran out, with fearful difficulty, a kedge with a whale-line attached, by which means they warped the vessel out of her hiding-place--a far more arduous operation than getting in had been. but even this did not exhaust the wonders of that occasion. they had hardly got way upon her, beginning to draw out from the land, when the eagle-eye of one of the maories detected the carcass of a whale rolling among the breakers about half a mile to the westward. immediately a boat was lowered, a double allowance of line put into her, and off they went to the valuable flotsam. dangerous in the highest degree was the task of getting near enough to drive harpoons into the body; but it was successfully accomplished, the line run on board, and the prize hauled triumphantly alongside. this was the whale they had now brought in. we shrewdly suspected that it must have been one of those abandoned by the unfortunate vessels who had fled, but etiquette forbade us saying anything about it. even had it been, another day would have seen it valueless to any one, for it was by no means otto of roses to sniff at now, while they had certainly salved it at the peril of their lives. when we returned on board and repeated the story, great was the amazement. such a feat of seamanship was almost beyond belief; but we were shut up to believing, since in no other way could the vessel's miraculous escape be accounted for. the little, dumpy, red-faced figure, rigged like any scarecrow, that now stood on his cutting-stage, punching away vigorously at the fetid mass of blubber beneath him, bore no outward visible sign of a hero about him; but in our eyes he was transfigured--a being to be thought of reverently, as one who in all those dualities that go to the making of a man had proved himself of the seed royal, a king of men, all the more kingly because unconscious that his deeds were of so exalted an order. i am afraid that, to a landsman, my panegyric may smack strongly of gush, for no one but a seaman can rightly appraise such doings as these; but i may be permitted to say that, when i think of men whom i feel glad to have lived to know, foremost among them rises the queer little figure of paddy gilroy. chapter xxvii. port pegasus the wind still holding steadily in the old quarter, our skipper got very restless. he recalled his former exploits, and, firing at the thought, decided then and there to have a trip round to port pegasus, in the hope that he might meet with some of his former good luck in the vicinity of that magnificent bay. with the greatest alacrity we obeyed his summons, handling the old barky as if she were a small boat, and the same morning, for the first time, ran out of the straits to the eastward past ruapuke island. beautiful weather prevailed, making our trip a delightful one, the wonderful scenery of that coast appealing to even the most callous or indifferent among us. we hugged the land closely, the skipper being familiar with all of it in a general way, so that none of its beauties were lost to us. the breeze holding good, by nightfall we had reached our destination, anchoring in the north arm near a tumbling cascade of glittering water that looked like a long feather laid on the dark-green slope of the steep hill from which it gushed. we had not been long at anchor before we had visitors--half-breed maories, who, like the finns and canadians, are farmers, fishermen, sailors, and shipwrights, as necessity arises. they brought us potatoes--most welcome of all fruit to the sailor--cabbages, onions, and "mutton birds." this latter delicacy is a great staple of their flesh food, but is one of the strangest dishes imaginable. when it is being cooked in the usual way, i.e. by grilling, it smells exactly like a piece of roasting mutton; but it tastes, to my mind, like nothing else in the world so much as a kippered herring. there is a gastronomical paradox, if you like. only the young birds are taken for eating. they are found, when unfledged, in holes of the rocks, and weigh sometimes treble as much as their parents. they are exceedingly fat; but this substance is nearly all removed from their bodies before they are hung up in the smoke-houses. they are split open like a haddock, and carefully smoked, after being steeped in brine. baskets, something like exaggerated strawberry pottles of the old conical shape, are prepared, to hold each about a dozen birds. they are lined with leaves, then packed with the birds, the melted fat being run into all the interstices until the basket is full. the top is then neatly tied up with more leaves, and, thus preserved, the contents will keep in cool weather an indefinite length of time. captain count was soon recognized by some of his old friends, who were delighted to welcome him again. their faces fell, however, when he told them that his stay was to be very brief, and that he only required four good-sized fish to fill up. inquiry as to the prevalence of sperm whales in the vicinity elicited the news that they were as plentiful as they had ever been--if anything, more so, since the visits of the whalers had become fewer. there were a couple of "bay" whaling stations existing; but, of course, their success could not be expected to be great among the cachalots, who usually keep a respectful distance from harbours, while they had driven the right whales away almost entirely. no one could help being struck by the manly bearing, splendid physique, and simple manners of the inhabitants. if ever it falls to the lot of any one, as i hope it will, to establish a sperm whale fishery in these regions, there need be no lack of workers while such grand specimens of manhood abound there as we saw--all, moreover, fishermen and whalers from their earliest days. we did not go far afield, but hovered within ten or fifteen miles of the various entrances, so as not to be blown off the land in case of sudden bad weather. even with that timid offing, we were only there two days, when an enormous school of sperm whales hove in sight. i dare not say how many i believe there were, and my estimate really might be biassed; but this i know, that in no given direction could one look to seaward and not see many spouts. we got among them and had a good time, being more hampered by the curiosity of the unattached fish than by the pugnacity of those under our immediate attention. so we killed three, and by preconcerted signal warned the watchers on the lofty points ashore of our success. as speedily as possible off came four boats from the shore stations, and hooked on to two of our fish, while we were busy with the third. the wind being off shore, what there was of it, no time was to be lost, in view of the well-known untrustworthiness of the weather; so we started to cut-in at once, while the shore people worked like giants to tow the other two in. considering the weakness of their forces, they made marvellous progress; but seeing how terribly exhausting the toil was, one could not help wishing them one of the small london tugs, familiarly known as "jackals," which would have snaked those monsters along at three or four knots an hour. however, all went well; the usual gale did blow but not till we had got the last piece aboard and a good "slant" to run in, arriving at our previous moorings at midnight. in the morning the skipper went down in his boat to visit the stations, and see how they had fared. old hand as he was, i think he was astonished to see what progress those fellows had made with the fish. they did not reach the stations till after midnight, but already they had the whales half flenched, and, by the way they were working, it looked as if they would be through with their task as soon as we were with ours. their agreement with the skipper was to yield us half the oil they made, and, if agreeable to them, we would take their moiety at l per tun. consequently they had something to work for, even though there were twenty of them to share the spoil. they were a merry party, eminently good tempered, and working as though one spirit animated them all. if there was a leader of the band, he did his office with great subtilty, for all seemed equal, nor did any appear to need directing what to do. fired by their example, we all worked our hardest; but they beat us by half a day, mainly, i think, by dint of working nearly all the time with scarce any interval for sleep. true, they were bound to take advantage of low water when their huge prize was high and dry--to get at him easily all round. their method was of the simplest. with gaff-hooks to haul back the pieces, and short-handled spades for cutting, they worked in pairs, taking off square slabs of blubber about a hundredweight each. as soon as a piece was cut off, the pair tackled on to it, dragging it up to the pots, where the cooks hastily sliced it for boiling, interspersing their labours with attention to the simmering cauldrons. their efforts realized twenty-four tuns of clear oil and spermaceti, of which, according to bargain, we took twelve, the captain buying the other twelve for l , as previously arranged. this latter portion, however, was his private venture, and not on ship's account, as he proposed selling it at the bluff, when we should call there on our way home. so that we were still two whales short of our quantity. what a little space it did seem to fill up! our patience was sorely tested, when, during a whole week following our last haul, we were unable to put to sea. in vain we tried all the old amusements of fishing, rambling, bathing, etc.; they had lost their "bite;" we wanted to get home. at last the longed-for shift of wind came and set us free. we had hardly got well clear of the heads before we saw a school of cachalots away on the horizon, some twelve miles off the land to the southward. we made all possible sail in chase, but found, to our dismay, that they were "making a passage," going at such a rate that unless the wind freshened we could hardly hope to come up with them. fortunately, we had all day before us, having quitted our moorings soon after daylight; and unless some unforeseen occurrence prevented us from keeping up our rate of speed, the chances were that some time before dark they would ease up and allow us to approach them. they were heading to the westward, perhaps somewhat to the northward withal, to all appearance making for the solander. hour after hour crawled by, while we still seemed to preserve our relative distance, until we had skirted the southern shore of the island and entered the area, of our old fishing ground. two vessels were cruising thereon, well to the northward, and we thought with glee of the excitement that would seize them did they but gain an inkling of our chase. to our great delight, what we had hoped, but hardly dared expect, came to pass. the school, as if with one impulse, hauled up on their course four points, which made them head direct for the western verge of the solander ground, and--what was more important to us--made our coming up with them a matter of a short time. we made the customary signals with the upper sails to our friends to the northward, who recognized them immediately, and bore down towards us. not only had the school shifted their course, but they had slackened speed; so that by four o'clock we were able to lower for them at less than a mile distance. it was an ideal whaling day--smooth water, a brisk breeze, a brilliant sun, and plenty of whales. i was, as became my position, in the rear when we went into action, and hardly hoped for an opportunity of doing much but dance attendance upon my seniors. but fortune favoured me. before i had any idea whether the chief was fast or not, all other considerations were driven clean out of my head by the unexpected apparition of a colossal head, not a ship's length away, coming straight for us, throwing up a swell in front of him like an ironclad. there was barely time to sheer to one side, when the giant surged past us in a roar of foaming sea, the flying flakes of which went right over us. samuela was "all there," though, and as the great beast passed he plunged a harpoon into him with such force and vigour that the very socket entered the blubber it needed all the strength i could muster, even with such an aid as the nineteen-feet steer-oar, to swing the boat right round in his wake, and prevent her being capsized by his headlong rush. for, contrary to the usual practice, he paused not an instant, but rather quickened his pace, as if spurred. heavens, how he went! the mast and sail had to come down--and they did, but i hardly know how. the spray was blinding, coming in sheets over the bows, so that i could hardly see how to steer in the monster's wake. he headed straight for the ship, which lay-to almost motionless, filling me with apprehension lest he should in his blind flight dash that immense mass of solid matter into her broadside, and so put an inglorious end to all our hopes. what their feelings on board must have been, i can only imagine, when they saw the undeviating rush of the gigantic creature straight for them. on he went, until i held my breath for the crash, when at the last moment, and within a few feet of the ship's side, he dived, passing beneath the vessel. we let go line immediately, as may be supposed; but although we had been towing with quite fifty fathoms drift, our speed had been so great that we came up against the old ship with a crash that very nearly finished us. he did not run any further just then, but sounded for about two hundred and fifty fathoms, rising to the surface in quite another mood. no more running away from him. i cannot say i felt any of the fierce joy of battle at the prospect before me. i had a profound respect for the fighting qualities of the sperm whale, and, to tell the truth, would much rather have run twenty miles behind him than have him turn to bay in his present parlous humour. it was, perhaps, fortunate for me that there was a crowd of witnesses, the other ships being now quite near enough to see all that was going on, since the feeling that my doings were full in view of many experts and veterans gave me a determination that i would not disgrace either myself or my ship; besides, i felt that this would probably be our last whale this voyage, if i did not fail, and that was no small thing to look forward to. all these things, so tedious in the telling, flashed through my mind, while, with my eyes glued to the huge bulk of my antagonist or the hissing vortices above him when he settled, i manoeuvred my pretty craft with all the skill i could summon. for what seemed a period of about twenty minutes we dodged him as he made the ugliest rushes at us. i had not yet changed ends with samuela, as customary, for i felt it imperative to keep the helm while this game was being played. my trusty kanaka, however, had a lance ready, and i knew, if he only got the ghost of a chance, no man living would or could make better use of it. the whole affair was growing monotonous as well as extremely wearying. perhaps i was a little off my guard; at any rate, my heart almost leaped into my mouth when just after an ugly rush past us, which i thought had carried him to a safe distance, he stopped dead, lifted his flukes, and brought them down edgeways with a vicious sweep that only just missed the boat's gunwale and shore off the two oars on that side as if they had been carrots. this serious disablement would certainly have led to disaster but for samuela. prompt and vigorous, he seized the opportune moment when the whale's side was presented just after the blow, sending his lance quivering home all its length into the most vital part of the leviathan's anatomy. turning his happy face to me, he shouted exultingly, "how's dat fer high?"--a bit of slang he had picked up, and his use of which never failed to make me smile. "high" it was indeed--a master-stroke. it must have pierced the creature's heart, for he immediately began to spout blood in masses, and without another wound went into his flurry and died. then came the reaction. i must have exerted myself beyond what i had any idea of, for to samuela i was obliged to delegate the task of fluke-boring, while i rested a little. the ship was soon alongside, though, and the whale secured. there was more yet to be done before we could rest, in spite of our fatigue. the other boats had been so successful that they had got two big fish, and what we were to do with them was a problem not easily solvable. by dint of great exertion, we managed to get another whale alongside, but were fain to come to some arrangement with the eliza adams, one of the ships that had been unsuccessful, to take over our other whale on an agreement to render us one-third of the product either in port william or at home, if she should not find us is the former place. behold us, then, in the gathering dusk with a whale on either side, every stitch of canvas we could show set and drawing, straining every nerve to get into the little port again, with the pleasant thought that we were bringing with us all that was needed to complete our well-earned cargo. nobody wanted to go below; all hands felt that it was rest enough to hang over the rail on either side and watch the black masses as they surged through the gleaming sea. they represented so much to us. very little was said, but all hearts were filled with a deep content, a sense of a long season of toil fitly crowned with complete success; nor was any depression felt at the long, long stretch of stormy ocean between us and our home port far away in the united states. that would doubtless come by-and-by, when within less than a thousand miles of new bedford; but at present all sense of distance from home was lost in the overmastering thought that soon it would be our only business to get there as quickly as possible, without any avoidable loitering on the road. we made an amazing disturbance in the darkness of the sea with our double burthen, so much so that one of the coasting steamers changed her course a bit to range up by our side in curiosity. we were scarcely going two and a half knots, in spite of the row we made, and there was hardly room for wonder at the steamboat captain's hail, "want any assistance?" "no, thank you," was promptly returned, although there was little doubt that all hands would have subscribed towards a tow into port, in case the treacherous weather should, after all, play us a dirty trick. but it looked as if our troubles were over. no hitch occurred in our steady progress, slow though it necessarily was, and as morning lifted the heavy veil from the face of the land, we arrived at our pretty little haven, and quietly came to an anchor. the chance was in port wind-bound, looking, like ourselves, pretty low in the water. no sooner did paddy hear the news of our arrival in such fine trim than he lowered his boat and hurried on board of us, his face beaming with delight. long and loud were his congratulations, especially when he heard that we should now be full. moreover, he offered--nor would he take any denial--to come with the whole of his crew and help us finish. for the next four days and nights, during which the wind prevented the chance from leaving us, our old ship was a scene of wild revelry, that ceased not through the twenty-four hours--revelry entirely unassisted by strong waters, too, the natural ebullient gaiety of men who were free from anxiety on any account whatever, rejoicing over the glad consummation of more than two years toil, on the one hand; on the other, a splendid sympathy in joy manifested by the satisfied crew under the genial command of captain gilroy. with their cheerful help we made wonderful progress; and when at last the wind hauled into a favourable quarter, and they were compelled to leave us, the back of our work was broken, only the tedious task of boiling being left to finish. never, i am sure, did two ships' companies part with more hearty good-will than ours. as the ungainly old tub surged slowly out of the little harbour, her worn-out and generally used-up appearance would have given a board of trade inspector the nightmare; the piratical looks of her crowd were enough to frighten a shipload of passengers into fits; but to us who had seen their performances in all weathers, and under all circumstances, accidental externals had no weight in biassing our high opinion of them all. good-bye, old ship; farewell, jolly captain and sturdy crew; you will never be forgotten any more by us while life lasts, and in far other and more conventional scenes we shall regretfully remember the free-and-easy time we shared with you. so she slipped away round the point and out of our lives for ever. by dint of steady hard work we managed to get the last of our greasy work done in four days more, then faced with a will the job of stowing afresh the upper tiers of casks, in view of our long journey home. the oil bought by the skipper on private venture was left on deck, secured to the lash-rail, for discharging at the bluff, while our stock of water-casks were carefully overhauled and recoopered prior to being stowed in their places below. of course, we had plenty of room in the hold, since no ship would carry herself full of casks of oil; but i doubt whether, if we had borne a "plimsoll's mark," it would not have been totally submerged, so deep did we lie. wooding and watering came next--a different affair to our casual exercises in those directions before. provision had to be made now for a possible four or five months' passage, during which we hoped to avoid any further calls, so that the accumulation of firewood alone was no small matter. we cleared the surrounding neighbourhood of potatoes at a good price, those useful tubers being all they could supply us with for sea-stock, much to their sorrow. then came the most unpleasant part of the whole business--for me. it had been a part of the agreement made with the kanakas that they were not to be taken home with us, but returned to their island upon the termination of the whaling. now, the time had arrived when we were to part, and i must confess that i felt very sorry to leave them. they had proved docile, useful, and cheerful; while as for my harpooner and his mate polly, no man could have wished for smarter, better, or more faithful helpers than they were. strong as their desire was to return to their homes, they too felt keenly the parting with us; for although they had unavoidably suffered much from the inclemency of the weather--so different from anything they had ever previously experienced--they had been kindly treated, and had moved on precisely the same footing as the rest of the crew. they wept like little children when the time arrived for them to leave us, declaring that if ever we came to their island again they would use all their endeavours to compel us to remain, assuring us that we should want for nothing during the rest of our lives, if we would but take up our abode with them. the one exception to all this cordiality was sam. his ideas were running in quite other channels. to regain his lost status as ruler of the island, with all the opportunities for indulging his animal propensities which such a position gave him, was the problem he had set himself, and to the realization of these wishes he had determinedly bent all his efforts. thus he firmly declined the offer of a passage back in the eliza adams, which our captain secured for all the kanakas; preferring to be landed at the bluff, with the goodly sum of money to which he was entitled, saying that he had important business to transact in sydney before he returned. this business, he privately informed me, was the procuring of arms and ammunition wherewith to make war upon his rival. of course we could not prevent him, although it did seem an abominable thing to let loose the spirit of slaughter among those light-hearted natives just to satisfy the ambition of an unscrupulous negro. but, as i have before noticed, from information received many years after i learned that he had been successful in his efforts, though at what cost to life i do not know. so our dusky friends left us, with a good word from every one, and went on board the eliza adams, whose captain promised to land them at futuna, within six months. how he carried out his promise, i do not know; but, for the poor fellows' sakes, i trust he kept his word. chapter xxviii. to the bluff, and home and now the cruise of the good old whaling barque cachalot, as far as whaling is concerned, comes to an end. for all practical purposes she becomes a humdrum merchantman in haste to reach her final port of discharge, and get rid of her cargo. no more will she loiter and pry around anything and everything, from an island to a balk of drift-wood, that comes in her way, knowing not the meaning of "waste of time." the "crow's-nests" are dismantled, taut topgallant-masts sent up, and royal yards crossed. as soon as we get to sea we shall turn-to and heave that ancient fabric of bricks and mortar--always a queer-looking erection to be cumbering a ship's deck--piecemeal over the side. it has long been shaky and weather-beaten; it will soon obstruct our movements no more. our rigging has all been set up and tarred down; we have painted hull and spars, and scraped wherever the wood-work is kept bright. all gear belonging to whaling has been taken out of the boats, carefully cleaned, oiled, and stowed away for a "full due." two of the boats have been taken inboard, and stowed bottom-up upon the gallows aft, as any other merchantman carries them. at last, our multifarious preparations completed, we ride ready for sea. it was quite in accordance with the fitness of things that, when all things were now ready for our departure, there should come a change of wind that threatened to hold us prisoners for some days longer. but our "old man" was hard to beat, and he reckoned that, if we could only get out of the "pond," he would work her across to the bluff somehow or other. so we ran out a kedge with a couple of lines to it, and warped her out of the weather side of the harbour, finding, when at last we got her clear, that she would lay her course across the straits to clear ruapuke--nearly; but the current had to be reckoned with. before we reached that obstructing island we were down at the eastern end of it, and obliged to anchor promptly to save ourselves from being swept down the coast many miles to leeward of our port. but the skipper was quite equal to the occasion. ordering his boat, he sped away into bluff harbour, only a matter of six or seven miles, returning soon with a tug, who for a pound or two placed us, without further trouble, alongside the wharf, amongst some magnificent clipper ships of messrs. henderson's and the new zealand shipping co.'s, who seemed to turn up their splendid noses at the squat, dumpy, antiquated old serving-mallet that dared to mingle with so august a crowd. there had been a time, not so very far back, when i should have shared their apparent contempt for our homely old tub; but my voyage had taught me, among other things, that, as far as true comfort went at sea, not a "three-skysail-yarder" among them could compare with the cachalot. and i was extremely glad that my passage round the horn was to be in my own ship, and not in a long, snaky tank that, in the language of the sailor, takes a header when she gets outside the harbour, and only comes up two or three times to blow before she gets home. our only reason for visiting this place being to discharge captain count's oil, and procure a sea-stock of salt provisions and hard bread, these duties were taken in hand at once. the skipper sold his venture of oil to good advantage, being so pleased with his success that he gave us all a good feed on the strength of it. as soon as the stores were embarked and everything ready for sea, leave was given to all hands for twenty-four hours, upon the distinct understanding that the privilege was not to be abused, to the detriment of everybody, who, as might be supposed, were anxious to start for home. in order that there might be less temptation to go on the spree generally, a grand picnic was organized to a beautiful valley some distance from the town. carriages were chartered, an enormous quantity of eatables and drinkables provided, and away we went, a regular wayzgoose or bean-feast party. it was such a huge success, that i have ever since wondered why such outings cannot become usual among sailors on liberty abroad, instead of the senseless, vicious waste of health, time, and hard-earned wages which is general. but i must not let myself loose upon this theme again, or we shall never get to sea. liberty over without any trouble arising, and all hands comfortably on board again, the news ran round that we were to sail in the morning. so, after a good night's rest, we cast loose from the wharf, and, with a little assistance from the same useful tug that brought us in, got fairly out to sea. all sail was set to a strong, steady north-wester, and with yards canted the least bit in the world on the port tack, so that every stitch was drawing, we began our long easterly stretch to the horn, homeward bound at last. favoured by wind and weather, we made an average run of one hundred and eighty miles per day for many days, paying no attention to "great circle sailing," since in such a slow ship the net gain to be secured by going to a high latitude was very small, but dodging comfortably along on about the parallel of deg. s., until it became necessary to draw down towards "cape stiff," as that dreaded extremity of south america, cape horn, is familiarly called by seamen. as we did so, icebergs became numerous, at one time over seventy being in sight at once. some of them were of immense size--one, indeed, that could hardly be fitly described as an iceberg, but more properly an ice-field, with many bergs rising out of it, being over sixty miles long, while some of its towering peaks were estimated at from five hundred to one thousand feet high. happily, the weather kept clear; for icebergs and fog make a combination truly appalling to the sailor, especially if there be much wind blowing. needless, perhaps, to say, our look-out was of the best, for all hands had a double interest in the safety of the ship. perhaps it may be thought that any man would have so much regard for the safety of his life that he would not think of sleeping on his look-out; but i can assure my readers that, strange as it may seem, such is not the case, i have known men who could never be trusted not to go to sleep, no matter how great the danger. this is so well recognized in merchant ships that nearly every officer acts as if there was no look-out at all forward, in case his supposed watchman should be having a surreptitious doze. stronger and stronger blew the brave west wind; dirtier, gloomier, and colder grew the weather, until, reduced to two topsails and a reefed foresail, we were scudding dead before the gale for all we were worth. this was a novel experience for us in the cachalot, and i was curious to see how she would behave. to my mind, the supreme test of a ship's sea-kindliness is the length of time she will scud before a gale without "pooping" a sea, or taking such heavy water on board over her sides as to do serious damage. some ships are very dangerous to run at all. endeavouring to make the best use of the gale which is blowing in the right direction, the captain "hangs on" to all the sail he can carry, until she ships a mighty mass of water over all, so that the decks are filled with wreckage, or, worse still, "poops" a sea. the latter experience is a terrible one, even to a trained seaman. you are running before the wind and waves, sometimes deep in the valley between two liquid mountains, sometimes high on the rolling ridge of one. you watch anxiously the speed of the sea, trying to decide whether it or you are going the faster, when suddenly there seems to be a hush, almost a lull, in the uproar. you look astern, and see a wall of water rising majestically higher and higher, at the same time drawing nearer and nearer. instinctively you clutch at something firm, and hold your breath. then that mighty green barrier leans forward, the ship's stern seems to settle at the same time, and, with a thundering noise as of an avalanche descending, it overwhelms you. of course the ship's way is deadened; she seems like a living thing overburdened, yet struggling to be free; and well it is for all hands if the helmsman be able to keep his post and his wits about him. for if he be hurt, or have fled from the terrible wave, it is an even chance that she "broaches to;" that is to say, swings round broadside on to the next great wave that follows relentlessly its predecessor. then, helpless and vulnerable, she will most probably be smashed up and founder. many a good ship has gone with all hands to the bottom just as simply as that. in order to avoid such a catastrophe, the proper procedure is to "heave-to" before the sea has attained so dangerous a height; but even a landsman can understand how reluctant a shipmaster may be to lie like a log just drifting, while a more seaworthy ship is flying along at the rate of, perhaps, three hundred miles a day in the desired direction. ships of the cachalot's bluff build are peculiarly liable to delays of this kind from their slowness, which, if allied to want of buoyancy, makes it necessary to heave-to in good time, if safety is at all cared for. to my great astonishment and delight, however, our grand old vessel nobly sustained her character, running on without shipping any heavy water, although sometimes hedged in on either side by gigantic waves that seemed to tower as high as her lowermast heads. again and again we were caught up and passed by the splendid homeward-bound colonial packets, some of them carrying an appalling press of canvas, under which the long, snaky hulls, often overwhelmed by the foaming seas, were hardly visible, so insignificant did they appear by comparison with the snowy mountain of swelling sail above. so we fared eastward and ever southward, until in due time up rose the gloomy, storm-scarred crags of the diego ramirez rocks, grim outposts of the new world. to us, though, they bore no terrific aspect; for were they not the turning-point from which we could steer north, our head pointed for home? immediately upon rounding them we hauled up four points, and, with daily improving weather climbed the southern slopes towards the line. very humdrum and quiet the life appeared to all of us, and had it not been for the saving routine of work by day, and watch by night, kept up with all our old discipline, the tedium would have been insupportable after the incessant excitement of expectation to which we had so long been accustomed. still, our passage was by no means a bad one for a slow ship, being favoured by more than ordinarily steadfast winds until we reached the zone of the south-east trades again, where the usual mild, settled wind and lovely weather awaited us. on and on, unhasting but unresting, we stolidly jogged, by great good fortune slipping across the "doldrums"--that hateful belt of calms about the line so much detested by all sailor-men--without losing the south-east wind. not one day of calm delayed us, the north-east trades meeting us like a friend sent to extend a welcoming hand and lend us his assistance on our homeward way. they hung so far to the eastward, too--sometimes actually at east-by-north-that we were able to steer north on the starboard tack--a slice of luck not usually met with. this "slant" put all hands in the best of humours, and already the date of our arrival was settled by the more sanguine ones, as well as excellent plans made for spending the long voyage's earnings. for my part, having been, in spite of my youth, accustomed to so many cruel disappointments and slips between the cup and lip, i was afraid to dwell too hopefully upon the pleasures (?) of getting ashore. and after the incident which i have now to record occurred, i felt more nervous distrust than i had ever felt before at sea since first i began to experience the many vicissitudes of a sailor's life. we had reached the northern verge of the tropics in a very short time, owing to the favourable cant in the usual direction of the north-east trades before noted, and had been met with north-westerly winds and thick, dirty weather, which was somewhat unusual in so low a latitude. our look-outs redoubled their vigilance, one being posted on each bow always at night, and relieved every hour, as we were so well manned. we were now on the port tack, of course, heading about north-east-by-north, and right in the track of outward-hound vessels from both the united kingdom and the states. one morning, about three a.m.--that fateful time in the middle watch when more collisions occur than at any other--suddenly out of the darkness a huge ship seemed to leap right at us. she must have come up in a squall, of which there were many about, at the rate of some twelve knots an hour, having a fair wind, and every rag of sail set. not a gleam of light was visible anywhere on board of her, and, to judge from all appearances, the only man awake on board was the helmsman. we, being "on the wind, close-hauled," were bound by the "rule of the road at sea" to keep our course when meeting a ship running free. the penalty for doing anything under such circumstances is a severe one. first of all, you do not know that the other ship's crew are asleep or negligent, even though they carry no lights; for, by a truly infernal parsimony, many vessels actually do not carry oil enough to keep their lamps burning all the voyage, and must therefore economize in this unspeakably dangerous fashion. and it may be that just as you alter your course, daring no longer to hold on, and, as you have every reason to believe, be run down, the other man alters his. then a few breathless moments ensue, an awful crash, and the two vessels tear each other to pieces, spilling the life that they contain over the hungry sea. even if you escape, you are to blame for not keeping your course, unless it can be proved that you were not seen by the running ship. well, we kept our course until, i verily believe, another plunge would have cut us sheer in two halves. at the last moment our helm was put hard down, bringing our vessel right up into the wind at the same moment as the helmsman on board the other vessel caught sight of us, and instinctively put his helm down too. the two vessels swung side by side amidst a thunderous roar of flapping canvas, crackling of fallen spars, and rending of wood as the shrouds tore away the bulwarks. all our davits were ripped from the starboard side, and most of our bulwarks too; but, strangely enough, we lost no spars nor any important gear. there seemed to be a good deal of damage done on board the stranger, where, in addition, all hands were at their wits' end. well they might be, aroused from so criminal a sleep as theirs. fortunately, the third mate had powerful bull's-eye lantern, which in his watch on deck he always kept lighted. turning it on the stern of the delinquent vessel as she slowly forged clear of us, we easily read her name, which, for shame's sake as well as for prudential reasons, i withhold. she was a london ship, and a pretty fine time of it i had for the next day or two, listening to the jeers and sarcasms on the quality of british seamanship. repairing damages kept us busy for a few days; but whatever of thankfulness we were capable of feeling was aroused by this hairbreadth escape from death through the wicked neglect of the most elementary duty of any man calling himself a seaman. then a period of regular western-ocean weather set in. it was early spring in the third year since our departure from this part of the world, and the north-easter blew with bitter severity, making even the seasoned old captain wince again; but, as he jovially said, "it smelt homey, n' he warn't a-goin' ter growl at thet." neither were any of us, although we could have done with less of a sharp edge to it all the same. steadily we battled northward, until at last, with full hearts, we made cape navesink ("ole neversunk"), and on the next day took a tug and towed into new bedford with every flag we could scare up flying, the centre of admiration--a full whale-ship safe back from her long, long fishing round the world. my pleasant talk is done. i wish from my heart it were better performed; but, having done my best, i must perforce be content. if in some small measure i have been able to make you, my friendly reader, acquainted with a little-known or appreciated side of life, and in any wise made that life a real matter to you, giving you a fresh interest in the toilers of the sea, my work has not been wholly in vain. and with that fond hope i give you the sailor's valedictory-- so long! provided by the internet archive a voyage to the arctic in the whaler aurora by david moore lindsay, f. r. g. s. "our infant winter sinks, divested of its grandeur, should our eye astonish'd shoot into the frigid zone." boston: dana estes & company publishers [illustration: ] [illustration: ] [illustration: ] dedicated to sir thomas myles a voyage to the arctic in the whaler aurora chapter i--introduction the following is little more than a diary of a voyage made by me on the whaler _aurora_ of dundee in . i cannot imagine its being read by many, as the subject can only interest a few who have themselves gone down to the sea in ships. the arctic whaling industry is i fear becoming a thing of the past, and this prompts me to have the record of our successful voyage printed. some mention has been made of the greely relief expedition, as the relief ships were with the whalers during the passage to cape york from newfoundland. we were not brought in contact with the _chieftain_ at all during the cruise, but i have told the story of her disaster, as it was the most unfortunate occurrence of the year amongst the arctic whalers, and for the data i am very much indebted to the _dundee advertiser_ and to mr. allen bell and mr. harvey of that paper for the trouble they have taken about it. i am also indebted to mr. robert kinnis of dundee for much interesting whaling information in the appendix. as that gentleman possesses the records of all catches taken by british ships for more than a hundred years, he is in a position to supply very valuable data on the subject. mr. walter kinnis kindly supplied me with many photographs, as did dr. crawford, formerly of the _arctic_, and captain murray of dundee. it has given me great pleasure recalling the scenes described. as i was very young at the time of the voyage they produced an indelible impression. often since have i longed for a few weeks in lancaster sound, and to hear once more the inspiring shout "a fall!" being fond of adventure, and having read as many works on the subject as most boys of my age, it was with great pleasure that i looked forward to hearing a lecture delivered by commander cheyne, r.n. i was then at school, and our tutor thought it would be an education for us to hear him. the lecture was to me intensely interesting and the illustrations splendid. for days after i could not think of anything else. during study at night, i used to spend a good deal of time looking at a map of the arctic seas, and picturing melville bay with its dangers. after leaving school, and while at college, i read walter scott's "pirate." it told about the orkneys and shetlands, and its frequent allusions to the whaling industry set me thinking. i found myself often repeating: "the ship, well laden as barque need be, lies deep in the furrow of the iceland sea. the breeze for zetland blows fair and soft and gaily the garland is fluttering aloft. seven good fishes have spouted their last, and their jawbones are hanging from yard and mast; two are for lerwick, and two for kirkwall, and three for burgh-westra, the choicest of all." as there was no immediate chance of going to greenland, why not see shetland? so when the summer holidays came, i made my way to edinburgh with two friends who had also read the "pirate." we found that steamers sailed from leith and that the best of the fleet, the _st. magnus_, would leave the next morning at six, so we took passage in her and visited orkney and shetland, thoroughly enjoying being off the beaten track. one day we sat on the nab head at lerwick and looked over a calm sea. in the distance a barque could be descried. half an hour later we noticed her much closer, although no sails hung from her yards. then we discovered that while barque rigged she could also steam, and when she anchored we found that she was a whaler, the _eclipse_ of the peter head,--captain gray. we went on board and were shown over the ship. polar bear skins were stretched in frames drying, and we learned that she had , seals on board and bottle-nosed whales, and, what was of far more consequence to me, that she carried a surgeon. years passed; i was a student at the university of edinburgh and had every opportunity of learning about ships sailing from scottish ports. one day in november, , i went to dundee and, leaving the tay bridge station, made my way along the docks to a basin in which were several whalers. they were discharging cargo, and it was unnecessary to see them to know of their presence. two of the ships, though small, were very beautiful to look at. they were the _jan mayen_ and the _nova zembla_. others, the _narwhal, polynia, esquimaux, active_, etc., were not so pretty, but they all had a fascination--they came from the romantic arctic, and i went on board each one. then i visited another dock where three ships lay together. they were the _arctic_, the _aurora_ and the _thetis._ it required no expert to tell that they were vessels of superior quality. i went on board the one nearest the shore, the _thetis_, and interviewed the mate. he told me that all three ships would carry surgeons. the _arctic_ and _thetis_ were bound for davis straits, the _aurora_ for greenland. [illustration: ] the office of the company, wm. steven & son, was near by, so i left the ship very much excited. here was almost a chance to visit the arctic regions. going over to the office, i learned that the captain of a whaler selected his own surgeon, and that captain james fairweather of the _aurora_ had just been there. i obtained his address, and calling a cab, was soon at his house. he was not in, but i waited. seated in a room on the floor of which polar bear rugs were stretched, i began to realize that i was taking a rather serious step without consulting my parents. before long the captain entered, and after a little conversation, i arranged to sail as the _aurora's_ surgeon the following january. so without really meaning to go when i left my rooms in the morning, i found myself in the railway carriage on the way back to edinburgh, booked for an unusual voyage. during the winter i told some friends what i intended to do, and one of them at once went to dundee and secured the _arctic_, the captain of which was an irishman. another was also desirous of going, but said he would wait until i returned and told him how i liked it. however he too went in the end and we met in the north. the _aurora_ was bound for the newfoundland sealing first and afterwards for the greenland whaling; that is to say, she would fish for bottlenosed whales on the east side of greenland in the seas around jan mayen and spitzbergen and make a shorter voyage of it than the davis straits ships. to prepare myself for the experience i read what i could about greenland, and was fascinated by the prospect of seeing its icy mountains and possibly some of its inhabitants; while the very word spitzbergen suggested to me polar bears and icebergs. in january, , a letter from the captain told me he would sail about the end of the month and requested me to be in dundee by the th. [illustration: ] i bought a lot of unnecessary clothing, such as pilot-cloth suits lined with flannel. when the flannel became wet afterwards it wonderfully altered the fit of the things, so i removed it with my knife. i also laid in a supply of literature, arms and ammunition, and left the waverley station at six on the morning of the th. arriving at dundee, i went to a hotel and then to the office, where i met the captain, and went with him to the place where the men were signing on. here i heard some one reading rapidly a lot about the nature of the voyage and what we would have to eat. when i left the building, i was a legal member of the _aurora's_ crew for the coming cruise, and my rating was that of surgeon, with pay as follows: £. s. d monthly pay oil money per ton bone per ton seal skins per , i had to furnish my own cabin and to pay the market price for any trophy of my own shooting which i wanted to keep. as our voyage was in pursuit of arctic animals and as i was a member of the crew sent for that purpose, of course this was quite right. it was possible for me to increase the above pay by being in fast boats. let me explain what i mean: when a boat first strikes a fish it is called a fast boat; and if the whale is killed, every one in the boat receives what is called striking money. the harpooner gets ten shillings for putting in the gun harpoon, and ten and six pence for the hand, or a guinea for both, while every member of the crew receives half a crown in either case. it was my good fortune during the following eight months to increase my wages by two shillings and six pence in this way. having fixed terms and other details i went on board the ship which was to be my home for some months to come. she was a pretty auxiliary barque of tons registered. her engines were about a hundred horse power. she had a top-gallant forecastle and a raised poop. running forward from the poop was the engine room skylight, which ended at the funnel casing, and steps led from the poop to the main deck on each side of it. the funnel was painted buff, the ship outside was black, and the bulwarks inside white and blue. the bridge was across the engine room skylight and in front of the mizzenmast, an iron railing around the poop, offering no protection from the weather, while a companion opened aft in front of our two wheels. the pretty little cabin was furnished in pitch pine and leather. the captain's room occupied the starboard side, while mine was on the port, both opening into the cabin. forward of my room was that occupied by the first and second mates, and this looked into the passage at the foot of the stairs. forward of the passage was the pantry and also the engineer's room. a locker in which things were stowed occupied the stern and opened into the cabin. forward of the cabin table was a stove in which there was a cheerful fire, and in the square skylight hung a bird's cage and a garland, also some plants. finding out what i wanted for my room, i went into the town, ordered the things and had them sent down. _january _. two acquaintances, whose identity i may indicate by the initials h. and p., turned up this day to see me off. i took them over the ship, but they were not very enthusiastic. we afterwards went around the docks and saw the other whalers getting ready for sea. quantities of marmalade and dozens of hams were being put on board the _esquimaux_. two of the whalers had already departed, the _narwhal_ and _polynia_, while others were not starting for a week to come; but as there were uncertainties about the western ocean's passage in winter, captain fairweather had decided not to wait longer than the st. it snowed a little, which made the docks look dreary. i met the captain's wife on board during the afternoon, also his brother, who had command of the _thetis_. the following day armitage arrived. he brought me a big meerschaum pipe, and was delighted with the ship, so pleased that he visited many others to see if he could not secure a berth on one of them. but those carrying surgeons had their medical officers engaged. we wandered around the docks all the morning and at noon i went on board. the _aurora_ left the dock at one p. m. and anchored for a short time in the river to pick up a few belated and more or less incapable members of the crew, and to land some stowaways. my friends stood on the dockhead with hundreds of others to see us off, and as we passed through the gate, old shoes, oranges and other things were thrown on board. [illustration: ] i was walking about the poop with my hands deep in the pockets of my pilot coat and looking at the sea of faces on the dock, when, stumbling over a chain, down i came with a crash in the most ignominious way. however a stumble and fall on board a whaler putting to sea generally passes unnoticed; one would attract more attention by standing up all the time! thus the voyage began,--my position flat on deck, being in keeping with the best traditions of the trade! chapter ii--voyage to newfoundland "a thousand miles from land are we, tossing about on the roaring sea; from billow to bounding billow cast like fleecy snow on the stormy blast." |steaming down the river we landed quite a lot of stowaways at broughty perry about . p. m., just as it was becoming dark. tea was served at five,--my first meal on board the _aurora_. the captain and myself sat on the starboard side of the table. wm. adam, the mate, alexander mckechnie, second mate, and wm. smith, chief engineer, sat on the other side. immediately after tea, i went to my room as we were crossing the bar and going out into a gale of wind. everything was tumbling about, and knowing that in a very short time i should lose all interest in my surroundings, i began making things secure. there were two berths. my bed was in the upper as it had a porthole, and most of my belongings were stowed in the lower. a lot of tobacco had become loose, so i put the little packages of it between my bed and the side of the ship. the port was not screwed very tight and leaked badly for a week or so. this saturated the tobacco and generated an odor which added nothing to my comfort. the motion becoming very pronounced, i turned in, and being tired, slept well. [illustration: ] _february st_. footsteps overhead and the singing of shanties on deck awoke me at daybreak, but i was intensely ill, so stayed in bed all day. my room was illuminated by a small light set in the deck overhead and by a partially submerged port, so it was not cheerful. above my head there was a book shelf. i tried to read, but could not feel interested as it was so very depressing to look forward to months and months of this sort of thing. matters grew worse as the day went on, the climax being reached when rounding duncansby head; but respite came about midnight, when we crept into long hope and let go our anchor. _february nd._ shouting and crying awoke me in the morning, and opening the door of my cabin, i saw the captain teaching two boys that the sea was a bad place to run away to. they had been under an upturned boat and the seas coming on board had almost drowned them out. each boy promised that he would never do it again. they were given two tins of mutton and a small sack of ship's bread, and put on shore. long hope is a well sheltered harbor, between the islands of hoy and south walls. there was a pronounced smell of turf smoke about the place and the land was half covered with snow. two other whalers were at anchor near by, the _narwhal_ and _polynia._ they had left dundee ten days before us and bad been weather bound here for that length of time. i brought my gun up as there were some richardson's skuas flying about, but i did not get a shot at one. the mate, however, shot a herring gull with it and this was the first splash of the ocean of blood shed by us during the voyage. breakfast was a cheerful meal and the horrors of the north sea were soon forgotten. at noon, the tide being favorable and the wind having gone down greatly, we all three steamed out into the pentland firth. the _polynia_ was the first to move; i heard her anchor chain clanking on board to a well-sung shanty. we started next, and as there were some good voices forward we tried to outdo the others. the _narwhal_ followed, never to return, as she was lost during the summer. turning brims ness sharp, we kept on the orcadian side of the firth; and after passing turn ness, we laid our course for cape wrath. across the water we could barely make out thurso. the land lies rather low about the mouth of the thurso river; but on the hoy side the scenery was fine and we soon sighted the old man of hoy. during my trip to orkney and shetland a few years before, i had spent several days on this island, so was interested in seeing it now from the sea on this dismal february afternoon. its sombre cliffs are always grand, but the present atmospheric condition made the scene impressive. [illustration: ] the old man of hoy, in the simple language of the guide book, is, "an insular pillar composed of flagstones and shales. across their denuded edges there stretches the band of amygdaloidal lava which is capped by the red sandstones to the height of four hundred fifty feet." i could make out the ward hill, but clouds lay low on its summit. near there i had visited the celebrated dwarfie stone made famous by scott in his "pirate." it is a huge block of rock twenty-two feet by seventeen and seven deep. there is a passage in it with a bed like a ship's berth hewn out on each side, and it had been, of course, the home of a trold. i turned my back on this land of trolds, and went down the quarter-hatch to see the second mate serving out lime-juice, tea, coffee, tobacco and sugar to the men. i heard their names called and had a good look at them as they came up. our crew was a fine looking lot and the most respectable body of men one could find on any ship, unlike the new bedford or san francisco south sea whalers, which carried very mixed crews of every color. most of our men had spent the greater part of their lives in greenland waters, and though not well informed on current topics and very superstitious, they were self-respecting to a degree and absolutely fearless, and they were all of the same nationality. of course, life on board a whaler is much pleasanter than on any other sort of merchantman, because the ships are well found and the crews very large so that, except when actually engaged in sealing or whaling, they have an easy enough time. the captains in the trade were very humane men, many of them scientific, and they treated their crews well. amongst the harpooners were often found men who had themselves commanded ships and whose stars, no doubt, would again be in the ascendancy. a few unsuccessful years, or the loss of a ship or two, would probably cost a man his command, and bad luck cannot be avoided. before the second mate had finished serving out i retired, as the ship was beginning to feel the heavy swell that was coming in, and by six p. m. i was absolutely "under the weather," and it was blowing hard from the northwest. we passed cape wrath about midnight. the following day a strong gale was blowing with snow and the engines were slowed down. _february th_. blowing a gale, reefed mizzen set and main topmast staysail, with the engines slowed down. during the morning a man was hurt. he was carried aft and held on the cabin table while i--very ill--and also held, sewed his scalp and dressed the wound. _february th_. strong gale. ship under reefed mizzen and main staysail, steaming slow. high sea running and sun obscured all day. this applies to the state of affairs on the th, th, th, th and th, during all of which time i enjoyed the horrors of _mal de mer_. i saw by the log that we had spent our days under fore and afters with a heavy sea running, but i made no original observations, keeping in my berth all the time, wondering during my conscious moments what brought me to sea and vowing that i would never set foot on a vessel again if spared this time. the ship's dog (jock) was a rather sociable and sympathetic collie. he spent a good deal of time with me, and i could not help admiring the old chap when i knew that he really did not belong to any one, but always turned up on the _aurora_ about sailing time and made the voyage with her. at st. john's, jock had lots of friends and visited a good deal, but he was always on board on sailing day. _february th_. a mere shadow of my former self, i got up and did not feel ill. my wash basin was in one corner of the room. i put my head against the corner above it and by sticking one foot against the side of the door and another against the lower berth, was able to apply a little water to my face, but the swing of the ship was so great that it swished nearly every drop out of the basin. i dressed and went to breakfast, feeling absolutely well and ravenously hungry. after breakfast, tucking my breeches inside my sea boots, i went on deck. the door opened aft. as i came out, the stem of the vessel sank low as the bows rose on the sea, and i saw a black mountain of water rolling from us. getting to the mizzen rigging on the port side, i put my arms in the shrouds and stood on a spar lashed on deck. it was very dark for the hour and blowing the greatest storm that i had ever experienced, the wind fairly shrieking through the rigging. we were steaming half speed and had a reefed mizzen and main staysail set. looking forward, i saw the little ship taking tons of dark water over her bows. it came off the forecastle in a cataract, and rushing aft between the engine room and bulwarks, it surged upon the poop. we only had a few feet of free board and were making terrible weather of it. the atmosphere was full of water, as the tops of the waves were blown off in sheets. a great splash came over the quarter about this time and fairly engulfed me. then i learned that it was better to wear one's sea boots inside instead of outside the trousers. this was sufficient for the day, so i retired below to change and dry. during the evening, the captain showed me our position on a chart which was glued to the cabin table under the cloth. we were not yet half way across. the th, th and th were all equally awful, but i had my sea legs and a good appetite, so was thankful. the only pleasure i had was standing on the bridge and watching the ship burying her bows into the big seas and the water coming in tons over the forecastle and filling the main deck. she was indeed a wet ship in bad weather. _february th_. the captain said that he had never seen a lower barometer. a great gale was blowing and the ship was hove to. bags of oil had been put out on the weather side, but the oil did not escape with sufficient freedom so they were hauled in and a lot of punctures made with a knife, but this did not improve matters much. it rendered the sea comparatively smooth to leeward and there was not so much spray flying, but tons of water tumbled over us and we spent a dreadful day. i tried the deck for awhile, but it was dangerous. at night the ship was laboring fearfully and continued to do so for days. _february th_. another fearful day. i had occasion to visit the topgallant forecastle to see the ship-keeper, who had hurt his knee. there was a line from the forecastle door to the main rigging for safety, as one was almost sure to be caught by a sea while going the length of the deck. two men came aft for me, and watching our chance, we reached the forecastle safe. coming back, i decided to try it alone, so waited until a tremendous sea had broken over us, then before she had time to take another, i made a dash, but a body of water splashed over the starboard side and forced me to climb up the inside of the main rigging and stay there until some of it swept off the deck. towards night the wind began to moderate a little. _february st_. pitching and tossing as usual. cloudy, but not much wind; a nasty sea, however, and the canvas did not hold her steady. really in a heavy gale the storm holds a ship down to some extent. the next day, however, the weather had moderated, so i tried stoking and managed quite well. i also tried changing a fire, which was not such a success, but i kept steam up and it was an interesting experience. an end comes to all things. on the morning of the rd the ship for the first time was on an even keel and some sun was shining through my deck light. hitherto attempts at washing had been unsatisfactory, as the motion of the ship in a sea was so quick. now, however, i indulged in a complete toilet, and with a feeling of self-respect went on deck. the day was cloudless and beautiful, the sea smooth as glass, and dotted over it were white specks of ice. in a very short time the pieces of ice became more numerous and larger, and when we were at breakfast we heard and felt the ship crushing and bumping amongst them. by eleven a. m. a breeze came up from the southeast and all sail was set, but by noon the ship stuck hard and fast in the ice, and presented to me a wonderful and beautiful sight. every stitch of canvas was set and drawing, and the engine going full speed, but still for a time we did not move. now was my chance to walk about on the frozen sea, so i went out with the dog and we both enjoyed a race, keeping very close, however, for at any moment the aurora might move. we came on board when the mate called, as a crack was appearing ahead of the ship. we were now two hundred twenty miles from st. john's, and expected to be in ice all the way. during the afternoon i went up to the foretop and valentine thoroughly enjoyed a half hour gazing at the wonderful scene. we were very seldom stuck for any length of time, a few bumps from the ship being generally sufficient to open a crack. [illustration: ] a great many of the men were on deck most of the day, and certainly she was a heavily manned ship with her crew of sixty-five. six of them belonged to the engine room, eight were harpooners, who lived in the topgallant forecastle, as did some of our tradesmen. of these we had two carpenters, a cooper, blacksmith, and sailmaker. the specksioneer also lived there. he was the chief of the harpooners, a splendid old man called george lyon. sixteen of our men were from shetland, a quiet, sober, industrious lot. standing on the forecastle, i watched the ship crunching through several miles of young ice. she never actually stopped once. her bows would rise up on it, then huge slabs would tilt on end as she glided on. sometimes a long crack would open and let her slide in to be almost stuck. by degrees she would gain way and probably steam into an open pool, to strike the opposite side with considerable force, thereby opening a crack in which she would repeat the performance. the engine is the secret of ice navigation. with canvas alone we would have been fast in the ice much of the time, while with heavier engines we could have gone through heavier ice. the night was fine, and we managed to keep moving on our course. _february th_ was a glorious day. one would scarcely expect to find such, weather in february in this neighborhood. in the morning we passed through rather smooth ice. occasionally there were large ponds and in many of these i saw seals. sometimes they were plunging about in numbers, but generally a few heads only were visible looking at us inquisitively as we passed. there were no bergs in sight, but during the afternoon we passed some rafted ice which was piled up six or seven feet above the floes, and once we were fast for an hour in a rather heavy place, when i again tried the walking, but there was snow on the ice which was slightly frozen on the surface, and this made it heavy as one went through the crust. towards evening the sky became cloudy; it was very cold, and snow was falling when i turned in for the night. in the morning cape bonavista was in sight. it was my first view of this new world. all land was beautiful to me after a month at sea and this looked so attractive as we neared it that i wanted to settle on it for the rest of my life. however, we passed on, and during the day steamed through the narrows and tied up astern of the _arctic_ on the south side of st. john's harbor at what was known as stevens wharf. the _arctic_ had sailed ten days after us and had made good weather of it as she was a long ship of nearly double our tonnage, but of nothing like our strength of build. the resolute's wooden funnel lute had also arrived. the latter on the way out had lost her funnel, so a pyramidal structure had been erected of wood lined with tin; this answered very well for a time. some of her bulwarks had been carried away, especially forward of the main rigging on the port side. she was a fine ship, strong and well engined, but the north atlantic in winter leaves its mark on the best. [illustration: ] the _resolute_ was owned in st. john's and commanded by a st. john's captain; but she came out from dundee, where she had been overhauled. so ended my first trip across the atlantic, and, until then, the most uncomfortable experience of my life. chapter iii--newfoundland "such are the charms to barren states assyn'd, their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd." |our first possession across the sea was newfoundland, and i made the voyage to it years after john cabot, the discoverer. the _mathew_ of bristol first sighted cape bonavista, which was the first point seen by the _aurora_. cabot was a venetian sailing out of bristol for a time, and for his great discovery, which gave england her vast american possessions, king henry gave john ten pounds a year. cabot is to-day very well thought of, but nothing much is known of what became of him. the name makes an attractive one for a newfoundland dog. i have known several of them bear it, and it is a sort of geographical education to have them running around; but there is not any place of importance in the world called after this great mariner. the coast of the country is forbidding, being rocky and bleak, except around some of the bays; the most beautiful of those seen by me being bay of islands on the west coast, which reminds one of norway. here and in the valley of the humber, which runs into it, there is some very fertile land, and there are some scenes of peace and prosperity. but the general impression i have obtained after several visits to the country, is that life is a struggle for many of the inhabitants compared with what it is in any other colony which we possess. newfoundlanders are true to the land of their birth, but one familiar with north america at large would never think of advising a colonist to push his fortune in this particular part of it, because the opportunities are comparatively few and the winters are too long for any working man to remain idle. in the interior the soil is as a rule shallow; there are thousands and thousands of acres of barrens, hundreds of lakes of different sizes and numbers of streams. great areas of the country are grown over with small timber, the trees being so close together in places that one can hardly push through them. much of the barren country is moss-grown and boggy, so that it cannot be travelled over by horses or mules; therefore, when one leaves the rivers, it is necessary to carry everything on one's back, and, as a result, travel in the interior is not much indulged in by the inhabitants. to add to the pleasure, mosquitoes and their cousins, the black flies, are in swarms. the whole interior is a deer forest of the first magnitude, teeming with caribou (rangi-fer tarandus). these animals weigh about pounds, and they are very gray about the head and shoulders. i have seen them standing among trees which were grown over with bearded moss, when it was difficult to tell the caribou from the trees. some of the heads are splendid with a great deal of palmation and not at all like greenland or polar american caribou in which the palmation is generally poor and the beam long and straggling, probably due to a difference of environment. migrating to the northern part of the island in summer, they return in september and october to winter in the south, and the sportsman intercepting them on their autumnal trip can have his choice of heads. another attraction is the salmon and trout fishing. the rivers, especially on the west coast, are well stocked, white trout being particularly numerous. st. john's harbor is entered through the narrows. on the left, going in, there is the lighthouse; and on the right, or north side, the signal station. on this side is the city, lying at the foot of low hills, its principal street, water street, being parallel with the shore. from it run side streets down to the wharves and up the hill to the residences and churches. the dundee ships lay on the south side, our yard being nearest the narrows. from it a path led out to the lighthouse point. a hundred yards from the ship one was on the hillside and without the pale of everything, because only a narrow fringe of buildings separated the south shore from the wilds. along the water edge, between our ship and the lighthouse, one passed lots of fish flakes. these were constructed of a framework of vertical and horizontal poles covered over with spruce boughs upon which the split codfish were laid after being salted. the air circulated under and around them well and they soon dried. i saw codfish being dried on the beach in shetland, but they were only spread on the shingle. there are no trees in shetland from which poles could be made, but there is less precipitation there than in newfoundland, so the fish dry well upon the shingle. it is over years since the newfoundland fisheries began to be worked. they proved the country's first attraction and there is nothing of the sort in the world like them. for the five years to ' the export of dried cod was , , quintals of pounds. the basques first appeared on the scene and a port on the west coast to-day bears their name, port aux basques. as early as an english shipmaster, on entering st. john's harbor, found eleven ships from norway, one from breton and ten from portugal, all fishing. in looking over the exports for one notices several interesting items; one is, , tons of cod-liver oil, another item is barrels of cods' heads at $ . per barrel. i fancy, however, their use has not become very general yet when we know that only barrels were exported, and that over sixty million cod were killed. when i speak of the cod fishing, i mean the labrador as well as the banks fishery. in fact, the former is probably the more fished of the two by the newfoundlanders. the day after our arrival our ship began discharging cargo, that is to say, taking off our whale-boats and launch, and taking out all supplies for the whaling voyage. then they began sheathing the deck and bulwarks--even the floor of the cabin was covered with plank. bunks were erected for the men in the 'tween decks, all stores removed from the quarter hatch and bunks put in there for the quartermasters, and the crow's-nest was hoisted up and made fast to the main mast, a few feet below the truck. the crow's-nest or barrel was a most comfortable place. one entered through a trap door in the bottom, and when this was closed there was no draught. around the edge of the barrel and sticking out some distance there was an iron rail upon which the glass could rest, the latter being kept in a canvas bag or pocket inside. from there the ship was navigated, a wire going to the engine room and ringing the bell, but orders to the man at the wheel were called down. while these changes were taking place, in company with the surgeon of the _arctic_, i wandered all over st. john's and the neighborhood, and enjoyed the hospitality of many residents. it was some distance around the end of the harbor to the city, but we could skate across if we liked. the weather was intensely cold and the land was covered with deep snow. the _aurora_ having been converted into a sealer, and having taken on board her supplies and exchanged her beautiful whale-boats for a number of very crude looking punts, moved over to the north side of the harbor, and waited for sailing day to take her crew on board. [illustration: ] it may not be out of place to make a few remarks here about seals and sealing generally. most people know that seal fisheries exist, but few have any idea of their extent. the ice-fields of newfoundland and labrador produce more than anywhere else; but greenland, northern europe, the seas around jan mayen, nova zembla and spitzbergen produce also a great harvest, and the fur-bearing seals of the aleutian islands must not be forgotten. sealing on the east coast of greenland is entirely in the hands of natives, but the industry in other places is chiefly prosecuted by europeans and americans. lindeman tells us that in the ports of the weser sent out ships, that in hamburg sent nineteen which took , seals, that in five german ships took , , five danish , , fifteen norwegian , and twenty-two british , ; so this gives one an idea of the extent to which great britain was represented. in the dundee ships alone took , , valued at over £ , . it was the custom for the british sealers to arrive in bressa sound, shetland, about the end of february, and there pick up a considerable part of their crews, getting to the ice about the middle of march. the young seals were in good condition about this time and had not yet taken to the water, so afforded an easy prey to their foes. around newfoundland, sealing has gone on with great profit to all engaged for probably one hundred and fifty years, and a glance at the following table will give some idea of its extent: in , were taken , , , , , , , , roughly, about , every year, the greatest catch being , in . harvey tells us that in there were nearly four hundred vessels of to tons burthen engaged in the industry, employing altogether , men, and that the year's catch was worth $ , , . now, about eight to ten thousand men are engaged, and the seal fishing yields about one-eighth part of the entire exports of the country. steam was first used in and then the sailing ships began to decrease in number. in more than thirty steamers were used, while the sailing ships had become scarce. with the advent of steam, the dundee owners began casting covetous eyes at newfoundland. the western ocean passage could be made early in the year, and the sealing taken in en route to the whaling. it became necessary to arrange with agents at st. john's, or to build yards where the cargo of seals could be taken care of, leaving the vessel free to proceed north. at this time six ships represented dundee. _arctic_, captain guy _narwhal_, captain phillips _aurora_, captain jas. fairweather _polynia_, captain walker _esquimaux_, captain milne _thetis_, captain alex. fairweather the _resolute_, captain jackman, could hardly be called a dundee ship, and it so happened that the thetis went on other business this year; but the above were the usual six. the seals forming our cargo from the newfoundland ice were harps (phoca greenlandica), so called on account of a peculiar mark on each side of the adult, extending from near the shoulder to near the tail, and hoods (cystophora cristata), so called on account of a large inflatable sac on the nose of the male. on our trip to labrador we secured quite a number of hoods, but on our first trip our cargo was practically one of harps. both these species are migratory, coming south in winter and working north in summer as the ice recedes. as the banks of newfoundland swarm with fish, they form a pleasant winter resort for the seals, and are very convenient to the floes on which they spend february and march. harbor seals (phoca vetulini) and square flippers (phoca barbatus) are also found on the coast. the breeding ice of the seal is the goal of every master in the trade, but there are no rules for finding it. one may consider the influence of currents and winds, and may navigate accordingly only to find the seals are not found where expected. in our own case, the captain told me the day we left st. john's that he had no definite idea of where to go. nevertheless we awoke one morning to find ourselves surrounded by hundreds of thousands. [illustration: ] young seals are born on the newfoundland ice february th to th, and are in perfect condition for the market by march th, as they have been well fed by their mothers until then. they are a yellowish white when born and remain so until they begin to take to the water, when the longish white hair is rapidly shed and the young one quickly loses its condition. owing to the exciting nature of the work, a trip to the ice is the desire of nearly every newfoundland boy. the great danger is fog coming down while the men are sealing far from the ship, and next comes the danger of losing the ship and drifting about on the floes until possibly death takes place from cold and starvation. in one hundred men perished, fifty going down with the _huntsman_ on the coast of labrador. the _bloodhound_ and _retriever_ were lost the same year, their crews escaping to battle harbor after terrible hardships. scoresby tells us of the classical disaster which occurred in about sixty miles east of jan mayen. the sealing fleet, consisting of over fifty vessels, met at the ice edge on march the th. the whole fleet entered the ice streams and their boats went off sealing. a storm suddenly arose, destroying five of the ships and injuring many more, while most of the sealers who were far from their ships were never seen again, almost six hundred men being lost. one could not talk to a sealer long without learning of some horrible accident which had occurred to himself or a friend, and while some of them were given to romance, there could be no question about the perils they encountered or about their bravery and endurance. toward the end of february, the sweilers, as they are called, began to arrive in st. john's looking for berths. as the steamers afforded better opportunities, the able men got them, while the older ones took to the sailing craft, where life was not so strenuous. these men were dressed very much alike and were most athletic; some of them were perfectly wonderful in the way they jumped from pan to pan, barely touching some of the smaller ones in passage. the owners did not overfeed the men on these trips, providing them with sea biscuits and pinnacle tea chiefly, pork and duff being served only three days a week and salt fish on fridays. the water from which the tea was brewed was obtained by thawing pinnacles of ice. when ice floes came together they rafted one on to the other and shattered fragments stuck up in all directions. snow piled upon these and was frozen. when water was wanted, a body of men with axes went on the ice and broke off the pinnacles, which were taken on board and stacked on deck. as water was required these were put into a tank and steam turned on. tea was made with this water, and molasses added in place of cream and sugar. our water for the cabin use was not obtained from this source. on steamers the crew received one-third of the catch, on sailing ships one-half. this was made to the newfoundland men only on the dundee ships, the dundee crew getting paid so much a month, as well as a fraction of the catch. when a ship was amongst the white coats, as the young seals were called, the crew lived well, as they ate the livers, hearts and flippers of the seals. the men carried a supply of livers and hearts in their belts and ate them frozen or cooked as opportunity afforded. it is easy to see how little cooking can be done for a crew of three hundred men on a small ship. i have often seen a man tie a cord to a liver and drop it into a pot of tea sitting on the galley stove, drawing it out when warmed up or when the owner of the pot came for his tea. sailing ships were allowed to leave port on march st, but steamers could not clear for the sealing until march th, and the laws were very strictly enforced. it was not unusual for a ship to have her pans of seals pilfered by another ship during a fog, and this often led to legal complications. i have frequently seen our men cut private marks on the fatty sides of the sculps so that they might be identified afterwards. of course, any ship would pick up a pan which had lost its flag. sometimes the sweilers had great luck, being gone only a week or two and coming back with their pockets full. a sculp was worth $ . to $ . , and as the men received one-third of all taken, it amounted to a good deal for them, and as it came oft at a season when there was nothing else being done, it added greatly to its value. ships engaging in this work had to have their hold hulkheaded off so that, should they encounter bad weather, the cargo would not shift. as the _aurora_ was tanked, that was all that was necessary. if the ship were long in reaching port after taking her seals on hoard, the fat might break down and the oil flood everything, unless the ship had tanks. in our case the sculps were on board such a short time that they were as fresh looking when landed as when taken. the fat was separated from the skin on shore by a man with a long knife. he drew a sculp over a board and caught the edge of it with his left hand; using the knife with his right, in a few sweeps he removed all the blubber. this was thrown into a sausage machine and afterwards steamed in tanks to extract the oil, which was refined by exposure to the sun's rays. the oil was used for machinery and in lighthouses, and the skins were made into harness, boots, etc., farmers using the refuse for fertilizing purposes. when one saw this small army of fine looking, hard working and very poor men, he could not help being sorry that their forefathers in emigrating had not gone a little further and settled in canada or the united states, instead of on this inhospitable land. think of how comparatively easy their lives would have been, and what a return they would have reaped for their work. newfoundland meant to every one of them a life of toil with not much more hope than the mother country could have given them. poor soil and a relentless winter mean this as a rule in a country the mineral resources of which have not been developed. chapter iv--newfoundland sealing "the ice was here, the ice was there, the ice was all around; it cracked and growled, and roared and howled, like noises in a swound." _march th_. at five a. m. all was life on board the _aurora_. on awaking, i had coffee, which was in the cabin, and, muffling up well, i went on deck, as it was bitterly cold. the night was cloudy and dark but the ship was illuminated with torches, and on each side of the gangway stood the mate and ice-master, calling the roll. the newfoundland men came on board as their names were called, about three hundred in all, including the quartermasters, who lived down in the quarter-hatch. the men all wore boots made of untanned seal skin, from which the hair had been removed. they were very light and serviceable and came up to the knee. spikes were driven into the soles to prevent slipping on the ice, and the decks were preserved from these by rough plank sheathing. there was great wrangling and disputing, as many of the men had been celebrating the occasion. at six a. m. we cast loose and by degrees broke our way from the wharf. the scene, when the sun arose, was intensely interesting; all the sealing ships were out, trying to crush their way towards the narrows, and, as the harbor was entirely frozen over, this was hard work. two ships, the _resolute_ and the _polynia_, were behind us, and these last sent two or three hundred to assist our newfoundland crew in pulling on a hawser over our bows, while our scotch crew on board ran backwards and forwards across the deck to make the ship roll. this rolling often helped greatly when the ship put her bows in a crack. our method was to go full speed astern for a few yards, and then full speed ahead, the eight or nine hundred men on the ice pulling for all they were worth at the same time, and the _aurora's_ men on board running across the deck to keep up the roll. as there were thousands of men similarly employed on and about the other ships, and as they were all singing, the scene may be imagined. the _nimrod_ and _neptune_ were moving on, well ahead of us, and when we got into their wake, the _aurora_ moved along faster. it was eight bells by the time we passed through the narrows; there the ice was much looser, so we all pushed off in our various directions to look for the breeding haunts of seals. captain fairweather kept a little nearer shore than the others, and by evening there were only a few ships in sight. i retired early, as i had been up for many hours, and even the bumping and thumping of the ship, as she went full speed ahead and full speed astern every few minutes all night, did not keep me awake. _march th_. when i went on deck, a wonderful arctic scene presented itself. a snow storm was raging and the ship looked as though she had been fast there for years. she was literally buried in snow, and the weather was so cold that the snow had frozen on her yards and rigging. the morning was dark and one could not see very far. under the starboard bow the ice was heavy, causing the ship to lie over to port. the wind was from the southeast and had driven the ice in on us. there was a great deal of creaking and crunching from moving floes and the wind made a lot of noise in the rigging. by noon the weather had moderated and the snow ceased; by night the wind was coming from the northeast and the ice slackened, the ship being upon an even keel. of course, snow was not allowed to remain very long on deck, as our big crew had nothing to do but shovel it off. i looked into the 'tween-decks and saw a horrible mess. the bunks were full of men, many playing cards, as each bunk held four. they must have been stifled. for light, lamps burning seal oil were used, and the reek coming from the main hatch would almost have suggested fire. during the night, the ship got under way, and her bumping awoke me several times. _march th_. in the morning, we were again beset. hearing a noise on deck, i went up. on the poop a lot of duffs were lying about like lb. shot. a crowd of angry men could be seen on the main deck and facing them was the captain. a big newfoundland man came up the steps and, breaking a duff in two, held it up and asked the captain to look at it. it was an awkward moment and called for immediate action. but the captain was a man of action, so he planted a blow between the man's eyes and asked him to look at that; the man dropped back dazed and the trouble came to an end at once. the captain told a story at breakfast about a steward once saying that more tea would not be required for the next voyage as he had been boiling the leaves from the cabin and giving it to the crew. an order was at once issued to serve out good tea of the proper strength instead. next morning all hands came aft to complain about the black stuff the cook was serving out, and demanding that proper tea, such as they had been having, should be served. the weather was now fine, and the world very white, the only visible black being a pond of open water half a mile to the east of us. the wind was again from the east and the cold intense; in fact, one could hardly face it on account of small particles of ice driven by it. after breakfast i took my rifle and went to the lee side of the open water. it was perhaps a fourth of a mile long and a hundred and fifty yards wide. every little while a few seals would bob up at one end of the hole and then, giving a few plunges, disappear. i crouched behind a pinnacle for shelter and, watching past the side of it, soon had a shot. i fancied i heard the bullet strike, but the seal disappeared; presently another came. this time i was sure that i saw the water around bloodstained, but there was a ripple and it was difficult to see anything lying low on it. i spent several hours at this work and was perfectly certain i had hit many seals. on one occasion, i saw the side of one i had shot, with the water breaking over it, but presently it disappeared. i knew that at this season the animals would float, and as i was on the lee side, why did they not drift down to me? cold at last drove me back to the _aurora_, and, on relating my experiences, the ice-master told me that i would find the dead animals at the weather side of the hole, as the ice, drifting before the wind, would travel faster than the dead and almost completely submerged seals. so taking a man with me, i had the satisfaction of seeing seven big male harps pulled out, the first i had ever killed and the first secured by the ship. during the afternoon the ice eased off and the ship again proceeded. she was getting along pretty well at bedtime, but not making any particular course. march th. it was about five a. m. when the steward came to my room and lit the lamp. he said we were among the "white coats" and he seemed greatly pleased. i dressed and, going up, found bright moonlight. the ship was hard and fast. in every direction i could hear sounds like the crying of children. i could also see gangs of men on the ice and some coming on board. the men had been taking advantage of the moonlight to begin their work, and all were in splendid spirits, as a full ship meant much to them. about six the whistle sounded for all hands to come on board for breakfast, and after that they were organized into companies, commanded by their own quartermasters, and proceeded about the slaughter in a well regulated manner. each man carried a spruce pole, on the end of which was a sort of boat hook called a "gaff," and each also had a tow rope. the method of proceeding was as follows: a company would go in a certain direction and then scatter. a man would kill four or five whitecoats by hitting them on the head with his gaff. he would pull them together and sculp them, that is, with his sculping knife he would make an incision on the under surface of the body, its entire length, through the skin and fat. how the skin, with its subcutaneous fat, was very loosely adherent to the rest of the body of the young seal, so with a very few sweeps of the knife the body was separated and thrown away. he then made a few holes along each side of the sculp, which was oblong, and through these laced his tow rope. when the four or five had been thus arranged, he towed them to a selected pan, where they were piled with the others, a pole was stuck up, bearing a flag on which was the name of the ship, and this being done, the sealers moved on and established another pan. while the st. john's men were busy with the sealing, the scotch crew remained on the ship, throwing the coal overboard. the ship, leaving newfoundland, took a lot of coal, as she did not know where she might have to go or how long she might be away. in our case, we found the seals at once, so the coal, being of no further use and of no value, compared with the seals, was thrown overboard. i went aloft to have a look at our surroundings. we were in bonavista bay, and in the distance i saw the _neptune_ sealing. she was a large ship and took an enormous cargo. it seemed too bad that these should be the only two vessels in the midst of this harvest. i saw, with the glass, seals by the thousand; they were principally to the north of us, and it was evident that we would fill the ship, unless a gale broke up the ice too soon. astern, i noticed a patch of ice on which there were lots of old harps. getting my rifle and going over to the place, i found a great many seal holes in the ice. i watched. a seal would stick its head out of one and, seeing me, would instantly go down again. this was going on all over the area before me. sitting down, i decided to take the first head presenting itself. by watching any given hole, one would probably very soon have a shot, but it was more exciting to take the heads as they came up. it was very quick shooting and good sport. every time i hit a seal, i killed it, because only the head could be seen. at this season, the animals, being in prime condition, floated; but getting one out of its hole was very difficult. if one turned it around and seized the hind flippers, the fore flippers caught the ice, and there was nothing to take hold of about its head. i found, that by sticking an empty cartridge through the nose and catching this at each side, a man could manage to pull the seal out by throwing himself back. i amused myself at this game until eight bells, when i went on board for dinner and found the captain in splendid spirits. there was every chance of his filling his ship and being first in, and i questioned whether these honors had ever been obtained by any scotch master at the newfoundland sealing before. after dinner, i took a man with me who pulled out the seals and sculped them, hauling them to the ship, which remained fast. the crew got on well with the coal and soon had several tanks cleaned out and ready for the nearest pan, and by night we had about , on board. i went aloft again and saw our pan flags flying in great numbers, while the men were very busy several miles away. after dark, the sealers came on board and reported having killed probably , . many of the men had given themselves bad cuts with their sharp sculping knives, but all were very happy, forward and aft. [illustration: ] _march th_. every one up at dawn. the ship was alongside a pan when i came on deck, and the winch was going all the time, while the orders "heave away port," "heave away starboard," were being constantly given, and every few minutes a bunch of sculps would be hauled on board and thrown below by the men on deck. when this pan was cleaned up, the officer in the barrel directed the ship's course to the next, and so it went, all day long, a portion of the crew working coal as usual. i went aloft and saw our men, five or six miles away, piling up our cargo. in the afternoon, i went off: in the direction the men were and fortunately i had a gaff: with me. i had on very thick clothes and a pilot jacket over all. when about a mile from the ship, and while walking over a nice, smooth piece of ice, i noticed that it was bending under me. i turned and was getting back to the hummocks, when i went through. fortunately, the gaff caught on both sides and i only went in up to my arms, so was able to climb out. the cold of the water was intense and i had a fright. before reaching the ship, my clothes were frozen hard. one great comfort about the _aurora_ was that she was a steamer, so when any accidents of this kind occurred, it was a great thing, having the top of the boiler to retire to. here one had warmth at any rate. as there was nothing much separating the top of our boiler from the stoke hole, there was a deposit of ashes and soot, but a little thing like that did not much trouble a man fished out of a frozen sea. it was cold and dark when the sealers began coming on board and a fog was settling down, so about nine p. m. we were quite uneasy over some who bad not turned up. the whistle sounded frequently, and it was a relief when the last appeared. some were really very much exhausted and were given rum. we took on board about five thousand seals and the men had killed many thousand more. _march th_. a snow storm blowing, so the men could not go to the sealing, and very little new work was accomplished. however, the ship managed to reach a lot of her pans, and the newfoundland men hauled the sculps from others farther away, so that by night, four thousand more were on board. coal was worked energetically all day. the barometer was rising at night and the snow had ceased, so the weather looked more settled. _march th_. sealers away when i came on deck, and our own crew very busy with the seals and coal. the ice showed a lot of leads and there were seals in the open ponds, so i spent my time at them with the rifle and had some good shooting. at dinner the mate told us we had taken on board over three thousand sculps and by night two thousand more were added to these. about sixteen thousand five hundred were now on board. i spent some time aloft. the glare from the ice was fearfully trying as the sun was very bright. owing to the open character of the ice, we followed the sealers quite well. we found several of our pans broken by the weight of seals on them; in every case we saw sharks in the open water beside the broken pan. once the ship had her engines going ahead to keep her bows against the ice, while she took seals on board (i was looking over the rail aft), when i saw a shark gliding up to the propeller. it hit him on the side and cut a flap out about two feet long. he swam about with this mass hanging from him for awhile and then went back to the propeller, which finished him with an awful gash across the neck. this was the only one i saw killed. the night was clear and the men had no difficulty in getting on board. [illustration: ] march th. it was blowing and the ice was rather tight; there was also some snow, so the sealers were employed bringing sculps on board, as pans were being broken. i saw one split in two. half the sculps had been lost in the water, and there were numbers of sharks around. a man stuck his gaff into one several times, and it did not appear to mind. it was difficult getting the seals on board as the heavy snow squalls prevented our seeing the leads. however, twenty-five hundred more were secured from broken pans in our immediate neighborhood. the ship was drifting south all the time; and the _neptune_ was still in sight when it cleared in the afternoon. _march th._ all hands up early and a good start made. nearly all the coal over the side. i watched the men bringing on board pinnacles in the morning. as they had been sealing steadily for a week and had not paid much attention to their toilets, sleeping in their clothes, etc., and as each one had a fringe of frozen livers sticking in his belt, and the sheathed decks were soaking in oil, the pinnacles had a chance of acquiring a nutritious quality which must have given body to the tea manufactured out of them. however, the men did not mind, and as our cabin supply of water was all right, i did not mind either. the ship picked up a lot of pans and added five thousand more to our collection. towards evening it became foggy and cold, and we had several frights about men being lost. one fellow came on board and stated that he had seen so and so two miles from the ship, unable to proceed. some rum was given to him and with a couple of others he started off to bring the exhausted one in. all were on board safely by nine p. m. there was no doubt but that often the rum served out found its way into throats that were far from being too weak to swallow, but such dreadful accidents have occurred that one acts on the safe side. there was no abuse of liquor on board the _aurora_, but the captain did not hesitate to supply it when absolutely necessary. _march th._ a nice day for sealing, as there was no difficulty getting about to the pans. we brought on board about two thousand, and the ship was practically full. now we began to clear out the 'tween-decks and to throw the men's bunks overboard. they did not object to a few days of supreme discomfort because they received one-third of the catch. we had the bunkers filled with coal and a lot of sacks piled upon the poop, and every available place was cleared out for this valuable cargo. the ship began to look dirty, as she had scraped off her paint, and the coal dust and oil bad been liberally applied. [illustration: ] it began to blow in the afternoon, with snow squalls. all the men were on board in good time. during the day i caught a young seal. it had shed nearly all its long white hair and the short, silvery coat underneath looked very pretty. i amused myself plucking the balance of the original coat. the seal appeared to enjoy it. it was killed accidentally a few days later. _march th_. blowing bard with snow squalls. a number of pans were broken and many sculps lost, but we secured all we wanted; about one thousand came on board and the 'tween-decks were nearly full. march st. a fine day, but the ship beset, so we cleaned up and finished off the 'tween-decks; then we put all on deck that we thought the ship would carry. this would not have been done had the ship had to go any distance, but all the time we were sealing we had been drifting south, so that we were now a very short distance from st. john's. the captain and mate would stand on the ice and look her over and then decide that perhaps she would carry a few more, and so on, until there was not much of the _aurora's_ bull above the water. the ice opened in the afternoon and we laid our course for st. john's, steaming half speed. the ship was decorated with flags, the men cheering and singing--at least two hundred of them without shelter; they stood upon the forecastle head and among the sculps on deck. the wind had died away and it was a beautiful afternoon. there were plenty of leads and the ice becoming more open every hour. _march nd_. during the night we passed through baccalieu tickle and in the morning we were close to the coast. as we steamed through the narrows, the men climbed the rigging and cheered. we had accomplished a wonderful thing. the ship was the first in of the year, and was also full. soon we were tied up at our old berth on the south side, and our crew were busy discharging our cargo of about twenty-eight thousand seals. each young seal counted one in settling with the crew and each old seal counted two; of course, an old seal took up much more room than two young ones, and on a voyage like this, where the ship could be filled with young, the crew were not anxious to kill old ones. on our two trips, the _aurora_ actually killed , , but the crew were paid for , . chapter v--the labrador sealing "now, brothers, for the icebergs of frozen labrador floating spectral in the moonshine, along the low black shore! when the mist the rock is hiding and the sharp reef lurks below and the white squall smites in summer, and the autumn tempests blow." |the work of discharging our cargo began at once--first the sculps on deck, then those in the 'tween-decks and then those in the tanks. thereafter the ship was given a rough cleaning; new berths were erected in the 'tween-decks and quarter-hatch but not so many as before. the bunkers and tanks were coaled and then we cast about for a crew. all the seals taken on this second cruise would have to be shot, so we did not expect to bring back very many; but the _aurora_ had her own scotch crew under pay, and they had to be fed, so she might as well be at sea picking up a few seals as lying in the harbor waiting for may st. it was not so very easy finding a crew as they would have little to eat and could not possibly earn much money. however, at last we were ready and on wednesday, april nd, sailed. we had heard nothing of the _arctic_, and very little of any of the other ships. the _neptune_ came in after us with about , , which was a tremendous cargo, but she was a big ship. there was much more room with our reduced newfoundland crew, and we steamed out of the narrows for the second time with the ship very much more comfortable than on the first occasion. [illustration: ] i must say the appearance of the _aurora_ at this time was disreputable in the extreme. the paint had been scraped off by the ice, and the filthy sheathing covered the decks, while the fragrant bilge water flowed from her side in a pellucid stream. the captain told me that he intended following the seals which were going north towards labrador and that he expected to fall in with great herds of year-olds, called bedlamers. we left port after breakfast and steamed out onto a calm sea, shaping our course north. during the afternoon we saw patches of ice scattered about and when night came we slowed down and kept a bright lookout. _april nd_ was a blustery day with occasional snow showers. there was no sea, however, to tumble the ship about as there was a good deal of ice. we were easily able to avoid the fields by steaming around them. some were very heavy looking, having quantities of rafted ice on them. towards night, it became calm and thick. _april th_. steamed dead slow all night as it was thick. in the morning the sea was calm but still foggy. this was pea-soup day. we always had pea soup on fridays; we also always had fish for breakfast; it was salt cod. the salt was taken out in some way and then the fish was cut into very small pieces and boiled with broken up sea biscuits and butter, pepper, etc. i have never tasted anything so good since. in fact, i have never since tasted anything so good as the food on the whaler after the first month. there was an absurd arrangement about our meals; it was all right at sea, but in greenland, when we walked about during the night perhaps as much as during the day, it was distressing. breakfast was at eight, dinner at noon, and tea at five; there was no regulation meal between five p. m. and eight a. m. i modified this by having a special meal at eleven p. m. at that time i took a pot of coffee from the galley and retired to the pantry for a quiet half hour. _april th_. the day was fine. a good deal of ice was in sight and occasional seals could be seen. when one was seen ahead, or a few points on either bow, the ship bore down upon it. as we came close, the seal would first raise its head to see what was coming, then raise its body upon its flippers and stare. a number of men with rifles were always on the forecastle head and of this number i was generally one. if some one did not try too long a shot and frighten it, we always killed the seal. we had a large number of punts on board and one was towed astern in the daytime and with it every seal was picked up. they all counted. some days we had very good sport and i enjoyed it. _april th. sunday_. huff day. we had plum pudding on sundays and thursdays. the puddings were not round, but oval. the steward made delicious sauce out of condensed milk and, of course, we had the spartan sauce with everything. the captain was very consistent in his observation of sunday--no unnecessary work was done on that day. if there were whales, we fished, but i never saw a man kept at work on sunday if it could be avoided. this day we did the usual shooting from the forecastle head. the temptation to shoot first was dreadful. i dare say we picked up fifteen or twenty seals. this was a sad sunday because of the death of our canary. i was in the cabin when jack, the steward, discovered the fact. he immediately took the seed box out of the cage to the pantry, filled it and brought it back. captain fairweather came down shortly after to breakfast and immediately noticed the absence of the bird, as it was always hopping about and making a noise. jack was called. a look of surprise came over his face when asked about the canary and he immediately climbed on to the seat and, looking into the cage, said, with tears in his eyes, "oh, sir, the poor wee bird is deid;" adding, as he pulled out the drawer, "well, it is not for want of plenty to eat." i don't think for a moment that the bird died of starvation, but jack wanted to simplify the post-mortem inquiry by eliminating that possibility. our steward was a remarkable man and eminently qualified by nature for his position. he could produce a look of absolute innocence or of sympathy at a moment's notice; his _suaviter in modo_ would have fitted him for the diplomatic service; and as a dreamer he was without a peer. [illustration: ] there is a great knack about dreaming. to make a reputation and keep it up even on a whaler requires the judgment of a delphic priest. it was the presence of jack, the steward, that gave the atmosphere of a home to the _aurora's_ cabin and we all liked him. _april th._ i saw a most interesting thing today. it was an old dog hood; to call it cystophora cristata might give the describer some relief; but it would convey no idea of this angry-looking creature as he reared up and gazed at us. how we all resisted firing until he had exhibited himself, i don't know; but when he was looking perfectly terrible and fifty yards away, a dozen copper-nosed bullets found their billets about his head and neck. he was / feet long and a tremendous size around the shoulders. the bag on his head, when fully distended, must have stood eight or nine inches, and extended from the muzzle to four inches behind the eyes. the hood is only found on the male. it is considered ornamental by the females of the same species, but horrible looking by all other animals, i am sure. the beast added about pounds to our little cargo, but the animal, skin and all, certainly weighed seven or eight hundred. during the day we killed quite a number of hoods, but the first was the largest. we did not make much of a run, but dodged about and picked things up. a young hood is rather blue-looking on the back and white underneath. the engine slowed down at night, as usual. _april th_. this was one of the most lovely days, with bright sunshine, and there was dazzling ice in every direction. to the east of us we saw a beautiful barque under canvas; she was playing our game, dodging about and picking up seals. as she was not a steamer, and had a small crew, she was consequently inexpensive to work; there was no reason why she should not pay her owners well, especially if she got amongst the hoods, five or six of which would yield a ton of oil. we kept out to her, and finding she was the _maud_ of dundee, i was sent on board to hear the news. i was hospitably entertained by the captain, who gave me some old dundee papers, but those i brought from the _aurora_ were much more recent. when i returned, i saw a funny thing happen. we had a newfoundland cook, jack; he had a triangular face with the base up; a tuft of hair grew from the apex and was the only decoration. with his long shaved upper lip, he had an amusing look and he was a character. the ship was bearing down towards ice upon which there was a young hood. it had been injured and made no effort to escape. thinking it dead, no one fired and we were almost on to it when jack, looking over the side, saw it. he had not killed a seal that season, so, seizing a gaff, he leaped on to the pan and we all cheered. as jack lit on the ice, it broke in two. the seal slid gracefully off its half, but jack's half, almost submerged, swung around under the ship's quarter, where the propeller was threshing away. jack paused for a moment between scylla and charybdis, and then giving a wild leap, he disappeared in the sea as far from the propeller as he could jump. it was most amusing to see this big man give his wild leap; he was fished out by the punt astern. a small matter, like a man being half drowned, always amused these simple people so much. i have said that the newfoundlanders were not over-fed on this trip. we had, for cabin use, numerous quarters of dundee beef lashed in our tops. they kept splendidly up there. one morning the steward reported a quarter of our dundee beef stolen. one of the newfoundland cooks was sent for at once and i heard the conversation between the angry captain and the astonished cook. i heard the cook report every morning how he was on the track of a thief: "begorra, sor, i have my eye on him;" or, "begorra, sor, i could put my hand on the man," and so on until we got back without the thief having been turned over; i heard afterwards that the cook certainly could have at any moment put his hand on the man who took the beef. _april th_. this was one of the most interesting days i spent. at breakfast, i heard the captain and the mate discussing blinks, that is, reflections. for instance, an ice blink at sea would mean a sort of whitish reflection in the sky over an area of ice, or a water blink would be a dark reflection in the sky over a dark area. we were surrounded by ice and were approaching a dark blink. was it water or seals? before breakfast was over, the report came from the crow's-nest that the seals were ahead. i went aloft and saw an extraordinary sight. the ice ahead of us appeared to be positively black with seals. they covered acres and acres. we steamed right up to them and then about twenty men, with rifles, went on to the ice and a lot of others followed to sculp and haul the sculps to the ship. this ice was not solid but made up of thousands of pans all detached. they were generally touching in places, but two or three sprawls would bring any individual seal to some sort of a hole through which it could escape; therefore, it had to be killed instantly or it would disappear. the shooting began at once, the men kneeling down and opening up at the nearest animals. just as fast as they could consume ammunition, they fired at seals close at hand, and, as these disappeared, at those farther away. there was far too much shooting for much result. presently they began to get closer. a would kneel down and fire as fast as possible so as to use as much ammunition as he could before b would pass him. b would then rush past and begin shooting, and so on. now, with regard to this rushing about,--we were travelling on pans of ice of all sizes, some a few feet square, some as large as a table, some twenty times that size, but we certainly had to watch where we were going. when the men scattered, they shot better, but it was much more dangerous, as the express bullets were singing about everywhere. i had two men who took me off to one side and who gave me the best shooting i ever enjoyed. the seals were inclined to bask in the sun and enjoy themselves; so, if we went about it quietly, we could easily stalk a pan and advance to within fifty or seventy-five yards; then, if we shot carefully and only hit heads, we would not disturb the others. should we wound one, it would not only go down itself but would frighten the others on the same pan. i shot off a number of entire pans by quietly getting close and then picking them off. the seal, properly hit, just drops its head, while the others hold theirs up for you. this was warm work and the barrel of the rifle became so hot that i had constantly to put it on the snow to cool off. i watched some of the newfoundland men shooting when we started and saw several of them miss every shot. all they did was to endanger their fellow men and wound an occasional seal; of course there were some crack shots among them, but it would have paid well to have tested the ability of all before serving out rifles to them. as there was not a cloud in the sky, we were greatly sunburnt and several had a touch of snow-blindness in spite of wearing colored glasses. we probably picked up three or four hundred seals, and had there been about eight or ten men who understood the use of firearms, they would have killed a thousand easily. the sealing cap worn by the dundee men was very suitable. the peak was covered with lamb's wool dyed black, so when turned down it absorbed a great deal of the glare. wool had to be wound around the metal work of the colored glasses we wore on account of the cold. _april th_. nothing makes one rest like a hard day's work in the open air. my shoulder was black and blue with firing and my ears rang with the noise while my eyes smarted and my face burned, but i slept like a log until seven bells. the ship had not moved all night. we were off the coast of labrador, but out of sight of land. there was a great deal of ice everywhere and by dawn we were steaming north as fast as possible in the effort to overtake our game. by noon the seals were in sight and we went through the same performance as the day before. i did not attempt it with the main body, but with two good men went off in a slightly different direction. the express was certainly a good rifle, and its trajectory very flat, when we consider the powder. i examined a great many wounds that day and in every case found the bullet had expanded well if it had hit anything hard. these seals were nearly all bedlamers and we did not kill any hoods either of these days, although we had picked up quite a number coming up the coast. this was a shorter day, and we did not kill so many. it was quite late when the ship took the last of her men on board, for they had become scattered. one man had fallen in several times and was very much exhausted. however, i was able to make him swallow some rum and he soon revived. a sailor is very feeble and dissolution near at hand when a little rum cannot be coaxed down with a spoon or other suitable instrument--even then i would not advise leaving the bottle close to him while looking for the spoon, lest, during his unconscious struggles, he should spill it. [illustration: ] _april th_. we were always on the lookout for the _arctic_, but saw nothing of her. before leaving st. john's we heard that the _thetis_ had been sold to the american government for the greely relief expedition, so she would not appear among the sealers that year. captain fairweather's brother was master of her, so he was disappointed. we kept north in our effort to overtake the seals, the barometer falling a little towards evening, and a swell coming in from the southeast. we were well on the outer or eastern edge of the ice, as the captain did not want to take any chance of being jammed among heavy floes coming down the coast. during the evening we had a most wonderful sunset. the sky was red not only to the west, but nearly all over, and the reflection on the ice was magnificent. the frozen sea is fascinating when the sun goes down and before dark; also by moonlight, or bright starlight. during the day the glare is too great but a moonlight night on a frozen sea is the grandest sight possible. the weird sounds caused by the ever restless ice are a fitting accompaniment. on this friday night, the sounds caused by the ever increasing sea, crunching the pack up, were rather startling at times, but we kept pretty well out of it, so we were safe. there was quite a little motion on board, owing to the swell, and we steamed easy ahead all night, going full speed at daybreak, and by noon had the satisfaction of finding our seals. we went oft, but not quite as usual. the roll of the sea had crunched the pack up and broken all the large sheets of ice, so we were obliged to jump from one pan to another while they were rising and falling on the long swell of the atlantic. there was nothing sudden or uncertain about the motion. the long heavy rollers lifted one up and lowered one down, and when between them, one could not see very far. now occurred a sort of stalking that i have never seen described, i. e., running after a large wave and keeping perfectly still when the following wave overtook one; then repeating the stalk, always running in the trough between the two waves. in this manner i did some efficient work and shot a great many seals. most of the time was spent watching where to put my feet; but, on feeling the rise coming, i stood perfectly still and watched the seals. i was regaled with accounts of men who had been injured and cut in two by this sort of thing; but we did not meet with the slightest accident and every one was picked up by sundown. the ship managed to follow through the ice pretty well, picking up a few seals here and there, as they had been sculped, so that we added several hundreds to our collection. [illustration: ] _april th. sunday_. the day was fine and we picked up occasional seals but did not find a herd. it was a complete day of rest for all hands. the ice to the west of us looked very heavy and the captain was careful to avoid it. we lay to at night, but by daybreak on monday morning we were dodging north again. _april th_. i had my first shot at a walrus, sea-horse, as it is called. shortly after breakfast the usual rifles were on the forecastle head when the officer in the crow's-nest called down that he saw a walrus. the ship was kept down on it, and presently we all saw the big animal with his long white tusks. in this case, they were very long and could be seen from a great distance. he was on a pan with open water all around, so we steamed straight at him. as we approached, he raised himself higher and higher on his flippers and disappeared after having received a fearful fusillade, at less than a ship's length. i would have liked the chance of examining his skin just to count the hits and see the effect. we heard the thud of striking bullets, but the walrus gave a plunge and was seen no more. we did the usual amount of sealing from the ship, but had not any men on the ice. two or three times we had several punts out, but they did not pick up very many. _april th_. we dodged back and forth amongst the floating ice, keeping a little closer to land but not seeing much of interest. there was a very large floe which bore evidence of great rafting; between the hummocks on it there was fresh water, regular ponds with connecting channels. i was on this floe, as we shot a few seals on it, so tasted the water, which was sweet and good. i have often seen quite big ponds on floes fast to bergs, and we took water on board sometimes from these. for the next few days we steamed south without seeing anything of interest. the weather was cold, but fine, and the ice less as we neared st. john's. we were careful after dark and generally steamed slow. the crew were employed in cleaning up. april th. saturday. arrived at st. john's in the morning and took our usual berth. our entire catch of seals for the two trips was , , but the crew were paid for , as there were some large old seals and they counted more. there was great news for us on our arrival. i have already mentioned the sale of the _thetis_ to the american government. we now received orders from dundee to take the place of the _thetis_ and proceed to davis straits. the gear removed from this ship was being sent out to us by an allan boat. we were to keep our eyes open for the lost greely, as a reward had been offered by the united states for any whaler picking him up. [illustration: ] i certainly never intended going on a long trip when sailing, and the captain told me i could leave if i wished, but there was a fascination about the whole thing that i enjoyed. the _aurora_ had been getting more comfortable all the time,--the first awful experience of a fearful atlantic winter passage with the ship loaded, to the scuppers, then the crowded ship at the first sealing, and the much pleasanter trip to labrador. now i could see that the ship would be very comfortable with only her own crew, and the deck clear of boats, as it would be on the next part of the cruise, so i decided to go. it took a very short time to put our seals out, and, as it was saturday afternoon by that time, all the work ceased until monday morning. [illustration: ] i heard an amusing story about a man being nearly drowned in a tank of oil. a sealer came in and four of her tanks nearest to the boiler had the sculps break down into oil, owing to the heat. when the crew were discharging cargo it was the custom for a man to jump into a tank and throw the sculps out. coming to the first of these tanks, and looking in, some sculps could be seen, and, never suspecting that these were a few floating on the surface, the man jumped in and disappeared under, but was presently fished out, every one thoroughly enjoying the incident except, of course, the leading man. chapter vi--something about the greely relief expedition "but 'tis not mine to tell their tale of grief, their constant peril and their scant relief, their days of danger and their nights of pain; their manly courage e'en when deemed in vain." |one of the interesting things about our trip to the arctic seas was the possibility of seeing greely or of possibly finding him or something about him. i shall here give a brief outline of what had been done up to this time towards rescuing the gallant explorer and his intrepid followers. every one i met in newfoundland appeared to know a great deal about greely, because he had started from there three years before in a st. john's ship, and because both of the previous relief expeditions had been in st. john's ships, and a great many of the newfoundland men had been with them, and several of our crew at the sealing had been on the _proteus_. one heard the greely expedition and its relief discussed every day. the consensus of opinion was that as the navy had the matter in hand now, they would succeed. the newfoundlanders, being a maritime people, could not understand how soldiers could be expected to make a success of a voyage of discovery or relief, and the two previous relief trips had been unfortunate. the _raison d'etre_ of the greely expedition was briefly as follows: at a certain scientific conference held in europe a series of circumpolar stations had been decided upon, from which, owing to their proximity to the revolutionary axis of our globe, interesting and useful observations could be made of physical phenomena. as these observations were to be made at the same time in a great many different places, they would probably prove of greater interest and value than those supplied intermittently by expeditions. now the united states was to have two stations, one at point barrow on the behring sea side, and one at lady franklin bay on the davis strait side. a young officer in the american army, lieutenant greely, had volunteered for and been selected to take charge of the lady franklin bay expedition. the steamer _proteus_, a newfoundland sealer, had been chartered to convey the party north. she was a dundee-built ship, about the size of the _aurora_, and her captain and crew were st. john's men. they left st. john's on july , , having on board lieutenant greely and twenty-four men, with supplies for three years. they made the most unprecedented time going north. crossing the dangerous melville bay in thirty-six hours and getting to within a few miles of her destination on august th, a few days later she landed the explorers, and having successfully accomplished her mission she returned to her home port. melville bay, the bugbear of many arctic voyages, is a very different thing when crossed in june by whalers from what it is in july and august; but the whalers must reach their northern station by the end of june, so cannot wait for the ice to drift south. it was arranged that a relief expedition should go north in and another in , while the third in should convey the party back. now these two previous relief expeditions formed the topic of conversation in st. john's when the inhabitants became tired of discussing seals and politics, and i soon heard a good deal about them. for the first, in , our friend and late neighbor, the _neptune_, had been chartered. she was splendid in every way and did as much as any ship of the period could have done towards making the thing a success; but the orders were to leave two hundred fifty rations at littleton island and two hundred fifty at the furthest point reached if the ship failed to get to lady eranklin bay, and that should they fail to reach the bay, the balance of the stores were to be brought back to st. john's. a private in the army had been selected to take charge of this expedition. as he had been accustomed to obeying orders to the letter, he deposited the two hundred fifty rations at littleton island, and two hundred fifty at cape sabine, the most northern point reached. then, as they were unable to reach lady franklin bay, he carefully brought back all the balance of the cargo of food sent up for the starving greely, twenty days' provisions only having been left in the arctic and this according to orders and probably--"well, though the soldier knew some one had blundered." the authorities were a little anxious now about the brave lieutenant, so they began to make preparations for the relief, and this time they chartered the _proteus_ and also sent a small navy ship called the _yantic_, a craft rather unfitted for arctic work. the _proteus_ was commanded by captain pike (the st. john's man who had made such a record taking greely up) and had her newfoundland crew. this expedition was in charge of a soldier, lieutenant garlington, as the government wished it all to be an army affair. owing to an accident, a sergeant selected to go on the _proteus_ was disabled, and lieutenant colwell, u. s. n., was added to the expedition in his place. this was fortunate, as things turned out. one of our quartermasters on the _aurora_ during the first sealing trip had been one of the crew of the _proteus_, and he gave me a lot of interesting information about it. they left st. john's about the end of june and had a nice passage to disco. in fact, they found the road so open that they reached cape sabine in about twenty-five days. as they were in a hurry to reach their destination, lady eranklin bay, little time was spent here and no stores were landed. when the ship moved out into kane sea she was caught almost at once in heavy polar ice. the officers soon realized that the ship's position was serious, so began to take supplies out of the hold. while so engaged the side of the ship burst in and she filled. the pressure of the ice kept her from sinking for a few hours, then some change of wind or tide opened the ice and down she went. a great lot of provisions and stores had been thrown overboard on to the ice, much being lost in so doing. after the ship went down her crew took their own boats and the soldiers took theirs. colwell, with the help of both parties, succeeded in landing a lot of provisions and stores at cape sabine, and here he cached five hundred rations. it was said that many of the soldiers did not know how to row, and that some members of the crew of the _proteus_ behaved very badly after the loss of the ship. they probably did not consider that the saving of government supplies was any of their business, and some of them even are said to have looted these supplies. after a rest at cape sabine, the entire party proceeded south to meet the _yantic_, the supporting vessel. very little attention had been paid to her, as she was slow and ill adapted for the ice, and it was thought that she probably would never attempt melville bay. however, she had crossed this and was following them well, and the series of misunderstandings and misinterpretations of orders which prevented the _proteus_ people going south from meeting the _yantic_ coming north, makes a most remarkable story. [illustration: ] lieutenant garlington and his party, being separated from the crew of the _proteus_ for a time, crossed over to littleton island and left a record of the loss of their ship. they then joined the others and proceeded to cape york. it was here decided to push on to the danish settlements as they did not think the y antic would come as far north as cape york. in the meantime, the _yantic_ had passed up to littleton island and picked up garlington's record. she then zigzagged about looking for the boats, and passing cape york on her way down without calling, she proceeded to upernavik. as the boats were not there, her captain decided to push on home as the season was getting late, so sailed to disco. the boat party at cape york having decided to go south divided. lieutenant colwell, taking a whale boat and crew, struck across melville bay, and after a most difficult and dangerous passage succeeded in reaching upernavik the day after the _yantic_ had left. he followed her, however, for a week, and overtaking her at disco, brought her back to upernavik, where the balance of the _proteus_ people had arrived, and from there they returned to st. john's. now the result of all this had been, in , the deposit of ten days' provisions at littleton island and ten days' provisions at cape sabine, the remainder being brought back. in the _proteus_ had not deposited anything during her life, but after her destruction lieutenant colwell had succeeded in caching at cape sabine five hundred rations or twenty days' supplies saved from the _proteus_. the _yantic_ had been up to littleton island and back without leaving anything behind. another year had passed and now the rescue of greely became imperative. the affair had been handed over to the navy, and commander schley was taking command. the dundee ship _thetis_ and the sealer _bear_ had been bought and added to the navy. a collier, the _lough garry_, had been chartered to take coal up for the expedition, and the _alert_, given by the british government, was also going. at the same time a reward was offered for any whaler picking greely up. the relief ships, except the _alert_, were coming to st. john's and would sail about the same time as the whalers, and as we all knew a good deal about the circumstances, we were certainly all deeply interested in the outcome. it was generally believed among our people that greely would now be at cape york or carey islands, and the _aurora_ stood as good a chance as any other ship of getting there first. commander schley had charge of the expedition and would sail on the _thetis_, while lieutenant emory would command the _bear_, of which ship lieutenant colwell would be an officer. the whalers going to davis strait were-- arctic, narwhal, aurora, nova zembla, cornwallis, polynia, esquimaux, triune, jan mayen, wolf of st. john's. chapter vii--the bottlenose fishing "the arctic sun rose broad above the wave, the breeze now sank, now whispered from his cave." |newfoundland looked more attractive in april than it did when we left, doing about was pleasanter and we saw everything worth seeing in the neighborhood of st john's. on board, great changes took place. all the sheathing was torn off and the ship cleaned inside and out. her overhauling was complete. the rigging was set up, the masts were scraped and oiled and the ship painted. the punts were all cleared away and our beautiful whale-boats took their place. the _aurora_ was peculiar in having two boats, one above the other, on each quarter. we fished ten boats altogether, four down each side and two upper quarter boats. the crew of a whale-boat is six, a harpooner, a boat-steerer and four men pulling. the harpooner rows until ordered by the boat-steerer to stand by his gun. in the bow the harpoon-gun is mounted on a swivel, and fast to the harpoon is the "foregoer." this is a very pliable, untarred rope, about two and a half inches in circumference and eighteen fathoms long. it is coiled in a tub, sitting on the port bow of the boat, while on the starboard side, in a convenient rest, lies the hand-harpoon. the bollard head, around which a turn of the line is taken, is an important structure; it stands in the bow, beside the gun. many a boat has gone down through the line fouling at the bollard head. to the "foregoer" or "foreganger," is attached the whale line. the term "line" means, generally, one rope fathoms long, and there are five of these carried in each boat, one and a half being stowed amidships and the rest aft. they are / -inch ropes, and tarred. the greatest care must be observed in coiling these lines, and by the line manager in the boat as the line runs out. a struck whale generally starts at about seven or eight miles an hour. should the rope, running out at this rate, uncoil unevenly, a kink in it might foul one of the crew and instantly take him down. this has often happened. each boat has several six-foot lances ready for use when the whale is exhausted; the idea being, to sever with the long sharp lance some of the large vessels, thus bleeding the animal to death. the oars in a whale-boat work on mats on the gunwale, and a thole-pin is used instead of rowlocks. an arrangement on the oar keeps it from slipping through the grummet on the thole-pin, when it is let go. the mat is to prevent noise. a little piggin is used for bailing the boat, and, when hoisted on a boat hook, is the signal for more lines. the shaft of the harpoon is made of soft, swedish iron, so that it can be twisted in any conceivable way without breaking. a little barrel of bread and cheese is carried in each boat and this must not be broached until after the boat has been away from the ship a considerable time; water is also carried. the great long steering oar is very important. with it a dexterous boat-steerer can do wonders. he can sweep the boat around very quickly or can scull noiselessly up to a whale when the oars or paddles would frighten it away. the steering oar works on a pin and mat, as do the others. the whale fisher has many incentives. as he is generally a man who has to labor for a living, and as he is partly paid by the result of his work, the capture of a whale means to him a good deal, probably several pounds. this stimulates him. again, the sooner he fills the ship, the sooner he sails for home. while there is not much chance of filling the ship nowadays, the securing of a good summer catch probably saves him a weary, cold autumn, fishing on the west side. last, but not least, the pursuit of whales is often attended with great danger, which is one of the principal factors of good sport. the average game hunter is not exposed to as great risk as the average whaler. what danger is there in the pursuit of any member of the deer or antelope family, and what chance has the animal in these days of high power rifles? sometimes the whale has no chance for its life and the destruction of such a huge creature is not exciting, but, generally, there is danger, as the history of the industry proves. hunting rhino or buffalo is better sport than hunting deer because the former may charge and kill one. the whale hunter may be snatched to instant death by a foul line, or starved to death in an open boat, and these possibilities elevate the sport greatly. one cannot help sometimes being sorry for the animal one has killed, the excitement of the chase over and the beast lying dead, especially when only the head is wanted, and when everything else must be left to spoil. a dead whale means creature comforts to many poor people; and i, personally, have had more qualms at the escape of a wounded buck than i have had over all the whales we killed. fishing for bottlenose, the year before ( ), the _aurora_ lost two men, and the _esquimaux_ lost one this year. while we were killing our whales off hudson straits, he was snatched out of the boats and never seen again. a few years before, this man's father was lost from the same ship. in approaching a black fish, the eye must be avoided. going "eye on" is a serious matter, as the whale is not such a fool as it looks, and the tremendously powerful tail can smite with terrific force. the lifting power of the tail has not been much studied; but a chance to observe it occurred on the _nova zembla_ some time ago when the mate got his boat over one. those who saw the accident say that the tail was lifted without any apparent effort, throwing the boat many feet up and breaking the bottom out of it. fortunately the occupants were spilt out, and fell clear of the danger zone, because the fish struck the boat again and reduced it to match wood. a week after our arrival, the _aurora_ had been pretty well cleaned and greatly changed in appearance. a small spruce tree was fastened to each masthead, the end of each yard-arm, and to the point of the jib-boom. every one now had an easy time until the actual sailing day. quite a number of vessels of all sorts had arrived, as the ice had disappeared from the coast; amongst them was the allen steamer _newfoundland_, from halifax, bringing us english mail. the greely relief ship _bear_ had also come in. _may st. thursday_. the _aurora_ was receiving finishing touches. we were lying at the south side but our launch had steam up and took us across when we wanted to go. _may _. taking a gun, i went with dr. crawford, of the _arctic_, straight up the hill from the ship and found on the other side a growth of little trees so dense as to be practically impenetrable in places. i shot a hare crossing a little open place, and saw a splendid big hawk flying about, but it never came within shot. returning with the hare, the captain stopped me just as i was going on board. a hare was too unlucky, so i gave it to a man on the wharf. captain guy was standing on the _arctic_ and, seeing this, came on shore and cut the hare's feet off, throwing them on to the _aurora_; he was ever fond of a joke. the most unlucky parts of this unlucky animal in no way interfered with our prosperity, however. _may rd._ as the _lough garry_ had come in i went on board. she was an ordinary iron or steel steamer of about , tons and had been chartered to take tons of coal north for the relief expedition. she was not fortified or specially prepared in any way for the work, but still she managed to get along very well as far as her services were required. going on board, i encountered the mate, who recognized me, he having been the mate of the _thetis_ who had given me the information i sought about whaling while in dundee the autumn before. he showed me over the ship and told me many interesting facts about a whaling voyage. the _esquimaux_ sailed this day and the _narwhal_ had already gone. the desire to find greely was certainly starting us all north a couple of weeks before the usual time. _may th. sunday._ the _bear_ sailed. she was unlike any other ship going north this year, because she had her black funnel forward of the main mast and her crow's-nest on the foremast. the _arctic_ had her funnel in the same place, but her crow's-nest was on the mainmast. their rigs also differed. these are small matters, but we soon could recognize any of the ships a long way off by their little peculiarities. during the day i went on board the _polynia_. she was ready for sea and lying in the harbor. captain walker, who had command of her, was a naturalist and sportsman and it was a pleasure meeting him. she proceeded north before morning. [illustration: ] may th. spent some time on board the _arctic_. she was ready for sea and looked clean and nice with her spacious decks and cabins--very unlike a whaler. her lines were graceful, and she had powerful engines, but she could not have stood as much in ice as the _aurora_. captain guy told me about killing a whale with an old eskimo harpoon buried in its blubber. he gave me this interesting souvenir of my voyage and told me about captain mckay of dundee killing a whale in which he found a harpoon with which the fish had been struck forty-two years before. this iron is now in the dundee museum. _may th and th_. took my last look at st. john's and made my cabin comfortable. i had now been in it for three months, so knew exactly what was required. there does not seem to be any connection between a whaler and florida water; but still i venture to say that there was not a sailor on our ship who had not from one to half a dozen bottles of this commodity. some were for trade with the eskimos and some for their sweethearts at home. the captain had laid in a quantity of colored handkerchiefs and such things, which the men were permitted to purchase afterwards from the slop-chest for purposes of barter. the slop-chest was the ship's shop and was superintended by the second mate. one could purchase a wonderful lot of useful things from this institution. _may th_. after breakfast, all being ready, the _aurora_ sailed for the whale fishing. in scotland, a fish means a salmon, but in greenland, a black whale is always spoken of as a fish, never anything else. we sailed out of the narrows and turned north. it was blowing a little from the southeast, so there was some swell. we got square sails on the ship presently, and with this breeze on her quarter, made good time, the engines going full speed. our intention was to try the bottlenose whale fishing off resolution island at the mouth of hudson's straits, for a few days, then go over to the greenland side and follow the usual route. as there were many bergs coming down and quantities of field ice at this season, we kept rather well away from the coast, along which it came. at night the canvas was taken off the ship and a bright lookout kept for ice. for the next three days we steered north. the weather was fine and the sea smooth. going up the labrador coast, we saw some heavy floes, but kept well to the east of them and did not sight land. we did not see anything of interest, so it was rather monotonous. _may th_. it was a lovely morning when i came on deck, with the wind from the southeast. we had our fore and afters set and were steaming full speed. astern of us was the _nova zembla_ and we were towing her, an act of brotherly love. i had seen the ship in dundee and was struck by her beauty. she and the _jan mayen_ were very handsome little ships, and she looked far better at sea than in dock. we towed her part of the day. during the afternoon, the wind died down and the evening was beautiful; not a breath of air, but some swell rolling in from the southeast and the surface of the sea like glass. the people to-day were employed coiling lines in boats and arranging fishing gear as we might see the bottlenose whales any time. [illustration: ] may th. a beautiful calm day. the men were getting ready the whale-boats and filling the bunkers. we were well off cape chidley, the northeast corner of labrador, in the morning. in the evening a school of bottlenose whales was seen, and six boats were lowered away. two of the boats immediately filled as they had been out of the water so long, but the others pulled after the whales. i was oh the bridge watching the sport. it was splendid. the ship and boats rising and falling on a rather heavy swell, the surface of the water like oil, the boats freshly painted, and the harpoons glistening in the sun, presented an interesting picture of the sea; while the school of very lively little whales rolling about like porpoises and then disappearing, to come up suddenly, gave it animation. the boats had several shots, but they were quick and difficult. one, however, was captured by alex. mckechnie, the second mate, and after a short play, killed and brought alongside. this beast (hyperoodon rostratus, or the northern sperm whale) is small, but of remarkable appearance, having a long round beak, which protrudes from the lower part of its large head. its oil is very good; that flowing from the cancellous bones of the head solidifying on deck at a comparatively high temperature, and when solid, looking like spermaceti. many of the men took bottles full of this oil for use in future sprains and bruises. late in the evening another whale was killed by thors, and, from the numbers we saw around, there was no reason why the _aurora_ should not have picked up a profitable cargo in this neighborhood, but the desire for the valuable whalebone took us to the north. _may th._ we were off frobisher's bay and after the little whales again, and another was captured. i was not in the boats at all at this fishing, as the movement of the whales was so fast that they capsized boats frequently and only experienced oarsmen were wanted. i was told that more men lost their lives at this than at the right whale fishing. we learned afterwards that the _nova zembla_ picked up seven here, while the _arctic bagged seventeen_. the whale killed in the morning by mclean was over twenty feet long. the other two were smaller. the heads were brought on board so i had a good look at them. i saw white stalactites of spermaceti hanging from them to stalagmite incrustations of the same on deck, and i noticed that the oil was free from smell. the neighborhood of resolution island was notorious for its awful currents, and the rise and fall of tide about the western end of hudson straits made navigation on these comparatively uncharted waters exceedingly dangerous. [illustration: ] i once heard captain guy tell of a narrow escape he had in the neighborhood of the upper savage islands. from the barrel, he saw a rock ahead, and ordered the lead cast. three fathoms was found, so he backed off and anchored. in a few hours he was astonished to find an island where the submerged rock had been, and he afterwards learned from a reliable source that the rise and fall of tide at this place was over forty feet. caribou were abundant on the north coast of the straits, and musk-ox were also found. sometimes whalers coming down for the southwest fishing, in the autumn, killed numbers of both. the caribou was the barren land variety, and some of the heads were enormous. in this species the beam was long and straggly, and the palmation was not very pronounced. chapter viii--the chieftain disaster "we have fed our sea for a thousand years, and she calls us, still unfed, though there is never a wave of all our waves but marks our english dead." -- kipling. it may be of interest to recount here the story of the _chieftain's_ mishap, which was the worst accident of the year. the _chieftain_ was one of the dundee whaling fleet. when we left she was fitting out for the greenland sealing and bottlenose whaling. leaving dundee on march th, under the command of captain gellatley, she lost four of her boats, on may th, in a fog. these made their way to iceland. one, in charge of the captain, landed at primness. a second, in charge of alex. bain, a harpooner, arrived at tonsberg, having lost overboard her boat-steerer, david buchan. a third landed at ramfarhofu with all alive. the fourth was picked up, and in her there was but one survivor. when this boat left the ship there were three men in her. one died and was duly committed to the deep; another fell into a lethargy which continued so long that mcintosh, the survivor, though hardly able to move his benumbed legs, crawled to the bow of the boat to find out what was the trouble, but found him dead. fearing lest he might yield to the temptation of using the body for food, by a great effort he succeeded in heaving it overboard. the boat was picked up on the fourteenth day off the iceland coast by a passing ship; but mcintosh was compelled to have both legs amputated as mortification had set in. it is terrible to think of what this brave fellow must have endured drifting about in a small boat over this lonely and stormy sea, half frozen and with hardly any food. the following is the account given by captain gellatley of the cause of the accident, and of his experiences during the awful trip to iceland. a school of whales was observed on monday, th of may, and the afternoon being fine, four boats went out in pursuit--one under the command of captain gellatley; the second under the charge of thomas elder, the second mate; john taylor, specksioneer, was in charge of the third; and alexander bain, harpooner, of the fourth. in the course of a short time the captain's boat got fast to a whale, and also the specksioneer's. the second mate assisted the captain. after some time the whale was killed and towed to the ship, which was reached about three o'clock in the morning. by this time a dense fog had settled down, and after his crew had breakfasted, captain gellatley set out to look for the three boats, giving directions that if the fog continued the vessel should be kept in her position, so as to enable them to find her; but that she was to bear down towards the boats if the mist lifted. knowing the bearings of the boats, captain gellatley came up to them after rowing for fully two hours, and found that the whale was still alive and causing great trouble. three additional harpoons were fired into it, and in the course of the forenoon it was killed, and the four boats started in the direction of the ship with the whale in tow. in the meantime the weather cleared, and the ship was descried at a distance of about five miles; but in the course of half an hour the fog again came down, and it was so dense that it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. though they pulled from half past ten o'clock in the forenoon until half past four in the afternoon they failed to find the _chieftain_, and no answering signals were returned to their blasts of fog horns. it was then resolved that one of the boats should proceed eastwards and another westwards for some distance, but they returned without having been able to discover the whereabouts of the ship, notwithstanding the most diligent search. at one time a sound like a whistle was heard in one direction and again in another, and the men got utterly fatigued by their protracted search, a fresh breeze springing up and adding to their discomfort. about eight o'clock in the evening a number of the men confidently declared that they heard a ship's whistle sounding in a northeasterly direction, and the second mate was sent away in the hope of finding the ship. some time later captain grellatley decided to follow in the same direction, and accordingly the whale was buoyed and a lance with a handkerchief tied to the end of the handle was stuck into the carcass for identification. the three boats then followed in the course taken by the second mate, but they could never catch up to him, though they repeatedly heard the blast of his fog horn. throughout the night the search was continued without success, and on the morning of the th, the crews being fatigued, the three boats were made fast to one another and a deep sea anchor thrown out for the purpose of stopping their way and allowing the men to rest. in the course of the morning james cairns, an ordinary seaman, accidentally fell overboard, but he was promptly rescued. on the th matters began to assume a serious aspect. the crews had then been two days absent from the ship, and their slender stock of food--a small keg of provisions and a six pound tin of preserved meat in each boat--had become exhausted. in consequence of their privations the men became affected with stupor, and with the view of dispelling this the captain ordered the anchor to be hauled in and the boats to be rowed towards the ice. this exercise had a beneficial effect, and it seemed as if it were to result in a happy rescue, for a barque was noticed sailing away to the windward. signals were made in the hope of attracting attention, but the crews were doomed to disappointment, the fog, which had temporarily cleared, having again fallen and obscured everything from sight. the weather, too, became boisterous, and the boats were in imminent danger of being crushed by the ice. to save the boats from destruction it was found necessary to row out from under the lee of the floes, and during this time captain gellatley narrowly escaped being drowned. whale-boats are all steered by an oar, and while the captain was steering, his oar was struck by a wave and he was knocked overboard. fortunately he was rescued before he had been long in the water, but he suffered much from having to remain in his wet clothes during the remainder of the time he was in the boat. all the men were by this time complaining of the benumbed condition of their hands and feet, and by the morning of friday, th, it was hardly possible to keep them awake. that morning the wind shifted to the westward, and as all hope of falling in with the _chieftain_ had been given up, it was decided, as the only chance of saving their lives, to endeavor to sail to iceland, which was calculated to be about two hundred miles distant. each of the boats possessed a compass, but there was neither mast nor sail, and in their place a couple of boat-hooks were erected by way of a mast, with the ramrod of the gun as a yard, and the line cover, a piece of canvas about five feet by three feet, had to do duty as a sail. thus equipped, and with a supply of frozen snow and pieces of ice to quench their thirst, the crews of the three boats set out on their perilous journey, the master giving the directions for steering. they left the ice about five o'clock in the morning, and were soon scudding along at a rapid rate, there being a strong breeze blowing. about eight o'clock the boat which was in advance was seen to shorten sail, and when the captain came up he was informed that david buchan, while steering, had been knocked overboard and drowned. an attempt was then made to tow this boat; but the sea was running so high that this jeopardized both. it soon became apparent that the boats would be swamped if they continued in tow, and the captain was obliged to cast the second one adrift, telling the crew they must either hoist sails and make for iceland along with him or run back for the ice. they preferred to hold on their course, and the sail was again hoisted. the weather continued moderate until between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, when it shifted to the northward and began to blow hard. a heavy sea arose, and through the night it was with the utmost difficulty that the captain kept his boat afloat. at times she was nearly filled, and the men had to keep almost constantly bailing out the water. the stormy weather continued throughout the whole of friday night and saturday, and it was found necessary to throw the whale lines overboard to lighten the boat. in the meantime the condition of the men was becoming more and more alarming, and the captain was forced to employ various devices to prevent them from falling into a state of stupor, which would soon have proved fatal. to use the oars was an impossibility on account of the heavy seas and the rate at which the boat was sailing, and accordingly the captain persuaded the men to hold up their oars by way of exercise. this had the desired effect for some time, but by sunday morning, the fourth day they had been without food, they were all ready to give up in despair. captain gellatley had been steering constantly from friday morning till sunday morning, and the fatigue, combined with the privations he endured in common with his crew, began to tell severely upon him. only those who have had to steer such a boat in a seaway can understand the irksome and laborious nature of the work, and to this must be added the fact that he had to sit in a cramped position the whole time, his legs being bent under him. the captain stated that a peculiar sensation came over him, a haze gathered before his eyes, and an attack of dizziness obliged him to call the boatswain to take his place. after a brief space the boatswain, who was almost prostrated, had to relinquish the task, and the boat was then hove to, and a deep sea anchor, made up of a grappling iron and other articles, was thrown out, with fifty fathoms of line, by which means the boat's head was kept towards the sea. the weather was then moderating, but the waves continued to break over the boat, and it was as much as the men could do to keep her afloat. a few hours later and the gale sprang up afresh, and as there were still no signs of land, the crew resigned themselves to the fate which they deemed to be inevitable. from this state of despair they were ultimately aroused by the news that the land and a schooner were in sight, the sailmaker being the first to make the joyful announcement. this intelligence reanimated the despairing men, and signals were made to the schooner, but without succeeding in attracting the attention of the crew. a direct course was then steered for the land, but owing to the gale ten hours elapsed before it was reached. a new difficulty was then encountered, there being no visible landing-place along that rock-bound coast. a number of the islanders, however, had noticed the boat, and by means of signs they directed the crew to steer for the only available landing-place, a narrow passage with perpendicular rocks on either side, and a horizontal rock forming a sort of bar. the tide was then ebbing, but under the guidance of captain gellatley, the boat was safely steered into the narrow harbor. by the assistance of the islanders the crew, who had almost lost the power of their legs, were take to a farmer's hut adjoining, where they were hospitably entertained with such cheer as the house afforded; and the black bread and whale blubber which were set out before them proved a feast to the famishing sailors. the point at which they landed was brimness, about ten miles distant from langanaes, and after they had recovered somewhat the islanders made arrangements for transporting them on horseback to the nearest port. however, the norwegian smack, _jemima_, of elekkefjord, hove in sight, and on being signalled, the captain, bernard olsen, readily agreed to take the crew to seydisfjord, where a steamer was shortly to sail for scotland. on their arrival at seydisfjord on the th of june, the governor had them conveyed to a hotel, and a messenger was dispatched for a doctor, who arrived in the course of two days, his journey requiring twenty-four hours to accomplish. under his treatment captain gellatley and his crew made a satisfactory recovery, and on the th they left seydisfjord on board the mail steamer _thym_, for granton. chapter ix--a greenland settlement "the shuddering tenant of the frigid zone boldly proclaims the happiest spot his own; extols the treasures of his stormy seas, and his long nights of revelry and ease." |we were now crossing davis straits and felt that the whaling voyage had fairly begun. reference was seldom made to the places already visited, but those we expected to see were discussed, and stories told of previous experiences there. nothing was spoken of but greenland and its settlements. the weather was very cold and on thursday, may th, snow squalls reminded us of our latitude. the wind was fair, however, and the ship made good time under steam and some canvas. _friday, may th._ the morning was fine and the men of the watch were employed coaling the bunkers; coal dust was thick in the 'tween-decks and the tarts we had for tea were black with it as the galley opened oft the tween-decks. in spite of their color, however, they were better tarts than any i ever tasted on shore. as we expected to be on the greenland coast the following day, a few remarks about the country may not be out of place. the west coast settlements had prospered under the fostering care of the moravian missionaries and the danish government and were divided into two districts, the northern and the southern, holstenborg, to which we were bound, being the northern settlement of the southern district. the most northern settlements of the northern district had native governors, but the southern had danish, and inspectors supervised the work of these. one or two ships from copenhagen visited the coast every year with supplies, taking back oil and skins. we have all sung about the icy mountains of greenland, and most of us have in a vague way connected the country with whales, without having any idea of how great this whaling industry was some years ago. in the appendix it will be seen that great britain alone sent one hundred and fifty-nine ships to greenland waters in , and, of course, the norwegians and dutch, the danes, germans and others also profited by the fisheries. many words in the modern whaler's vocabulary are of dutch origin, as these hardy people were conspicuous among the most daring followers of this dangerous trade. greenland has a past, but its history, viewed through the mists of centuries, and always more or less traditional, is anything but distinct. the country was discovered toward the end of the tenth century; and a banished norwegian, called erick, wintered at what is now called erick sound, shortly after. the unscrupulous erick, in order to promote colonization, called the new country greenland. a fleet of twenty-five sail started for the country with colonists. many were lost, but about half of them settled there and were joined by others, forming quite a colony. [illustration: ] christianity was introduced about and a bishop was appointed. by degrees the colonists in the south formed other colonies, churches were built, and the people prospered for a time. grant tells us in his history of greenland that there were about one hundred hamlets on these coasts. the colonies on the east coast have disappeared. some ruins have been found, but where are the people? nothing has been heard definitely from them since , when the east greenland trade ceased. some think that black death destroyed them, others say that polar ice, coming down, closed the coast from intercourse with the parent country, so that they starved. according to one kojake, who has written on the subject, they became eaters of human flesh, owing to a famine, but afterwards they are said to have relished it. that they were nice about it is evident when we read that they only consumed old people, forsaken orphans and unnecessary persons. a rumor reached norway in about a vessel having been wrecked oft the coast of greenland and of the crew having been eaten voraciously by savages. the word voracious suggests relish, and possibly these savages were descendants from the good, old norwegian stock, who ate unnecessary persons only a few hundred years before and who had a bishop in . _may th. saturday_. we expected to sight the land, so were on the lookout. the weather was cloudy and there was a southeast breeze, so everything was set and drawing. the clouds lifted about noon and in the distance the snow-covered mountains of greenland could be seen. at first it was difficult to tell which was mountain and which cloud. by and by, however, the forbidding coast grew distinct. our objective point was holstenborg and the mate was in the crow's-nest examining the shore for the danish colors. some small bergs were scattered over the water and a narrow shore floe was fast to the coast. to the north of us the knights reefs ran far out to sea and on these some larger bergs had grounded. the ship was slowed down and all her canvas stowed. finally the engines were stopped, and after a little while, the captain ordered the ship put about as he could not pick up the settlement. i heard the order given and was greatly disappointed as i longed to see an eskimo. just then the mate called out that he saw a kayak coming off, so the ship lay to and waited. i repaired to the fore top and presently saw two kayaks coming toward us. there was quite a splash on, but the sun had now come out and the scene interested me intensely. the little boats were almost submerged and the occupants were wet and glistened in the sunlight. when they came alongside, i saw that the kayaks were about feet long, with little knobs of ivory decorating bow and stern, and were about inches wide at the widest part and covered with skin. one eskimo sat in each. the edge of the hole in which he sat was raised a couple of inches and over this he had pulled his skin coat, wrapped a lash around it and made it water-tight. the paddle was trimmed with ivory and the dusky faces of the almond-eyed navigators were all smiles as they looked at us and showed their white teeth. a whale boat was lowered and each canoe lifted in, eskimo and all, then they left their boats, shook hands with every one around and went on to the bridge, where they remained until the ship was at anchor off the village. holstenborg consisted of a church, which was also a schoolhouse, a shop where the deputy governor lived, and the governor's house. there were a number of native houses--awful places, built of turf. a long low passage led to the door of each. as the weather was comparatively warm, this passage was generally very wet, and when the door of the house opened, the smell was overpowering. inside sat women at work with their needles, or dressing skins. when the ship came to anchor off the shore floe, a boat-load of ladies came on board. a greenland belle was a well dressed person. her hair was folded several times and then wound about with a ribbon, so that it stood up upon the top of the head; the fold of the hair above the ribbon was rather fanshaped, and the color of the ribbon indicated whether the lady was married, single, or a widow. possibly there were degrees of wrapping, and shades of the color, indicating the number of times she had been married, and the depths of despair into which her various bereavements had reduced her. this simple record of her past was an excellent arrangement in a country where there were no society papers,--a sort of personal totem carried on the head, so that he or she who ran might read. of course, in lower latitudes, where high civilization and divorce courts exist, shortness of hair would render some records so incomplete that the greenland method is never likely to supplant the present ready references to be found amongst interested and observing neighbors. a bodice was worn, made of some cheerful colored stuff procured at the shop or from whalers. tight fitting trousers, made of bay seal skin and extending down to the knees, came next, and very gaudy boots of colored skin. down the front of each leg of the trousers was a stripe / inches wide, of colored skin, and the boots, especially around the tops, were very ornate. many of the girls were good-looking, and on their arrival a ball commenced in the 'tween-decks which lasted while they were there; fiddles and concertinas supplying the music. these instruments were played by whalers and eskimos equally well, and they knew the same airs. most of our visitors had articles to barter and they wanted bread in return more than anything else, but accepted colored handkerchiefs and other trifles. slippers and tobacco pouches were their principal stock in trade, but there were some down quilts, prettily bordered with the green necks of the eider duck. captain fairweather and myself spent a pleasant evening with the governor and his deputy, and it was interesting to hear the music of civilization played on a piano by the wife of the latter. coming away, they gave us a lot of quaint ivories made by the natives, from walrus tusks, such as brooches, pipes, paper knives, etc., etc. _may th. sunday_. i went on shore early, and seeing a lot of snow buntings, spent some time looking for their nests, but without result. on the sunny sides of the rocks the snow had gone; there was some dead grass, but indeed the country was, for the most part, covered with it. there were several pairs of ravens about, but i could not find their nests, so i borrowed a pair of skies, and ascending a hill close by, enjoyed the exhilarating sport of sliding down its snowy slope. during the afternoon i made a house-to-house visitation in the native quarter and saw much of interest. the older portion of the population i found at home, but the youth and beauty of the place had gone on board the _aurora._ about dinner time i came on board and acquired a further collection of eskimo ware, including ladies' clothing, for which even my bed curtains were bartered. it was late when i retired for the night, surfeited with the pleasure of my first long day in greenland. _may th. monday_. i wrote letters home this morning and sent them on shore. during the summer they arrived via copenhagen, having gone by the danish mail ship which visited the settlement every year. by breakfast time we were under way. it was a beautiful day. there was a breeze from the southwest, so the ship soon had all her canvas set and we stood away, clear of the land. the knights reef, running out to sea north of holstenborg, had to be weathered. on the heavy ice around there, we saw a number of walrus, but did not disturb them. by noon we were sailing up the coast amid floe ice, so the canvas was taken off and we steamed slowly through it. a sharp lookout was kept for whales, as we were then on a very good ground for spring fishing, sixty miles from disco and sixty miles from riffkol being the neighborhood where the ships in olden times killed fine cargoes. "with riffkol hill and disco dipping, there you will find the whale fish skipping," is an old saying amongst whalers. [illustration: ] chapter x--polar bear shooting "the shapeless bear with dangling ice, all horrid, stalks forlorn, slow paced, and sourer as the storms increase, he makes his bed beneath the inclement drift, and with stem patience, scorning weak complaint, hardens his heart against the assailing want." _may th. tuesday._ we were quite close to disco in the morning. however, the captain decided not to go into the settlement, godhaven, where many other ships lay, but to go west, as the straits appeared tolerably free from ice in that direction. accordingly, about noon, we turned our bows westward, having a solid looking floe to the north of us and open water to the south. this was all good fishing ground and we might have picked up a big whale, but we did not see a single spout while we were in the neighborhood. birds were getting numerous, now that we were amongst the ice, and the edge of the floe was lined with little auks in some places. they were important-looking fellows, like diminutive penguins. disco looked wild and forbidding as we steamed away from it, with snow lodged in all the sheltered places. the island rose to a height of about three thousand feet and much of the coast on the west side of it was precipitous and exposed, so that there were always bare rock faces, which gave a patchy appearance to that place. to the north of us, many big bergs could be seen, which had come originally from waggate straits. two tremendous ones were at one time aground in this place, in very deep water. they were described by crants, who tells us that they were there for years. we had steamed for some distance to the west, along the floe edge, when the lookout called down that he saw a bear on an island of ice, a few points on our starboard bow. i heard him, so immediately went for my rifle. a boat was lowered and we rowed to the island. george matheson, one of our harpooners, and myself immediately landed, and the boat left us, intending to row around the island so as to intercept bruin, should he attempt to swim to the main floe. as this was the first wild bear i had ever seen, i was unfamiliar with their ways, but learned afterwards that unless the hunter came suddenly upon one, or unless it had cubs, it would almost invariably retreat and probably take to the water. of course, it might not know the whereabouts of the hunter, and in that case it would be as liable to go in his direction as any other. this particular animal was an exception to all rules; for before we had gone very far we found that he was coming straight toward us. owing to the nature of the ice, he could not always be seen, but occasionally he would stand up and take his bearings, when we could see each other. i was an active youth, george was a heavy man in excellent condition, and if it came to running, he would have had no chance with me, and no sensible bear would pass him to pursue me. [illustration: ] realizing these things, i had no misgivings, so knelt down and put out a box of ten cartridges. the har-pooner, seeing my preparations, said: "for god's sake, don't shoot." he had had experiences with wounded bears before, which he did not wish to repeat. it seemed to me, however, that, between the two of us, we had things our own way as we had had such splendid practice at seals a short time before and our hands were in, so, when bruin stood up to have a look at us, less than a hundred yards away, i fired and hit him in the head. i was intensely pleased as it was my first bear and also the first seen that year by any of the ships. we had, as spectators, the entire crew, as the ship was not far away and every one on board was watching. a bear is considered lucky, considerable trouble being taken to pick one up. as they looked very yellow in the white ice, they were easily seen. curiosity, no doubt, drew this one to us, as we were kneeling down and not moving when he stood up to look. had we moved, he would probably have gone away. i kept the skull, the entire occipital portion of which was shattered, although the skin wound was small, as the copper-nosed bullets only expanded well on striking something hard. the boat came back for us and, after skinning the prize, we went on board. as there was much heavy ice to the west, we steamed back towards disco, and a lead, opening to the north, later in the day, gave us a chance of going a few miles in the right direction. _may st. wednesday_. we had come rather close to the land by morning and were off disco fiord. there was very heavy ice coming down and numbers of bergs about, so navigation was exceedingly difficult and dangerous, and we made little or no progress until noon, when the ice slackened and let us go ahead, the wind blowing from the north and loosening it. in the evening it was very cold, with snow squalls. i got an ivory gull this day (p. eburnea) and also a glaucous gull (larus glaucus). the ivory gull positively looked like ivory as it stood on the ice, and the glaucous gull, with its great spread of snow-white wings, was beautiful. [illustration: ] we were sorry that the ship did not stop at godhaven, or lieveley, as it was generally called, because of its importance as a point of departure for expeditions. they generally obtained dogs there, and whalers, for a century and more, had made it a port to call, but this was a race for the north and no time was to be wasted. we managed to work on our course all afternoon and during the night, as the wind had slackened the ice. _may nd. thursday_. during the night, the ship had made considerable progress, so at noon we were off hare island. after tea, we were hooked on in a pool of water for several hours. i took my gun and went out for a stroll, killing a number of little auks (alca allé or roach) and a richardson's skua. these latter were called, by the sailors, boatswain birds, because of the long feathers in the tail, resembling a marlinspike. as at this time we had the sun night and day, it made me exceedingly restless. about ten p. m. we were fast again, so, taking my gun, i shot some black guillemot (u. grylle), these birds being very numerous. i returned to the ship about midnight, when it was blowing rather hard. _may rd. friday_. the wind had died down by morning and the day was beautiful. we were off nugsuak peninsula. there were many tremendous bergs about and the floe was heavy. in the dim distance we saw a ship and made our way towards her. to the east of us was the entrance to hmanak fiord, one of the largest on the west coast of greenland. from where we were, all fiords looked alike, and it was impossible to tell islands from mainland. it resembled a sea of ice out of which protruded rocks and hills, which, excepting on the steep places, were covered with snow. black guillemot and little auks were everywhere in thousands, and it was pretty to see rows of the latter along the ice edge. they stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the water, and were very indifferent to our presence. by night we had made little progress and the new ship was still far away. we had been about with the whalers enough by this time to recognize any of them a long way off by their rigging, smoke or funnel, so, long before we reached this new vessel, we recognized that she was a stranger, and she turned out to be the _cornwallis_. when we left dundee, she was outfitting for the greenland fishing, that is, for the voyage we ourselves originally intended taking, after leaving newfoundland. the high price of whalebone, however, had induced her owners to send her to davis straits instead. by tea time we were hooked on within a quarter of a mile of her, and after that meal the captain sent me on board to see whether there was any mail for our ship. climbing on board, i was amazed to find my friend armitage there, with a yellow beard and sea boots; i would not have recognized him. he was greatly surprised to see me because he believed that i had gone from newfoundland to the jan mayen fishing, not knowing of our altered arrangements. the _cornwallis_ was an old barque, formerly in the south american trade. she had had engines put in, and been fortified for arctic ice. after i sailed from dundee, armitage, in going around the docks, saw her. he went on board and, finding captain nicol, arranged to sail with him later in the year. sending back to the _aurora_ mail and papers, also some fresh mutton, which had been sent out to us, i remained on the _cornwallis_ and heard the news. i saw her peculiar and useless engines. captain nicol said they spoilt her for sailing and she steamed badly. _may th. saturday._ it was a beautiful arctic day when i came on deck before breakfast. ahead of us, the world was white, not a break to be seen anywhere, astern some open water. the _cornwallis_ was lying on our port side a few hundred yards away, so that about eleven i went on board, and, with armitage, started off to look for something to shoot, among the hummocks, three or four miles north of where we lay. we spent hours tramping over the ice, but did not see a track, so we returned to our ships about six p. m. this hummock belt extended east and west and had been caused by the rafting of great floes. it was quite smooth from the ship to the hummocks and also on the other side of them. half a mile beyond the ridge, however, there was a great berg which appeared to be aground. when i returned on board the _aurora_, the captain told me to go below and have my tea and then to go with the mate back to where i had been, because he had seen a bear close to us all the time we were there. it certainly was curious that neither of us had seen him or his tracks. when we were about a mile away from the ships, i saw armitage hurrying after us. i was anxious to wait for him, but the mate insisted on pushing on, as it would be a fearfully unlucky thing for a member of another crew to shoot a bear first seen by us. after a little, we reached a crack in the ice, about two feet wide, so we stepped across and hurried on. armitage, coming up shortly after, was unable to cross as the crack was then eight or ten feet wide and extended indefinitely in each direction. so the situation righted itself, and my friend returned to the ship while the mate and i kept on to where the bear had been seen and there we found tracks in abundance, but no bear. after an hour's searching, we were returning to the ship when we saw her jib hauled up as a signal for us to go ahead again, the game having been spotted by the lookout in the crow's nest. returning to the hummocks, we saw the bear strolling from behind the berg beyond. he was coming straight towards us, so we got down behind the rafted ice and awaited his approach. it was decided that i should have the first shot as the mate had killed so many. i allowed the bear to get about a hundred and fifty yards away before firing, and then put a bullet into him. i don't know where it hit, but he came down, to be up again at once and to keep on coming. the mate fired and down he went again, and we kept it up until the bear was hit many times. sometimes he fell, sometimes he bit at the place, and by the time he reached the ridge he was very lame and badly shot up. he had gone some distance to the west of us, so i stood up on a slab of ice and finished him, as we thought, by putting a bullet in his shoulder and dropping him in his tracks. we hurried up our side of the ridge until we arrived at where he was. then, climbing over, i was surprised to find him sitting up. this time my bullet finished him. our shooting was nothing to be proud of, and went to show how careful one should be with bears, because if not hit right, they take a lot of lead. this was about the only one of those killed that took more than one or, at the most, two shots. [illustration: ] as neither of us had a hunting knife, we had a long job skinning him with pocket knives. then we started for the ship, towing the skin, but when we reached the crack in the ice, it had opened about twenty-five yards, so we were fairly caught. the mate, with his usual ingenuity, loosened a pan of ice, and on this we crossed, using the butts of our rifles as paddles. arriving at the other side, we were met by two sailors, sent from the ship, as we were being watched from the barrel, and they took the bear skin in charge while we made our way on board. as it was late, we retired as soon as we had had something to eat. _may th.. sunday._ in the morning, armitage came on board and saw the bear skin. he had never seen a polar bear on the ice, so was very much disappointed that he had not been with us. both ships unhooked about ten a. m. and stood north through a lead. we moved along fairly well and by evening were hooked on close to each other in a hole of water with a good ice edge. the _bear_ and _triune_ were now in sight, the latter having come from dundee direct. we were off svartin huk, a great peninsula, but i only knew this by consulting the chart glued to the cabin table. the _cornwallis_ was the "lame duck" of the fleet. steaming in open water, she had not more than half our speed, and in heavy ice she could do little, as her power was so weak. of course, she could wriggle her way around floes and along tortuous leads fairly well, especially if some of the better ships had just been through ahead of her and broken the trail. the _cornwallis_ was the only one of the ships coming direct from dundee which carried a surgeon, but there were three on the newfoundland fleet. _may th. monday_. we both moved a few miles north this day, but the ice was very heavy and the conditions for advance unfavorable. some distance astern, we saw the _bear_, but she was not making much headway and we all three were tied up by noon. a ship, when anchored to a floe, has her bows against it and a cable out to an ice anchor on one bow or on both, according to the weather. from the jib-boom a rope ladder always hangs, so that one can easily get on to or leave the floe. there is generally a man on the ladder when the ship approaches the ice, and as she touches, he drops off! and, with an ice drill, makes a hold for the ice anchor. bringing armitage, we went to a crack up which looms were flying, and had a pleasant afternoon shooting them. they were fast-flying birds, and the knowledge of the fact that they would not be wasted gave zest to our sport. shooting guillemot rising off the water would not be much fun, but picking off single birds as they passed was good practice. the looms we saw in such thousands were, i believe, uria brunichii. the ships were tied up when i turned in. _may th. tuesday_. the ice was slack, so we kept in a northerly direction, making good headway. we left the _cornwallis_ and, following a good lead, passed the _narwhal_, which had been the leading ship for some days. during the evening, the _bear_ came after us, but we were able to keep ahead. captain fair-weather decided to give upernivik a wide berth, as he once had had an unpleasant experience with the rocks of that charming greenland summer resort, so we kept going north all night. there was a wonderful amount of life on board a whaler, on account of the crew being so large. in the 'tween-decks, one generally found a number of men at work, picking oakum, spinning rope yarn, or other yarns, and weaving sennet. the carpenter and his assistant were found at work in one place, the cooper busy in another, while the sailmaker sat and sewed. on the deck, in some sheltered corner, one found the blacksmith at work, and there were always jobs being done in the engine room. but it was easy work, none of the dog's life one saw on other ships. there are said to be runic monuments in the vicinity of upernivik, and one on woman's island is said to bear the date of . the early travellers, who are supposed to be responsible for these records, are also said to have visited lancaster sound. when one considers that baffin circumnavigated the bay which bears his name, in , in a craft of fifty-five tons, and when one examines a viking ship of a thousand years ago and finds it a substantial clinker built boat, a hundred feet long with fine beam, one sees no reason why a twelfth century vessel could not make her way to lancaster sound. _may th. wednesday_. we had a day racing with the bear. she managed to pass us just before we reached browns island, and hooked on to the floe some distance from us. after a little, the _narwhal_ joined us, and later the _cornwallis_. armitage and i went off in our dingey and had a few pleasant hours shooting looms. we shot a lot of them, which were divided between the two ships. it took me some time to overcome a prejudice and to become accustomed to seeing looms on the table in any shape or form, but they were really much better than any ducks we killed, because they were not at all fishy and our cook understood about skinning them. they tasted rather like roast hare. during the afternoon, the weather was thick and it was snowing. the coast of greenland, at this point, was fringed by hundreds of islands of all sizes and shapes. they were everywhere and some had names while others had not. one navigated there by rule of thumb, only moving when landmarks could be seen, and avoiding visible dangers. occasionally, something one did not see, destroyed the ship, as there were hundreds of uncharted rocks. in approaching a settlement, a native generally came on hoard and pointed out the way, but the coast was a dangerous one and the ships only kept close to it in order that they might avoid the terrible middle pack. [illustration: ] _may th. thursday._ we were bumping along towards the west when i came on deck, as the ice looked slacker in that direction, but we had to return shortly after breakfast and, after thrashing around for most of the morning, we managed to strike a good lead and gain a few miles. there was no shooting, as the ship did not stop. the _cornwallis_ kept near us all day, and the _narwhal_ was not far away. as we were now on the edge of the notorious melville bay, it became interesting. greely's famous thirty-six hour passage was not going to be repeated by us, that was evident. i recalled cheynes' account of its dangers, but we were so comfortable on board the _aurora_, and meals were served with such regularity, that it was only possible to realize the danger by watching floes crunch into each other as they were pressed together by irresistible forces. we hooked on at night with little in sight but floes and bergs. it is a wonderful thing to see a berg ploughing its way through a frozen sea, slowly but surely, overcoming all obstacles, provided, always, that the water was deep enough to keep its mighty base from grounding. on this day there were dozens in sight. they were in every direction and one could easily understand the hopelessness of a sailing ship's position, beset in these waters, with a gale driving bergs down upon her. _may th. friday_. we were lying, hooked on to the floe, in the forenoon, when i looked over the side and saw a beautiful male king eider duck (s. spectabilis) sitting on the water within ten feet of the captain's port. the captain was in bed, as he had been in the crow's nest for days, nearly all the time. his port was open and i did not want to wake him, so, taking a gun, i went on the ice and, firing from there, killed the bird without the report being heard in the cabin, and the dog, jock, went out and brought the bird in. it was the first king eider i had shot and it looked beautiful in its spring plumage. the striking thing about the bird was the enormous frontal processes bulging high above the bill and brightly colored. these were soft and shrank rapidly as they dried, losing their color. the plumage was a mixture of black, white, pearl gray and sea green, making a gorgeous whole. the first bird one sees of a beautiful species always excites more admiration than the others, and so i was delighted with this and carefully skinned it. the evening made no change in the conditions and we remained fast all night. _may st. saturday_. all the ships were stuck in the morning. the _cornwallis_ and _narwhal_ were some distance astern, the _arctic_ near the shore, the _nova zembla_ and _polynia_ close together to the west of us. there were an immense number of bergs, some of them, no doubt, aground, as there were many islands and rocks. we were lying off tassuisak, a not very populous place, and i was in hope that some natives, seeing the ships, would come off. [illustration: ] during the afternoon, we got under way and poked about without moving much further north. when we were crossing any open places, the ship steamed very slowly and a man was kept forward, on the lookout for submerged rocks. chapter xi--melville bay "and hark! the lengthening roar continuous runs athwart the rifted deep, at once it bursts and piles a thousand mountains to the clouds." _june st. sunday_. owing to a change of wind the ice had loosened and during the night we managed to push on to berry island. the _bear_ and _thetis_ appeared upon the scene during the afternoon, and we saw the _bear_ strike a sunken rock. we hooked on to the small island with several of the other ships, the _bear_ being on our starboard side, and the _narwhal, arctic and thetis_ on the port. i saw commander schley going on board the _bear_ and examining her with a water telescope. his boat passed very close to our quarter and the captain spoke to him as he went. the ships were all lying close to the shore floe with this low island in front of them, and it looked as if they might be there some time, so i went on shore with the surgeon of the _arctic_. there was a camera sitting on the ice near the _thetis_, so the ships were evidently being photographed. we wandered about the inhospitable place for a time and came on board. the perpetual daylight made me very irregular in my movements, coming and going at all hours; my day was regulated by my meals. those who had watches to keep slept and got up with their usual regularity. _june nd. monday_. the day fine, and we were still tied up at the island. i took a gun and went on shore after breakfast, but there was not much to shoot. in a little valley i saw a quantity of dead grass sticking out of the ice. on going over and examining, i found a number of _human skeletons_. wherever there was a big bunch of grass, there i found an ice-covered skeleton. probably they were eskimos. when i returned to the ship there were a number of natives on board. they came from tassuisak and had some seal skins to trade. some of our men had visited the _arctic_. she had been in godhaven, so had much trade and our men procured some of it. afterwards i bought a kayak model from one of these. it was very beautifully made. the skin tobacco pouches and slippers made by natives in godhaven looked nicer than any i saw from other settlements. the southern greenland towns were better than those further north, but the whalers seldom called at any further south than holstenborg. i went on board the _bear_ for awhile during the evening with dr. crawford and met lieutenant emory. during the day i saw several very beautiful glaucous gulls. they are called burgomasters by the sailors. _june rd. tuesday_. immediately to the north of where we lay there were a great many icebergs. they presented a very fine appearance with the sun shining on them. the _thetis_ and _bear_ started off amongst these bergs. we tried to move out to the west, but did not accomplish much; for when evening came we were no further north than when we started. in the distance and to the west of us we saw a berg on the top of which there was a black spot. what could it be? from the crow's nest the telescope revealed nothing but a black spot on the icy slope. there was a narrow lead going in this direction, so the mate and myself went with a boat's crew to solve the mystery. we were able to take a whale boat a long distance through the lead, and then we walked the rest of the way. i had brought a rifle in case there should be a chance of a shot. on getting up to the berg we found that it was not fast, but that owing to its great depth in the water it had a motion independent of its floe. on one side there had been a great slide, and up this we proposed going. just at this place the motion of the berg had ground up a lot of ice at its base, and also some of the floe, so that one had very unstable footing to jump to and from in crossing the surrounding fissure. however, we all managed without mishap and ascended the slide to within six or eight feet of the top. i was then pushed up this little cliff and found that, with the exception of the place we had come up, the sides were sheer precipices. it was necessary to traverse a snowy undulation before the black object came into view. the mate joined me with some of the others and it was exciting for a few minutes, but disappointing when we found only a big black stone which the berg had picked up probably during its glacial days. the islands of ice often turn over owing to the frost splitting them when the weather is cold. this frequent alteration of their centre of gravity makes them very undesirable neighbors, especially in the autumn. while it was disappointing finding only a stone when we expected something wonderful, yet the view from the summit was magnificent. immediately around little but ice could be seen, with here and there some black threads of water and many great bergs scattered about. in the distance the coast of greenland looked bold. it had been rather high all the way up from upernivik, but cape shackleton, rising to a height of thirteen hundred feet, looked very imposing, being precipitous. there was a great loomery on its cliffs, which was probably the home of the thousands of those birds which we saw every day flying along the cracks, or about the pools of open water. there was much less trouble getting down the berg than getting up, but we were all tired when we reached the ship as we were not accustomed to long walks. _june th. wednesday_. the morning was fine, and many ships were in sight. during the night we had passed cape shackleton. to the south we saw the _thetis_, evidently in the rips off horse heade, with the _bear_ astern of her. the _nova_ _zembla_ and _triune_ were several miles to the west, and caught in the pack, while all the other ships were together. during the morning the _thetis, bear_ and _polynia_ came up and joined us in our feeble attempt to push along. later in the day the weather turned cold and cloudy, but no storm came, and the ice was very tight at bedtime. _june th. thursday_. a beautiful day with sunshine and blue sky. nearly all the ships were anchored to the ice or stuck in our immediate vicinity. we were hooked on in a large lake and close to us there were a number of great bergs. during the morning i took the dingey and rowed amongst them, as there was no floe ice near. the silence was very impressive, the only sound being that made by the splashing of water as it trickled down the icy sides of the bergs, or the cry of some seabird. i traced the base of one of these hoary giants a long way into the depths, but the water of the arctic sea is by no means clear, owing to the vast numbers of animalculae which inhabit it. i shot a big bag of little auks here, but was careful not to do any shooting whilst close to the bergs, as the concussion might have brought down ice. during the afternoon the floe opened a little, and the expedition ships came close to us, but the _nova zembla_ and _triune_ still appeared to be held in the pack. we all watched like hawks for a chance to reach the duck islands, now only a few miles ahead. greely might have been there. [illustration: ] _june th. friday_. this was one of the most exciting days we had--eight of us all on edge and each trying to get ahead of his neighbor. this friendly rivalry added zest to the trip. we were quite close to the duck islands, which made the starting point of the melville bay passage. the day was glorious and we spent most of it fast to a floe. the exciting thing was when late in the evening a crack occurred near the arctic. it was not more than a mile or two across the floe to the open water at the duck islands, and this crack appeared to extend the whole way. when it was wide enough the _arctic_ and _aurora_ immediately entered, but before we had gone any distance, the ice closed astern of us, preventing any of the others entering. for a short time we were caught, and it looked like the nips, then the floe seemed to swing, closing behind us and opening in front, so that we steamed away with a cheer, leaving the others barred out. the _bear_, after a short time, succeeded in breaking a way for herself and the _thetis_, and all the rest followed like ducks. i was aloft for a time watching this game of follow the leader and keenly interested in this arctic race. we entered the patch of open water about midnight, and steaming across made fast to the ice at the islands. _june th. saturday_. it was wonderful how little we slept when there was excitement. i enjoyed it' so much that i was afraid of missing anything by going below, but after the race we had just finished, as we had all hooked on, i felt that it was safe to turn in as there was nothing but dense pack ahead. the _arctic_ and _aurora_ were lying very close to the _bear_, and the _thetis_ was not far off. we were on the west side of the middle duck, the rest of the fleet being on the other side. it was evident that there were no explorers here to be rescued, for the approach of the fleet was rather imposing and they would have seen it. after a rest, taking a gun i made my way on shore. we were too early for eggs, but there were plenty of ducks and the shooting was rather good. numbers of phalarope (lobipes hyperboreus) were about. they were graceful little birds and no doubt bred here later. coming back for the dingey i rowed out to a point of ice past which there was a flight of ducks, but was astonished to find the birds so shy in such a quiet place. perhaps the sight of the ships invading this sanctuary made them a little nervous. i managed, however, to add considerably to my bag. there did not appear to be any loosening of the ice, so none of the ships made any effort to move. i went on board the _arctic_ during the afternoon and received a supply of apples from captain guy. the surgeon returned with me and spent the evening on the _aurora_. as our boiler required some repair this was attended to during the day and it made a wonderful difference to the temperature of the cabin having no heat in the engine room for a few hours. _june th. sunday_. a peaceful day and perfectly calm with some fog. all the ships were hooked on to the floe. crawford of the _arctic_ came on board and we took our dingey and went to one of the islands. some men from the relief ships were there. they were shooting with eight bores, the first time i had ever seen guns of that calibre; i saw them make some long shots. we secured a few ducks, eider and long tailed. during the afternoon we went on board the _bear_, and again met lieutenant emory and his officers. lieutenant colwell showed us the ship. the arrangement of the berths in the cabin was splendid; they were curtained off by drawing out poles, and by pushing these in the sleeping quarters were reduced in size, and the saloon enlarged. i should say that the _bear_ was the fastest ship of the fleet, except, perhaps, the _arctic_, which had powerful engines. the only thing against the _arctic_ was her great length which made it difficult to turn her about in small water holes, and to manouvre amongst the ice as some of the others were able to do. the _wolf_ and _narwhal_ had moved off and were caught in the pack by bedtime. we were then on the threshold of melville bay, the reputation of which was most unsavory. perhaps the most interesting occurrence there during historic times was the loss of nineteen ships and a total of £ , damage to the fleet on june th, . this event has been called the baffin's bay fair, because the one thousand men who suddenly found themselves homeless upon the ice, made the best of their circumstances and enjoyed themselves immensely. before the ships went down they secured quantities of liquor and food and afterwards established comfortable camps. there was an abundance of wood from the wrecks, so they made bonfires around which they danced. the curious part of it was that no lives were lost, and that the entire party ultimately reached home safe. there is an interesting oil painting of this event in the museum at peterhead. _june th. monday_. we seemed permanent fixtures now and felt that we owned the place in spite of the ducks. i took the dingey with a boy and pulled off to a long point of ice on the west side of the island not far from where we lay. we were able to hide behind a heavy piece of ice with the boat and i shot a number of ducks in the handsome plumage of that season. then landing, found numbers of old nests made of feathers and down. they had been driven into crevices of rock by storms and one could have collected a quantity of down. while on the island i saw and heard my first finner whale. he was making a great noise as he breathed. finners have little oil and short bone, so they are not pursued. they are also very quick in their movements and consequently dangerous. this one came up several times in different water holes about the islands and then disappeared. at dinner we were discussing vegetables and all agreed that the best on board the ship were the tinned carrots. they were simply boiled and put up in pieces six or seven inches long. they were absolutely as fresh and sweet as the day on which they were prepared. we called them carnoustie carrots, as they had come from that place. our dundee meat was excellent at this time. we had a good supply of it, and very seldom saw salt beef or salt pork on the cabin table during the voyage. the steak for breakfast was served on a sort of metal basket; a handle crossed the middle of this and on each side there was a lid. the steak was under one lid and fried onions under the other. we also had hot rolls every morning, although ship's bread was always on the table. _june th. tuesday_. early in the morning the _aurora_ unhooked and for a little while managed to push her way northwest. the _wolf_ and _narwhal_ had gained by moving on. there was always a chance of a lead opening and letting one through. we had reached the duck islands first, by taking the lead while the others hesitated. we now entered the pack further than we wished to and then spent some time trying to extricate ourselves. there was always danger of being beset in the pack and carried down the straits again; in it there was no safe anchorage, as it might twist and turn in any direction, and a low temperature might even freeze the ship up, whereas following the shore floe gave one a lead of open water every time the pack floated off, and should it be driven in the ship could generally find a bay or indentation in which she was fairly safe. in consequence of this the captains became nervous when they found themselves beset in the pack. at night we were almost out of sight of the islands. the _wolf_ and _narwhal_ were not far from us. _june th. wednesday_. before morning we managed to work north some distance. the _wolf_, _narwhal_ and _arctic_ were close to us. the relief ships during the day were joined by the _triune, cornwallis and nova zembla_. we all made some headway, but in the afternoon we were so nearly caught once or twice that we steamed back towards the islands and arrived almost at our old anchorage by the following morning. _june th. thursday._ in the morning a lot of us were back at the old anchorage again, but the _arctic_ was still to the north, close to the _thetis and bear_. the _wolf and narwhal_ were out in the pack to the west of us, but in the afternoon these last joined us. during the day i shot a lot of ducks, all eider and king eider, afterwards landing on a floe from which a peninsula ran out having a narrow isthmus covered with very high hummocks. crossing this isthmus to the peninsula beyond, i came upon the perfectly fresh footprints of a bear and two cubs, leading from the water to the big hummocks over which i had come and over which my route back lay. having only a sixteen bore and number four shot, this discovery was disquieting for a time, as a bear with cubs might fight. however, she did not materialize. all the other ships were closer inshore during the evening, while we moved west a little. during the night we moved off up a lead. [illustration: ] _june th. friday_. we were hard and fast, the _cornwallis, triune, esquimaux and narwhal_ in sight close inshore. the _arctic and wolf_ out with the expedition ships. they were apparently beset. we lay frozen up all day, with not even a duck to shoot. the sugarloaf, a high mountain on the greenland coast, showed up well and made a good landmark. _june th. saturday_. the day began with a heavy snow storm, but shortly after breakfast it cleared off. the ice opened to the west, so we steamed in that direction, leaving the fleet of older ships apparently fast inshore, and we did not see any of them again for a long time. we made very little headway at first, but found the ice slack after dinner and managed to push through it. later a series of good leads opened up and we worked a long way north. when i turned in, the relief ships with the _arctic and wolf_ were in sight ahead of us. we passed a curious pillar of rock called the devil's thumb; it was a long way off. every one took off his hat to it as was the custom. steering amongst ice was sometimes very dangerous for the man at the wheel, because the ship going astern was liable to bump her rudder against the ice. this, of course, sent the wheel flying around. we had a man hurt in this way by receiving a blow from the wheel during the afternoon. _june th. sunday_. we had good leads all the morning and were never blocked for any length of time. by breakfast time we overtook the _arctic and wolf_ with relief ships. then we all hooked on to a heavy floe in an open pool of water. very shortly we were off again, but it looked dangerous, so we tied up. the _wolf_ was the first to be free. she entered a lead and it closed behind her, exactly as it had done with us at the duck islands. however, later in the day the pack drew off and we all steamed along the edge of the shore floe, the _thetis_ bringing up the rear. this was an exciting race, and no one turned in while the water remained open. the _wolf_ had the lead, the _arctic and aurora_ being together. occasionally some of us would diverge a little, but we were in line pretty well all the time. _june th. monday._ i turned in when i found the way blocked and all the ships tied up, as everything seemed frozen solid, except the pool in which we lay. seven bells awoke me to find things as they had been. captain fairweather shot a sabine gull after breakfast and i shot some looms, which were picked out of the water by jock the dog, who retrieved very well. i went on board the _wolf_ with the captain, and saw captain burnette. during the evening the arctic steamed off and we followed with the _wolf_, but the lead closed so we all were caught. the aurora. managed to push out into the loose ice in a little while, but the wolf remained and the arctic was fairly in the nips. the evening was fine and we saw land to the north and dozens of bergs to the east of us. there was a crack running into the floe for two hundred yards close to our ship. it was probably twenty-five yards wide at the entrance. a great many looms flew up this and returned when they found it a blind lead. the dingey was lowered and the captain and myself had a few hours' shooting and secured a great many. they were tied in bunches and hung upon the chains connecting the quarter davits. _june th. tuesday_. all were frozen up. i tried stalking a seal, as there were several in sight, but i could not get near any of them. the _arctic_ was still nipped, the _wolf_ was with us and the relief ships a little way east. during the evening we were all moving around, except the _arctic._ we were ahead and the _wolf_ next, the _bear_ bringing up the rear. later the _thetis_ fell back, for she could not keep up. cape york was in sight and all four of us were rather close together. with the _aurora_ leading, we kept this up all night, every one greatly excited. in the small hours we were all up to a barrier. among the arctic ice it would have been useless to roll the ship as we had done at newfoundland, the young ice on that coast being very different from the arctic floe met with in melville bay. _june th. wednesday._ the race for cape york and the north was far too exciting to permit of sleep, so for the following few days i never undressed, but kept going up and down all the time. if we stuck i lay down, and when the engine started i went up. at one a. m. we were with the _wolf_ and relief ships, pounding away at the floe which separated us from the open water at cape york. the _aurora_ was the first to break through, when we all gave a great cheer and shouted, "the north water!" i immediately went forward, and sitting on the jib-boom, realized that i was the nearest white man to greely, possibly the nearest to the pole. i sat there for a long time as we were steaming fast towards the land through open water. as we neared the shore the _bear_ passed us. she was a faster ship and she reached the shore floe some minutes before us. seeing a party land on the ice from the _bear_, we turned off southwest. as the _thetis and wolf_ were coming up, the captain went on board the former and bade the commander good-by, and good luck, then we crept off to the southwest with the _wolf_. the _bear_ having spoken the _thetis_, steamed west after us, the weather being rather thick. finding the ice heavy to the west, we tried a lead to the north, but were beset for some time. [illustration: ] the fog was so thick that nothing could be seen ahead. we saw nothing further of the _thetis_ as she remained at cape york to pick up the party landed by the _bear._ i turned in for a time during the night, as the ship was beset by heavy ice. we had now completed the passage of melville bay without accident and nearly every one on board felt that the greatest danger of the voyage was over, so we would work our way to the west and look for whales. in the race from st. john's to cape york we had been beaten by the _bear_ only, and that by just a few minutes. the _arctic, thetis and wolf_ were all close, but in the last lap the _aurora and bear_ were neck and neck almost to the winning post. chapter xii--cape york to carey islands "and now there came both mist and snow and it grew wondrous cold, and ice, mast-high, came floating by as green as emerald." |i noticed a rather curious phenomenon while coming up the greenland coast, but thinking that there was probably some simple explanation, made no note of it. one evening while in the passage at the foot of the stairs i heard a peculiar whistling. it was like the noise one sometimes hears when standing beside a telegraph pole. the steward was in the pantry and i drew his attention to it. the sound was very distinct in the pantry, and not noticeable in the saloon, which was on the same deck but a little further aft. the steward said he had heard it before and we concluded it was due to a vibration of the taut rigging conducted down the mizzenmast to this particular place. the engine was silent at the time, otherwise the noise of machinery would have drowned everything else. i listened to the peculiar whistle several times after and always heard it very distinctly in the pantry. the steward had sailed arctic waters for years, but he made no comment on this subject and never mentioned having heard it on other ships, nor did any; one else on board the _aurora_ speak of it at all; in fact, we were probably the only two who noticed it. years after i came across the following passage in "old whaling days," by captain barron: "from latitude n. to latitude n. on the east side and in melville bay, not far from the land, a strange phenomenon is heard resembling a very weird whistling in a high note and gradually dying away to a very low one. it is only heard when it is calm, and most distinctly when in a boat or in a ship's lazarette which is nearly level with the water. on deck it is seldom heard." the above interested me as it describes what i noticed. captain barron believes it to be connected with the aurora borealis, which he states can be heard but not seen when the sun shines on a summer's night in the arctic. _june th. thursday._ the engine starting up brought me on deck. the fog had lifted and the _arctic and wolf_ could be seen astern, while the _bear_ was to the north of us. some time after we were steaming through a nice lead into open water ahead. i was on the bridge, where the second mate was in charge, and the captain was in the crow's nest, which he seldom left. presently we noticed the lead very narrow, being little wider than the ship. a moment later we were among crunched up ice and within twenty or thirty yards of the open water and the ship was slowing up owing to her progress being impeded by the ice. the captain called down, "get over there, some of you men, and push that ice out of the way with poles." we were almost through, and it looked as though a few pieces pushed away would relieve the situation. specksioneer lyon and twenty others were immediately over, and began pushing. almost at once lyon called up, "it's coming together, sir," and sure enough we were caught between two points of great floes coming together and the _aurora_ was in the greatest danger of being lost within the next few minutes. the captain immediately came down and began giving orders. all boats were provisioned and lowered away. i rushed to my cabin and was rolling up my blankets, when he brought the log, which he asked me to put with my things. i took my bundles on deck with a rifle and gun, and by this time the ship was so squeezed that my door would not open or shut, and she had a heavy port list. as the _arctic and wolf_ were a short distance astern of us, there was no danger to life and i thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of being shipwrecked so comfortably. with a bump the ship righted herself greatly and presently, after straining and groaning, she slipped up considerably. her water line was now above the crunching ice and she was for the time being tolerably safe. this all happened in a very short time and it was a wonderful escape. i went on to the ice forward with the mate and engineer; and while there the ship slipped up higher still, so that she was almost out of the water. [illustration: ] the surgeon of the _arctic_ paid us a visit at this time and took the two photographs here reproduced after some retouching. the first one shows the ship in the nips; in it i happened to be in the foreground. in the second she has slipped up and is almost out of the water. the mate, engineer and myself were on the ice in front at the time. sailors were a little superstitious, and did not like their ship being photographed while in distress, so these pictures were very hurriedly taken. for some hours the _aurora_ rested in this position and we knew that eventually the ice would open and let her into the water. our principal anxiety was about the stem post and rudder; but these fortunately escaped injury. our propeller had only two blades, so when the ship was sailing or stuck in the ice the propeller was always stopped with the blades up and down. while in this position the whole thing could easily be unshipped, and we carried an extra one. as looms were flying about in numbers along the floe edge just in front of the ship i shot a big bag of them. they fell into the water, but drifted against the ice edge where i picked them up. the _arctic and wolf_ were pretty tightly caught astern of us, but they had not to abandon the ships as we had. during the afternoon the pack was tighter than ever and it made weird sounds at times. we had our meals on board and were all very happy at our wonderful escape, especially the captain, who was determined to take home a cargo of whales in his own ship instead of returning as passenger on one of the others. during the night a crack occurred under the bows. this opened by degrees, letting the ship down. we hoisted up our boats and the shipwreck was over. when whalers go into melville bay they generally arrange a quantity of provisions so that it can be easily reached in event of their suddenly having to leave the ship as we had done. _june th. friday._ after our escaping from the nips, we steamed in a northerly direction, with the _arctic and wolf_ a heavy fog came on. i was very tired, so went and lay down. as the engine room was aft, a person in any of the staterooms could easily hear the bell there being rung from the crow's nest. how long i had been lying down, i don't know, but something awoke me. i knew, from the sound of the engine, we were going fast ahead, but i heard the bell ring, "stop her," and then immediately full speed astern. knowing that something was wrong, i rushed on deck; it was very thick and i heard some one say, "o my god, we are lost!" and just then on the starboard side of the ship, i saw a great berg towering above us. we just missed it! all was well! we steamed dead slow for awhile and i realized that those who "went down to the sea in ships" could have a great deal of excitement in two days. about an hour after this a steam whistle blew right ahead. the fog instantly lifted a little and there was the arctic shooting across our bows. we both stopped, and the captain went over to her. when the captain came on board again the fog was gone and we were off conical rock. the ice was loose here and the two ships kept together until we passed cape dudley diggs. here we drifted farther apart, but were within sight of each other all the way to wolstenholm island. during the night we arrived at the island, but found that the _rear_ had been there ahead of us, so we directed our course towards carey islands, the ice being loose, but the weather pretty thick. june st. saturday. heavy fog and plenty of ice, so our speed was slow. sometimes it cleared a little and we could see for several miles ahead. there were numbers of birds about, principally guillemot and eider duck. they probably had headquarters at wolstenholm, and carey islands. natives repaired to wolstenholm at this season of the year and collected eggs; but carey islands were in the middle of the sound and, i fancy, left pretty well undisturbed. during the afternoon it became very thick, and for a time we stopped steaming, as we could not make out the leads and there was some heavy ice about. late in the evening it cleared a little and we ran in to carey island. the _arctic_ was ahead of us, and the _wolf_ in the distance. i wrote some letters in the evening as i thought there might be a chance of sending them on board the _bear_. our captain had decided to go from this place to the whaling ground, and leave the greely part of it to the expedition ships, as the owners would not thank him for risking the vessel in higher latitudes and possibly missing his chance for whales in lancaster sound. the _arctic_ had a boat on shore, but saw nothing of explorers or records. the _bear_ left the islands after midnight, but was not near us, so i had no chance of sending my letters. this was the last we saw of the relief ships. they picked greely up within twenty-four hours at cape sabine. we knew nothing of it until later, when we heard the news from some of the slower ships, which met the expedition returning with the rescued, and their story was as follows: june nd. after the _bear_ left carey islands, she joined the _thetis_ and they proceeded to cape sabine, where they arrived during the evening. from records found on brevoort island near cape sabine, they knew where the explorer was, and he was picked up by lieutenant colwell of the _bear_ almost at the place where he, colwell, landed after the loss of the _proteus_. of the twenty-five who left with greely a few years before, but seven were now alive, and the story they told of starvation and death was in tune with others we have all read of arctic exploration and was doubly impressive when told to us, situated as we were in the dreary regions where the tragedy had been enacted. greely had done his work well. his two years at fort conger had been well spent. lockwood had attained latitude ° ' in , beating all previous records. most valuable magnetic observations had been made and the interior of grinnell land had been explored. the orders to abandon fort conger were carried out in and then their troubles began. relief had not come, depots of provisions had not been established, and in a very dejected state they had arrived at cape sabine, where they established their final camp, the history of which supplies arctic literature with its blackest chapter. [illustration: ] on june nd schley arrived at cape sabine. no arctic expedition had ever done so well by this date, its first year. a week or two later there would probably not have been one survivor. this relief expedition had been perfectly successful in its gallant dash and had arrived not a minute too soon. chapter xiii--carey islands to lancaster sound "here winter holds his unrejoicing court; and through his airy hall the loud misrule of driving tempest is forever heard. here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath, here arms his winds and all-subduing frost. moulds his fierce hail and treasures up his snows with which he now oppresses half the globe." _june nd. sunday_. it was blowing very hard from the south, and there was much ice, so we had a difficult time picking our way. the weather was also bitterly cold. again birds were very numerous. we were making our way to princess charlotte's monument on the west side, and it was slow work. the _arctic_ was ahead of us and not moving on any faster. we felt the loss of the relief ships. they were always a cause of some excitement, and there was a chance of finding greely so long as we kept going north. now that that interest was removed, i consoled myself with the knowledge that we were nearing the magnetic pole, and would soon be steaming up lancaster sound, the highway to the northwest along which so many brave men had gone never to return. during the afternoon it became more squally, and when i turned in we were making little headway, but the wind was going down. _june rd. monday_. we were steaming in tolerably open water when i came on deck. the _arctic_ was ahead. birds were numerous--some geese with hundreds of eider and guillemot. after breakfast we saw land ahead, that is, to the west, and during the afternoon were within a mile or so of it,--princess charlotte's monument. there was much loose ice to the south and a straight floe edge to the north of us, and to this we hooked on two hundred yards to the east of the _arctic_. we did not care to go closer to the rocks lest the ice should come in on us. i saw dr. crawford take the _arctic's_ launch and go ashore to look for eggs. returning a couple of hours after, steam went down and the _arctic_ was obliged to unhook and go after them. it appeared that the boiler was too exposed and the cold so intense that they simply could not keep steam up. the launch had been keeping under the lee of the floe as much as possible, and when steam went down she began to drift away from this into rough water. for a few minutes things looked bad for her, as she was a wretched sea boat with her heavy boiler and engine. during the night we unhooked and worked our way towards the south. _june th. tuesday._ day fine, but blowing from the south. a lot of ice on the coast, and to the south and east all was white. we were now where whales might be seen and preparations were made. foregoers and lines were tested, harpoons examined, guns cleaned and fired to make sure they would work, lines coiled away in boats, and every one was on the lookout. we never heard of disco or cape york now. all was lancaster sound and pond's bay, with weird tales of cold days spent rock-nosing off cape kater and in cumberland gulf. all these preparations did not hurry matters in the least. the king of this country decided that we should remain for a day or two where we were, and so in the evening we were hooked on almost where the morning found us. june th. wednesday. about noon the wind died down and the currents, setting south, took the ice off the coast so that we were able to crawl along a little; but a few hours later we made fast to the land floe off cape horsburgh, as the pack was drifting in again. we saw many walrus here, but did not like to spend time at them, as we wanted to be the first ship up the sound. at tea time we moved along a little further and by bedtime we tied up again. some of our tanks were pumped out and cleaned, ready for the anticipated oil. there were a number of seals in sight, but they were left alone, as the time was precious. june th. thursday. as the ship was hard and fast i took a rifle and went after some seals which were to be seen a mile away. before going very far i found myself climbing over hummocks of old ice which had drifted down jones sound, and it was very difficult walking. on one side of a hummock the snow would be perfectly smooth and frozen hard, while on the other side it would be so soft that one at once went through the surface and had to clamber along in several feet of it. again, one would come to a perfectly rotten and honeycombed piece of ice underneath which there was a foot or two of water, and below the water could be seen the solid old floe; this made walking so difficult that i returned to the ship without getting a shot. [illustration: ] _june th and th_ were uneventful. we moved little, and cape horsburgh was in sight all the time, but on: _june th, sunday,_ we had a good lead along the shore floe and were steaming fast through it when i came on deck. a number of bears were seen about noon, but the wind was from the south and the ice was coming in, so we hurried along. as there were a number of them, they were probably attracted by some dead beast. barron tells of seeing once about one hundred bears around a dead whale. he also tells of men being devoured by these creatures. in the days of muzzle-loaders there was more risk than there is now, because if one came suddenly upon a bear with cubs and missed his shot, there might not be time to load again. late in the evening we were off: cape warrender and were steaming amongst loose ice at bedtime. several narwhals were seen during the afternoon, but we paid no attention to them. _june th. monday._ steaming up the sound towards a solid floe at breakfast time with many white whales in sight. we steered south along the ice edge, and seeing an eskimo standing on it, we sailed up to him. he was a very uncouth looking individual after the smartly dressed gentlemen on the greenland side. his clothes did not fit and he was otherwise careless about his appearance. he had in his hand a narwhal's tusk, and as we came close we heard him singing "bonny laddie--highland laddie." this he had probably learned from his parents, they having learned it from the whalers in sailing-ship days. in old times it was customary to lower the boats and tow the ship through the leads to the above tune. i was told this, so it may be true. the native came on board. he was much more like an american indian than a greenland eskimo. before he had been many minutes on board he was taken aft and relieved of his tusk by the second mate, getting in return some trifle: the gentleman belonged to navy board inlet, on the south side, and not far away. the captain had had a lot of paddles made for some of the boats. it was possible to approach whales with very little noise when the paddles were used, so we tried them frequently for narwhal hunting. as there were numbers of these creatures in sight, we had a couple of boats out after them. a sharp lookout was kept from the crow's nest for whales coming up the sound. we hooked on to the ice about two miles from the south shore, and put a boat out on either side of the ship and about a hundred yards away. these boats were hooked on by laying the long steering oar on the ice. our narwhal hunters had no luck, so they came on board. _july st. tuesday_. we were fast to the ice with a boat on each side all day. the captain had a long interview with the native on the subject of whales. he seemed to understand maps well, and was able to point out where he had seen fish; from what i could make out, a good number had been in the sound. i spent the afternoon in a boat with the captain trying to get a narwhal. we saw dozens and came pretty close to several lots, but did not get one good shot, although we fired several times. the harpoons we used for this work were much smaller than the regular whaling harpoon and were made of the same tough swedish iron. before turning in i spent an hour on deck and heard narwhals and white whales breathing about us all the time. everything looked propitious. _july nd. wednesday._ i had a dream during the night that we had succeeded in killing a narwhal and that our youngest harpooner, gyles, had killed it. dreams were often recounted at the breakfast table, so i told this, and, as luck would have it, before dinner gyles killed our first narwhal. my night visions were subsequently treated with great respect, except by the steward, who felt, no doubt, that i was infringing a little on his rights. a coldness sprang up between us such as only professional jealousy can create, and which evinced itself the following day when he did not ask me to help him to pick the raisins for the duff--thursday being duff day. the forenoon success gave quite an impetus to the narwhal fishing, but no more were captured, as the elusive beasts always went down just as we were almost within shot. the narwhal (monodon monoceros) is to me the most beautiful of the whale species. the one captured by us was twelve feet long without the tusk. this measured four feet in length and about four inches around the base. it ended in a rather sharp point and had a spiral groove running from right to left. the horn, or rather tooth, protrudes from the upper jaw of the male, generally on the left side. it only protrudes from the female head as a freak. on the right side a small undeveloped horn is found embedded in the skull of the male, but two undeveloped teeth are found in the female. the narwhal is the only vertebrate animal in which bilateral symmetry is not the rule. the body is whitish, marbled with blackish brown, and about four of them yield a ton of oil. with an axe i easily split the cancellous skull and removed the embedded tusk. we saw hundreds of white whales this day (delphinapterus leucas). these are cousins of the narwhals, but generally a little larger. the _aurora_ had great luck the previous year up prince regent's inlet in getting a good catch of them. this was managed by driving them ashore. they were skinned and the skin made into leather. each side counted as one skin. they go in schools like porpoises, but generally only three or four abreast, therefore, it takes a large school a considerable time to go past. they are peculiar in having no dorsal fin, and their yellowish white colour makes them rather conspicuous. _july rd. thursday._ 'before breakfast a bear was seen in the water and shot by mclean from a boat. bears are always lucky and we knew that something better would soon come. while at breakfast a female narwhal was killed. it must have been fourteen feet long. i removed the two little embedded horns. narwhals were very difficult to capture with the appliances in use at this time, the harpoon gun being only effective at ten or fifteen yards. as the beast generally went down when one was about twenty yards away, a long shot had to be taken with a very clumsy gun. very little of the narwhal showed above water, just the top of its head and back. of course there was a good sized animal immediately under the water, so that a harpoon might miss the back and still lodge in the whale. it was very cold and we had several snow showers. the bear was skinned and the skin salted and put in a barrel, no attempt being made to dry or otherwise cure any of the bear skins taken during the voyage. they were kept green. _july th. friday_. during the night there was a fall of snow and a breeze from the east had driven some loose ice up the sound, and pieces were constantly breaking off the floe. these drifted down the sound with the current; but when there was wind from the east much of this broken ice would drift up and surround us. we were dodging about under canvas in the morning, and the wind, which was bitterly cold, was going down. during the forenoon we sailed up to the floe edge and hooked on about eight miles from the south side, putting two boats on the bran, that is, one on each side of the ship. the loose ice had drifted away, and as the afternoon was very fine the captain decided to try the unies, as the narwhals were called, and i went with him. one does not generally see very many unies together, but they were in fours and fives all over the place this afternoon and very shy. just as the boat would get within twenty-five yards or so, off they would go. the captain made a long shot at one and got fast. for a few minutes the line ran out rapidly, but the shot had been a long one and the harpoon drew, so we came on board disappointed. paddles were used instead of oars, as they made less noise. on the fishing ground we avoided noise as much as possible and for this reason the ship seldom steamed, but kept her fires banked and moved about under canvas. chapter xiv--our first whale "hoist out the boat at once and slacken sail." _july th. saturday_. a beautiful day. after breakfast i was in a bran boat on the starboard side of the ship and one hundred and fifty yards away, when i heard a commotion on board, and in less time than it takes to tell, all our boats, except the upper quarter ones, were in the water and hurrying off: towards us. our steering oar was holding the boat to the ice, so it did not take long to get away, and we pulled hard for several minutes before the boat-steerer whispered: "avast pulling." at this time the boats were scattered along the ice edge a hundred yards apart. a whale had been seen coming up the sound. we knew that it would continue up under the ice, and failing to find a hole through which it could breathe, it would turn and come to the surface near the edge of the ice and close to some of the boats, and that unless we had very bad luck, it was doomed. in a few minutes we saw it a quarter of a mile down the sound; it looked like two black islands, one the head and the other the back. it lay there for several minutes and we could distinctly hear it breathe. we saw the spout, then it sank slowly and disappeared. the excitement was now' intense. the next time it would be beside a boat--which boat? would it come up under us or beside us? perfect silence was observed and the suspense of waiting for the first whale, i shall never forget. probably ten minutes passed, when up came the fish almost beside the boat in which george matheson was har-pooner. as he was already standing by his gun, no order was given, and one sweep of the boat-steerer's oar gave him his shot. the gun went off, the foregoer sprang into the air and every man shouted: "a fall! a fall!" the whale hesitated a few seconds before going down, and matheson put in a hand-harpoon also. he was not ten feet from the whale when he fired, and almost touching when he put in the hand-harpoon. the fast boat now hoisted its jack and the fish went down and started towards the south side of the sound, past the ship's stern. we pulled in this direction for all we were worth, the boat nearest the fast boat standing by it so as to supply more lines if necessary. when we had pulled hard for ten minutes, we slowed down, the boats keeping some distance apart, and shortly after, fifty yards from us, the whale came up. immediately a second boat, the mate's, got fast, the huge creature going down at once, and away we went again. when our quarry next appeared, about fifteen or twenty minutes later, the nearest boat immediately began lancing, and presently we were at it. unfortunately we all had our backs to the scene of action, except the boat-steerer and harpooner. the heavy blast, every time it breathed, sounded uncomfortably close. in a few minutes the boat-steerer called, "back, all!" and we immediately backed water, the whale hitting the water once or twice with his tail and going down; again we were off, but not so far this time. when he next appeared he rolled about a good deal and we were afraid to go close, so the second mate fired a welsh's rocket under one of his flukes and then we all backed off. the rocket was fired from a harpoon gun. it had a charge of powder in its trocar-shaped head, and a fuse running down the shaft. when this exploded the whale plunged fearfully and lashed the water with his huge horizontal tail. after this he was quiet and the water shot from his blow-hole was blood-stained. we now closed in again, and lances were plunged into his neck and churned up and down. breathing became labored, and after a final flurry, his spirit passed and his blubber and bone were ours. what a cheer we gave! what a feeling of exultation! how near i felt to happy, unconventional, primitive man at that moment! as the whale was lying on its back with the flukes hanging out, a round hole was cut in each of these, through which a piece of rope was run and the flukes reverently folded across his breast; with a knife all lines attached to harpoons were cut free so that the fast boats might haul them in. the tail was fastened to the bow of a boat, and, getting in line, we all proceeded to tow the fish back to the ship, which, by the way, made no effort to help us, as the weather was fine and there was nothing in sight. arriving alongside, the tail was fastened forward and the head aft along the port side. we went on board, and after dinner, as i sat smoking with the captain on the cabin skylight, i could not help feeling that the life of a whaler was the only one for me. [illustration: ] at . p. m., all hands were called to flense the whale alongside. by means of tackle made fast to the lower jaw, called the nose tackle, the mouth could be opened and the tongue and the bone removed. the right whale (balaena mysticetus), of which this was a specimen, supplies practically all the whalebone. it grows from the sides of the upper jaw, three hundred blades hanging down on each side. they are ten and twelve inches wide where inserted into the gum, and narrow as they descend. the inner edge is frayed and the outer unbroken. these frayed inner edges form a sort of sieve through which the water passes when the whale shuts its mouth, but through which the whale food cannot pass. the bone from each side is brought on board generally in one piece, sufficient gum being taken with it to hold the lamellae together. this is divided with a wedge into smaller pieces of about a dozen lamellae each, and subsequently each lamella is slit off with the wedge and freed from gum and oil. the longest blades are those in the centre on each side and they vary in length according to the size of the animal--twelve feet being large. the size of a whale is estimated by the length of the longest blade, "a twelve-foot fish" being one in which this measures twelve feet. the bone is about a quarter of an inch thick and tears easily into long pieces. it is an albuminous substance, containing calcium phosphate, and can be moulded when heated by steam, retaining its shape if cooled under pressure. [illustration: ] the busy part of a whaler during flensing is the deck between the main mast and foremast. between these masts is the blubber guy, a stout wire rope to which blocks are strapped, and through these are rove the tackles which haul the long strips of blubber on board as they are pulled off the whale. the specksioneer and all the harpooners except the mate get on to the whale or into the mollie boats in attendance; they have spikes on their boots to keep them from slipping; and they remove the blubber and bone with their knives and spades. the mate of a ship is a busy man, but the mate of our whaler flensing was, i think, the busiest person i ever saw. acting under the captain's directions and from his own initiative, he was everywhere, giving orders and seeing them carried out. in removing the blubber the first thing done is to start cutting a ribbon of it around the neck, called the kant. this piece, probably two feet wide, when pulled upon, turns the carcass, and from it, running towards the tail, the long strips are cut and hauled on board. first the piece around the neck is well started. then with spades a strip is started. as this is hauled on by the capstan the men with spades cut along each side and it is simply peeled off. when the piece raised up is several hundred pounds, it is cut off, hoisted on board, and the tackle refastened. when the exposed part has been flensed, the neck piece or kant is again pulled on by the windlass, which turns the whale over a little, and so on. when all the blubber has been removed, the head tackle is cut out and the carcass, or kreng as it is called, sinks as soon as the tail is cut off. the tail is taken on board and used afterwards for chopping blubber on. the blubber as it comes on board is cut into smaller pieces by the boat-steerers and thrown into the 'tween-decks by the line managers, from which it is taken a day or two later, cut small and put into tanks. flensing a fish is a very cheerful occupation and the ship is certainly oily, but there is no unpleasant smell. as soon as a whale is killed, the fulmar petrels (p. glacialis) come in swarms, and they gorge themselves with fat until they cannot sit up; then they become dreadfully ill and begin all over again. there was always a current where we flensed and this current would carry away a stream of overgorged birds, too full to do anything but drift. i sat in a boat one day and amused myself catching the birds as they paddled past until i had numbers in the boat. i found it better, however, to leave them in the water, or to let them stagger about among the men's feet at work. this was a ten-foot fish and would probably yield thirteen tons of oil. the following is a copy of the scale used long ago by whalers:-- [illustration: ] of course there are exceptions to this old rule. the afternoon clouded up while we were so busy, and by the time we had finished, it was blowing. when i turned in there was some snow and it was much colder. [illustration: ] _july th. sunday._ i found the ship with the main yard aback, dodging about in a rather choppy sea. the sky was cloudy and it looked like winter. three ships were in sight down the sound, all under canvas. we were quite close to the south side, as the captain believed that fish would come up that way, and it proved that he was correct. after breakfast a whale was seen blowing among some loose ice to the north of us. six boats put off in pursuit, while the ship followed. two of the boats kept straight to the ice while the other four, including jack mclean's, in which i was, kept around it. the sea was quite choppy and the air cold, but we warmed up with the rowing. the boats going straight to the ice were able to pass through and entered open water beyond before we got around to it. the fish came up and gave the second mate a long shot just as she was going down; but a harpoon easily enters a whale's bent back so he got fast and "a fall! a fall!" was joyfully shouted by us all. as we passed the fast boat we saw her jack flying proudly and her bow enveloped in smoke as mckechnie tightened the line around the bollard head. gyles was standing by, so with the other boats we pulled in the direction the fish had gone, and as we were getting close to more loose ice, those of us who were rowing and consequently looking astern saw the fast boat--which had been well down by the bow--right herself and we knew that the iron had drawn. we pulled away however in the hope of again getting fast, but this whale was only seen once more, a long way off, and after a hard row through loose ice we gave up. the ship had followed and she now picked us up. as the wind had gone down we sailed back towards the south side and made fast to the solid floe, getting our bran boats out before tea time. we picked up the fast boat on the way, she having her lines on board. the weather looked very settled at bedtime and the unusual exertion of the past two days made me sleep well. [illustration: ] _july th. monday_. summer had returned by morning and the making off had already begun when i came on deck. we were lying almost opposite the mouth of admiralty inlet and fast to a nice straight floe edge with not a bit of loose ice any place. there was more life on deck at the "making off" than there was at the flensing and every one was busy. the blubber had been cut into pieces two or three feet square and put down the main hatch. these big cubes of a faint orange color were taken on deck with the winch, and any pieces of adherent flesh being removed they were cut into blocks of a few pounds each. along each side of the deck stood uprights; on the top of each was a plate with spikes called a clash, and beside each stood a harpooner with a long sharp knife. a block of blubber was lifted by a man with clash hooks and stuck on the clash spikes, with the skin up. the harpooner cut the skin off and the piece was then thrown into a heap in front of the speck trough. the speck trough, which was about two and a half feet square, was placed across the deck over the hatch; forward of this stood the boat-steerers and in front of each was a block of whale's tail resting on the opened back lid of the trough. each man had a chopper, and as the pieces of blubber from the heap were thrown to them, they chopped them into little bits and swept them into the speck trough, from which they were conducted to the tanks through a canvas tube attached to an opening underneath. a man in the 'tween-decks directed this tube to the tank he desired to fill. the bone was stowed down the quarter hatch. it was always important to keep the ship clean and get the blubber away, as there was no regularity about the appearance of fish. a number might come at once, and several being killed, the crew could be blocked with work, while again there might not be another seen for a month. when the making off was over, the decks were scrubbed down. _july th. tuesday._ the _arctic, esquimaux and narwhal_ were all in sight to the north of us. during the forenoon we lowered away for a fish, six boats going after it. we saw the spout near the ice edge and were ready for its return, but it came not, probably finding a breathing place somewhere and after resting coming out north of us. we waited a long time and had a tiresome row back. the native picked up by us when we first came had been landed near the south shore, where he had his dogs. now we saw three coming along the floe and we picked them up, sledges, dogs and all. they belonged to navy board inlet. hardly were they on board when all hands were called and the boats were away, as spouting had been seen astern. i was in one of the four boats between the ship and the south coast, and we must have sat there half an hour before anything occurred; in fact, we thought the fish had gone elsewhere. the men were all pretty restless, when suddenly the water broke two boats from me and the report of a gun was followed by the cry--"a fall." i saw the whale throw its tail straight up as it went slowly down; then it started north and we pulled past the ship in that direction and scattered out to wait its reappearance. in the usual length of time the fish appeared in our midst and another iron was put in. away we went again in the best of spirits. of course, the fast boat in each case remained and moved only as towed by the whale. i was in watson's boat, and at the whale's next appearance we were almost on the top of it and he immediately lanced, but the game stood very little tickling of that sort and was soon off. again it came up beside us, and this time very breathless as it had such a short breathing spell before. three boats were at once busy with lances, and in a very short time we registered a kill. when the lines were cut, and the flukes and tail attended to, we returned to the ship, pulling to the shanty, "a-roving, a-roving, since roving has been my ruin," and having the whale in tow, we were very much elated by our afternoon's work, but there was a great surprise in store for us. arriving on board, the whale was made fast and i went down to have some coffee. when i came up i found that the crew of the first fast boat, having taken their line to the ice to facilitate pulling it in, had utterly failed to get it beyond a certain point. thinking it had fouled something at the bottom, they were ordered to come on board and take their line in with the steam winch. this was done, and when after great pulling the very tight line was almost in, behold, there was a dead whale at the end of it. one must be on board a whaler to appreciate a pleasant surprise like this. it is not so much the extra money, as the satisfaction of success. what had happened was this. the first harpoon fortunately struck deep in the shoulder of whale no. , which immediately sounded in shallow water and broke its neck. no. was not a fast fish at all when we first saw it. now, we had a fish on each side, and as soon as the crew had refreshed themselves with supper, the work of flensing started with a will. when things were well under way i turned in, very tired, and when i tumbled out four hours after, one fish was on board. the men were now ordered to turn in for four hours, except, of course, the lookout and a few nondescript people like myself and the engineer. i learned another thing about the ways of the arctic this morning; directly the crew had turned in, the clock in the companion was put forward an hour, and when two hours had passed it went on another hour, then all hands were called and our second whale taken on board. this fish was flensed in about three hours, the crew turning in, except a boat's crew on the bran and the lookout. the _esquimaux_ came steaming towards us during the night, which annoyed us greatly, as the fish were coming up the south side and we thought our berth rather good. she steamed past and hooked on five or six hundred yards south of us. the aurora immediately unhooked and passed her, while she repeated the performance mid a storm of abuse from both barrels. our captain was afraid to go closer to the shore, so we remained where we were. when we hooked on first, the natives had left us, going north to the other ships. we now saw a number of well loaded sledges coming up the south coast. it was evident that they would board the _esquimaux_ first, so we would lose the chance of bartering with them. consequently, we sent a boat off to pick them up and bring them on board. our opponents saw what we were doing, so sent a boat also. as it had a shorter distance to go than ours, it picked up the whole caravan and brought it back. our boat noticing a sledge far away with two people in it, waited for them and brought them to the aurora. it happened that these two old natives owned all the barter on the other sledges, and as we kept them on board, everything had to be turned over to the aurora by the other ship, greatly to their disgust. the captain obtained from them quite a lot of narwhals' tusks and bear skins. the incident amused us very much. _july th. wednesday._ two boats on the bran and the balance of the crew washing down the ship. i had my first ride on an eskimo sled. giving a native a plug of tobacco, he removed from his sled all the movable things and i got on. then addressing a few remarks to his dogs, off they started. as the ice was smooth i enjoyed it at first, but we came to a hummocky place where it was not so pleasant. i did my best to stop the dogs, but they followed their leader, and finally i tumbled off and returned to the ship, the dogs going on probably home. the runners of the sledge were made of whales' jaws with bone cross pieces lashed to them. when i went on board i found a boat just starting for a bear to the north of us. i don't think i ever saw one any distance from the water; this was along the floe edge and several miles away. between us there was a peninsula of ice on which there were some hummocks. i landed here to try a stalk and the boat rowed around. for a time i did very well, the bear wandering aimlessly and slowly about, but before i got within three hundred yards of him, he had seen me and was off to the water. i fired several times, but without effect. he plunged in and started to swim across from the peninsula to the main floe. the boat had by this time doubled the cape and bruin had a bullet in his head before he had gone very far. we hauled him on to the ice and skinned him. the men cut some steaks for themselves, but i never had the pleasure of trying polar bear, as the captain did not care for carnivorous animals as a food. a great many white whales were now around. i wished we could have driven a school of them up a fiord the way they drive the potheads up the shetland voes. when we returned we found that a narwhal had been killed, but we did not like to disturb the right whales by hunting these very much. as the ship was generally hooked on to the floe which extended across the sound, her bow was pointed up and her stern down, consequently astern nearly always meant down the sound, as the current setting in that direction held the ship in that position. chapter xv--floe edge fishing "look through the sleet and look through frost, look to the greenlands' caves and coast. by the iceberg is a sail chasing of the swarthy whale; mother doubtful, mother dread, tell us, has the good ship sped?" _july th. thursday._ we moved from our neighbor, the _esquimaux_, and dodged north under canvas, hooking on five or six miles away. the sound was frozen completely across this year, and during our stay, the ice never opened. probably we could have forced our way in had we been bent on exploration, but the ice floe edge fishing was very desirable and suited us exactly. all hands were employed making off when i came up and we had a busy day getting two whales into our tanks. although they were not very large, it took many hours and every one was tired when it was over. the sound being frozen over was a great disappointment to me as it prevented our going up barrow strait, or visiting beechy island, where sir john franklin spent his last winter. there i was, within a few miles of the place consecrated to the memory of those heroes and doomed to return home without seeing it. up this waterway, sir james ross and mcclure had passed to make their great discoveries of the magnetic polar area and the northwest passage. there had been, at one time or another, nearly all the arctic explorers, of whom i had ever heard. as the clock in the companion had been moved about so much lately, and as there was not a watch, on the ship, going, our ideas of time were vague in the extreme. _july th. friday._ the weather was fine, and during the afternoon, positively warm. the boats spent the day on the bran, but there were no whales in sight. an interesting phenomenon was, however, in evidence, namely, refraction. byam martin's mountains looked wild and precipitous, and the coast line appeared as a continuous high cliff, quite unlike the land we had been beside for the past week. what i found most interesting was to watch the _narwhal_, which was lying not far off. at one moment her hull stretched up, making her look like an old line of battle ship, while her masts shrank down, then the hull would close down like a concertina and the masts would stretch up to the sky. pieces of ice and little hummocks became great white chimneys and big icy mountains. i saw a row of white masses far above the ice. they looked like puffs of smoke from a battery, the guns being pointed up. presently a white lump would appear on the ice underneath each puff and in a minute they would become connected and look like a row of top-heavy white pillars. the middle part would then become attenuated until it resembled a white thread and then the tops of the pillars would settle down and disappear. the changes were kaleidoscopic and one could watch them by the hour. when the sun was warm, we often had this phenomenon, owing to the different densities of the various atmospheric strata. _july th. saturday._ hearing "all hands" during the night, i tumbled out of bed, picked up my bundle of clothes, ran on deck and got into a lower quarter boat that was being lowered. probably within sixty seconds after being asleep i was pulling for dear life towards some loose ice north of us, beyond which a whale had been seen. when we reached the ice, we rested and put on some clothes. the fish was just as likely to come up where we were as at any other place, so we did not want to frighten him by disturbing the ice. after a wait of ten minutes, we saw and heard the blast of a fish to the northeast. it had turned and was going out again. we pulled through the ice with difficulty; it cannot be pushed about by a whale boat, but we kept on in the direction in which the whale was last seen. however it did not come up again where we could see it, and so we returned to the ship. it was very cold coming back and had begun to blow. the sky was much overcast during the afternoon, and as it was blowing hard, the boats were taken in before bedtime. _july th. sunday._ there was a regular little gale this day, so we kept in open water, with the main yard aback and the fires banked. we received news of the greely party from the _arctic_ as she had spoken some of the slower ships and heard it from them. during the afternoon quite a choppy sea was on and ice was coming in as the wind was blowing up the sound. we dodged out through this ice and then sailed north, sighting nearly all the other ships of the fleet. sundays were stormy days in this place, and to sit on a ship all day, listening to her strain, and to the wind howling through the shrouds, was not pleasant, especially when we were only killing time and accomplishing nothing. when i turned in, we were still under canvas. _july th, monday_, was a gloomy day. we were hooked to the ice, with a boat out on each side. the crew were busy filling the bunkers and then cleaning up, also overhauling some fishing gear. the blacksmith was employed straightening out harpoons. the iron of which they are made is soft and tough. it bends and twists every way but does not break. i amused myself polishing little tusks which i had taken out of the female narwhals' heads. we were very restless, knowing that the _arctic_ had more whales than we had. we heard from her that all the ships had fish a few days before. _tuesday._ two narwhals were killed, male and female. i was in a boat with the captain, but we did not get any. we used paddles instead of oars, as we could approach more quietly with them. _july th. wednesday_. we were still hanging on to the ice with a boat on the bran on each side. again we pursued narwhals and secured another fine male with a four-foot horn. there were such crowds of these beautiful creatures that i wished the captain would turn all hands after them, but he was afraid of disturbing any whales which might be around so we did not pursue them vigorously. some white whales passed us, but we were not far enough up the sound for white whaling. narwhals are playful creatures and very noisy. the first thing any whale does on coming up is to blow most of the air out of its lungs, and this in a very noisy manner. for its size, the narwhal makes more noise than the others. before going down, they generally take a deep, noisy inspiration. nearly all the time we were in lancaster sound, if calm, we could hear whales of some kind puffing and blowing around. i often saw narwhals raise their tusks out of the water, and when black whales were taking a final header, on starting for a long dive, they generally threw the tail up in the air in a graceful manner. we did not like to see one going tail up, as it meant that probably we had seen the last of that particular fish. _july th, thursday,_ was a fine day with mirage in the morning; the effects were wonderful. a small piece of ice, miles away, would look like a berg. about noon we made out that the _polynia_ had a fish and this was more than we could bear. we decided that there was a jonah on board and circumstances pointed strongly to one of the crew. a suit of his clothes was procured, with his cap, half a pound of powder was packed into it with a fuse attached and it was run up to the main yard arm. the captain went below and turned in, but rifles and ammunition were supplied and we had a lively practice at the effigy for a time; then the fuse was touched off and bang went jonah. this performance cleared the atmosphere forward completely, every one believing that the spell was broken and that we would now find fish. in the cabin, jack, the steward, greased the horseshoe and that made the after guard feel better, and to crown it all, a bear was killed during the evening, in the water near the ship. personally, i felt greatly encouraged by these ceremonies, and went to bed feeling that at any moment "a fall! a fall!" might be heard. if some misfortune happens to a whaler--such as having his harpoon gun passed to him through the rigging, instead of around it, or if his boat should start away from the ship stern first and not be brought back, hooked on, hauled up and lowered again--then he would go after a whale certain that he would miss it, whereas, should he dream the night before that he had got fast to a fish, then he would approach it with the utmost confidence. _july th. friday_. i had an undisturbed night and awoke to find it blowing and the ship under sail. going on deck, i found the topsails aback and much loose ice about. after breakfast, all hands were away after a whale seen among the loose ice. this was a hopeless kind of rowing, so we scattered about, following different leads. we saw the fish blowing in several different places, but could not get near it, so came on board. during the afternoon, the wind went down and the loose ice drifted out again, so we hooked on to the solid floe about three miles from the south side and a boat was put on each side, as usual. numbers of narwhals around during the afternoon, induced a boat to follow them, and a big female was secured with a calf. the undeveloped tusks of the latter were hollow like cigarette holders. _july th. saturday_. i had not been asleep long when i heard "all hands!" and, rushing up, went off in my usual boat, the lower quarter boat on the starboard side. i heard that a fish had been seen spouting down the sound. in a few minutes, we all saw it off the south shore, a mile from the ship. we gave way with a will and soon had the boats in open order along the floe, where we thought it had passed under. our patience was rewarded when it came up between the mate and watson. mr. adam, being the nearer, swept down on its quarter and, as it made a back to sound, he gave it both gun and hand in the shoulder. this was a big fish and a fine chase began. i had seen the mate strike and i knew the irons would not draw. straight down the sound we went, the wounded animal taking out much line. sometimes a fish goes deep and does not travel very far, but this one was a traveller. we pulled for about twenty minutes or more and then halted, the whale coming up ahead of us and going down again at once. the mate's boat had signalled for more lines by putting a piggin on a boat-hook, and another boat had stood by and bent on. before long, the wounded one came up and another iron was put in; it was well puffed after its run and stayed up long enough to get some lances stuck in. a lance, cutting any large vessel in the neck or thorax, would cause it to bleed to death very quickly, but none of these lances touched vital parts, for the whale went down in a very lively way with four or five sticking in it, and it must have stayed down fifteen minutes, travelling fast all the time. when it reappeared, we were on to it at once, and it soon began to blow blood and give other evidences of approaching dissolution. its plunges were dangerous and the reports caused by striking the water with its tail, were very loud. we always backed well off during one of these demonstrations, but were on to it at once when they ceased. there was much more danger from the flukes than the tail, as we were touching its sides with the boats. after one or two terrific blasts of blood and water, and a great flurry, it turned up its toes, and after the usual formalities, the long tow to the ship began. shanties were sung with vigor and we pulled with a will. as i had not had anything to eat since ten p. m., the day before, and as we had been working hard all night, i was ready for breakfast when we reached the ship. the fast boats had come on board, taking their lines in with the winch. after breakfast all hands were called and it took many hours to flense this big fish, the bone of which was / feet. i examined the flukes after the blubber had been removed from them; they were like huge hands with nicely proportioned fingers. i entered in the log the death of the fish, and a little picture of its tail. this is the custom. in the log there was a paper model, which was held on the page with the finger and traced around the edge with a pencil. then it was shaded, according to the ability of the artist, and the name of the harpooner was written above. on each side was stated whether killed by gun or hand, or both, and below was written the length of the bone. should the harpoon draw, and the whale be lost, half a tail was sketched. [illustration: ] during the flensing, one of our firemen, bob graham, appeared at the engine room door with six pieces of rope yarn tied together, and to the free end of each he had fastened a piece of blubber, just big enough to pass comfortably through the throat of a mollie (as fulmars are called), either way. graham was an ingenious fellow and remarkable for his fertility of resource; he was always amusing himself by devising little surprises to make life pleasant for others. he threw this affair into the sea and the six pieces of fat were instantly swallowed by the same number of mollies. all went well until it became evident that the birds were not of the same opinion as to the direction of their next move. this performance seemed to me cruel at first, but after watching it for a little while, i decided that the exercise was good for the fulmars and did not hurt them. of course, there were little disappointments connected with it, but then creatures, higher in the social scale, have their disappointments also. it is just possible that the bird which played the game out and eventually swallowed all six pieces and the string, may have had regrets, but from what i have seen of this particular species, i don't think it suffered much. when the flensing was over, every one was tired, and the men were ordered to turn in, excepting the lookout, all having been busy during the day. as whaling was a very irregular sort of life, it was the custom to sleep while one could, and as i had done a lot of rowing during the previous twenty-four hours, i sought my cabin. our specksioneer, george lyon, was an old man, but he was absolutely indefatigable, and when this order was given, he decided to go on the bran instead of to bed. accordingly, he raised a crew of volunteers, but being short one man, he thought of me. there was one way of always bringing me on deck and that was to go to the companionway and shout down the word "bear." this george did and i at once appeared, rifle in hand. seeing the boat being lowered, i tumbled in, and in a minute we were away; i then asked where the bear was and the specksioneer said that we might see one; so i knew his trick. we went some distance south of the ship and, hacking the boat up to the ice, laid the steering oar on it, which held us there, then we talked and smoked. about midnight all was quiet, except for the heavy breathing of the narwhals and white whales in the sea, and of those who slept in the boat; it was easy enough to sleep, sitting at an oar. i was awake, the boat-steerer was standing on the ice, and the man in the ship's barrel was scanning the sound for fish, when suddenly, without the slightest warning, there was a great commotion in the water, at the side of our boat, and up came a whale with a fearful blast. this first blast of a whale, which has been holding its breath for a long time, sounds very loud, when one is within ten feet of it. it reminds one of a train coming suddenly out of a tunnel. the boat-steerer instantly pushed the boat well off, getting in at the same time he then said "give way," which we did. the whale was moving very slowly, and one sweep of the boat-steerer's oar brought us around to it, then i heard the orders, "stand by your gun!" and "avast pulling!" i would have given anything for one look; but the lives of all the crew depended upon each man doing as he was told, so i sat perfectly still and leaned well away from the line running up the middle of the boat. presently there was a bang, and the line began running out, while every one called "a fall." i was now in a boat, fast to a fresh whale, which was an experience the average amateur rarely had. as the harpooner took a turn of the line around the bollard head in the bows, and paid the line out through his hands, the bow of the boat was dragged very low and the stern tilted very high, but the speed we travelled at was not so great as i had expected. the whale came up between the boat and the ship, and we were being towed down the sound. all the boats were away from the ship in a minute. we called out the number of lines out, and they had no difficulty in finding about where the whale was, and being ready for it when it came up. a second iron was put in when it appeared and off it went again. the water being absolutely free from ice, the chase was an easy one, as a boat could generally go faster than a whale. all i had to do was to sit quiet and keep well away from the line. as there was no ice to endanger the boat, the line was put several times around the bollard head and kept very tight, so we were towed much faster than if it had been loose. after the whale was killed and all the lines cut free, we were called on board to have or lines hauled in, after which the ship unhooked and steamed off to pick up her boats. the sky was very much overcast when we brought the whale alongside, and the tired crew, after getting some food, had to flense at once, as a change of weather might have been serious. the _aurora_ now looked as a successful whaler should--a big whale in the 'tween-decks and another alongside tons and tons of blubber lying about everywhere, and the passage between the engine room and skylight, and the bulwarks, piled with bone. before the flensing was over, it had commenced to blow and it was quite rough by the time we had finished. then we unhooked and ran down the sound a little way, while the crew turned in for a watch. as our main yard was aback, it required very few men to handle the ship. all night we were dodging about. _july st. monday_. for some time, the clock had not been watched. had it been, it would have conveyed little information, because, when it suited, it was put backward or forward. when a man going to bed saw by the clock that it was midnight, and when he arose and saw by the same clock that it was six, he probably felt refreshed. in the end, of course, it would tell on him if the full amount of rest registered had not been obtained; but for a time it worked very well. it certainly took a long time to make off our two whales, and it gave us a substantial feeling to be able to say, "five fish on board." when the decks were cleared up, the crew were ordered below, excepting the lookout, but shortly after, it came on to blow hard and the sky was much overcast. later, some rain fell, so we unhooked and lay off the ice edge with the main yard aback. chapter xvi--whaling in lancaster sound "white, quiet sails from the grim icy coasts, that bear the battles of the whaling hosts, whose homeward crews, with feet and flutes in tune, and spirits roughly blithe, make music to the moon." _july nd. tuesday._ during the night the rain changed into snow and in the morning it was blowing a gale. in fact, it was a wild, winter's day. we were amongst loose ice, with our main yard aback and there was no open water to be seen anywhere. during the day the snow ceased but the wind kept up until late in the afternoon, when we found ourselves in a triangular pool of water, the sides of the triangle being about half a mile long and the base, three or four hundred yards. the ship was anchored to one side and she lay parallel with the base and twenty or thirty yards away from it. this hole appeared to have been formed by large floes. it was quite free from ice and afforded us an ideal harbor. _july rd. wednesday_. all hands turned out shortly after four in the morning as a whale was seen at the apex of this triangle. one boat had been left fast to the ship's stern. this went in pursuit and the others lowered away, the one i was in being ordered to remain fast to a line from the ship's stem. long before the boats reached the whale, it sounded and did not appear again, so they came on board, all but the one i was in. our bows were towards the ship's stern and the boat's side was twenty yards from the ice edge. we had been there about an hour when, with a great commotion, a tremendous whale came up between the ship and the ice edge. its head was alongside our boat before we realized what had happened; and by the time we had slipped the line the leviathan had passed us, as it was going fast. we could almost have touched him with the oars, but by the time we turned the boat and were under way, down went the fish to look for another breathing place elsewhere and we returned to our berths. had the bow of the boat been the other way, we could have fastened the whale easily. at eight bells, we came on board for breakfast. just as i entered the cabin, i heard the rushing on deck and, going up, found two boats off after a whale. it had simply come up to breathe and, having breathed, it went down again and disappeared from our harbor. one boat remained at the apex of the triangle and the other returned; and, on the way, a fish came up a hundred yards in front of it. they pulled hard and took a long shot as it humped its back going down. they got fast and the whale went off! under the ice. from the barrel, a small water hole could be seen half a mile away, and to this several ran, carrying a rocket gun which could be fired from the shoulder. before they had gone very far, however, the harpoon drew and, as there was no use firing rockets into a free fish, they came on board again. it was now blowing pretty hard and very cold, but we still kept a boat at the apex of the triangle and one beside the ship. now occurred a very exciting race. a whale came up half way along one side of the hole, and was travelling slowly towards the base. the boat at the apex followed, the one by the ship did not move, and every man on board was watching what would happen. reaching the base, the whale halted to take a few long breaths before going down, the boat rapidly neared, the whale humped its back and the boat had to fire. from where we were, we saw the harpoon fly up into the air with the foregoer wriggling after it, then it fell, missing the whale as completely as if it had not been fired at it. i was sorry for that harpooner. he was a big man from aberdeen, with a yellow beard, and he was a nervous wreck when he came on board. this fearfully bad luck was maddening, and we were all on edge; for, though the place was swarming with whales, we never got one. had we got fast to half a dozen, we would have lost them all through lines being cut by the ice, or fouling. by the evening, the wind had gone down and the ice was slacker, the whole east side of our pool moving away. _july th, thursday_, was a beautiful day after the storm and we had open water astern once more. we unhooked after breakfast and steamed slowly towards the south side again, and while steaming, we sighted a whale down the sound. the ship was anchored to the ice and the boats distributed in the usual way. this whale did not come up after being first seen until it was at the ice edge, when one of our boats got fast. it then went under the floe--a most unusual proceeding when it had lots of open water. we were along the ice edge, nearly a mile from the fast boat, and wondering what would happen next, when, in a very small hole, yards from my boat, up came the head of the whale. the hole was not many times larger than the head. the under surface of the lower jaw was towards us. it had a very white appearance. the head turned around very slowly presenting a wonderful sight. gyles, the harpooner, in whose boat i was, seized a rocket gun and, running to the hole, fired, and the head went down as slowly as it came up. presently the fish appeared in the open water and was immediately harpooned again. its experience under the ice, or gyle's rocket, had affected it so that it did not remain down but soon came up again and submitted patiently to the lancing operation which ended its life. this removed the gloom caused by the awful luck of the previous day. we had now more than three tons of bone, and that alone would be a fair voyage. the flensing began just as soon as the crew had food and was not finished until bedtime. _july th. friday._ every one was cheerful. some of the hands were cleaning bone, two boats were on the bran, and one after narwhals, as there were many of them about. i painted the figurehead, as the _aurora_ was looking a little dissipated with her out-stretched arm unhooked. this was only in commission when in port; consequently, it looked younger than her seagoing arm, which was a fixture across her breast and which had stood the brunt of many gales. _july th. saturday._ all hands were "making off" the fish. they were at it early and had finished by noon, and then there was a general clean up for sunday, but strict watch was kept. there were only white whales and some narwhals around. the tusks we took from those we killed and those we had bartered for, always lay on the after grating, which covered the well down which the auxiliary propeller went; there was never enough motion to roll them off. july th. the usual sunday gale was blowing and we were dodging about under canvas all day. i was out on a yard during a snow squall and found it very exciting. this was my first attempt at taking in sails when there was much wind. we spoke the _narwhal_; she had seven whales and reported the _arctic_ as having eight and all the rest well fished. towards evening we sailed to our favorite fishing ground on the south side. july th. monday. all hands were away after a whale at six a. m. we had a long pull, and lost her for a time amongst the loose ice. rounding tins, however, we reached her again and the mate got fast, mclean putting in a second. we passed both boats and were in at the kill. when we had backed off once for a flurry, i looked around and saw watson lancing. i thought the flukes would have smashed his boat, he took such awful chances. this whale rolled about a great deal, and bristled with lances which she had torn from the men's hands by rolling. she was also dreadfully tangled up with lines which had caught on the lances. there is sometimes danger from being caught under these lines and cut in two. when a dead whale is lying on its back, the abdomen lies very low in the water, and, when freshly killed, sinks with a man when he walks along it. as we were a long way from the ship, she came after us and we soon had the whale alongside. the capstan was used for taking on board the big blanket pieces. at the order, "heave away capstan," a shanty was struck up by the men marching around. [illustration: ] they sang so loud that we could often hear their weird songs coming over the water from other ships similarly engaged. our friends, the fulmar petrels, were always with us upon occasions of this kind, and all that were in the sound, i think, spent the day with us. the outer skin of the whale is about as thick as stiff paper, and black. it peels off readily, and the men cut book markers out of it. under this comes a layer, nearly an inch thick, of rather gelatinous stuff, which the eskimos eat raw, then the blubber between this and the superficial fascia, by which the body heat is preserved. it took us practically all the rest of the day to flense. _july th. tuesday_. we had a visit from two natives; they were prosperous looking people with a good sled and dogs. i admired the protection from the sun which they wore. it was a piece of wood with a slit cut in it. this was very efficacious, but unbecoming. we learned from these people that many whales had been seen by them this year. they had some bear skins with them for trade, and some walrus ivory. this was much inferior to the narwhal ivory, which was very fine and was worth, at this time, i think, one pound ten per pound, that of the walrus being only worth half a crown. i had a long walk with a gun but did not see anything. _july th. wednesday_. all hands "making off." i tried to skin a fulmar, but could not do it, it was so fat. i wanted a skin badly, but this was too much for me. all the birds we killed were fat, a provision of nature against cold. the men said, however, that they could not wear oil soaked clothes in cold weather. i was in the "crow's nest" a good while. it was most difficult to see anything at a distance owing to the mirage. during the afternoon i tried to shoot some narwhal near us. i shot at their heads with a rifle from the boat, and although they had sometimes been killed with the rifle, so little of the head showed when the beast was lying on the surface, that i fancy they must have been shot from the ship, which stood high. _july st_. immediately after breakfast, four boats were away after a whale. i remained on board and watched from the barrel. it was a long pull and the whale got away amongst loose ice without giving the boats a chance. we captured a female narwhal in the afternoon. _august st. friday_. lovely day but very cold. in the morning i was sitting on the after grating, scraping a bear's skull, when a hundred yards or so astern of us arose a whale with the usual blast. the water was like a mirror and the fish lay there for several minutes and breathed heavily. no one spoke or moved. there in front of us was a fine whale, its jet black head and back showing up well and reflected on the absolutely glassy surface of the sea. when it slowly sank with its head towards us, we knew it would go under the ice, but we would not lower away until we were sure it was under. i was leaning over the after rail, peering into the water, when i saw the whale coming slowly under where i was standing. i first noticed a large, gray bow coming towards me; it was the under jaw, and as it passed beneath the vessel i could see distinctly the large round, dark spots on the huge lower lip. it passed a very short distance under our keel. there was no movement of either flukes or tail. i watched the great horizontal tail in the hope of seeing some movement. only the man in the "crow's nest" and i alone saw the fish passing under the ship, and as soon as we were sure that it was safe, the boats went away as noiselessly as possible and we waited for the result with bated breath. it came up almost beside the ship and jimmy watson put in both gun and hand harpoons, then came the joyful shout "a fall," and we started down the sound. as the fish was well fastened, it was safe to snub the line around the bollard head of the boat; there was no fear of the irons drawing and it made a heavy drag on the whale. the line, in running out, passes through the hands of the har-pooner before going around the bollard head. of course, he wears several pairs of mittens, but these are generally torn to pieces. our friend shortly came to the surface rather exhausted, as the line had been well snubbed, but thor put another iron into him. this smarted and one could have heard his tail strike the water miles away. he lashed it with such force that no boat could go close; and before a rocket could be fired into him, he was off. this time the drag was very heavy, for he had two boats. it did seem absurd that this huge monster, more than sixty feet long and forty around the waist, could be conquered by having those little bits of harpoons stuck in with their little threads of lines attached, but whales of this species are clumsy and stupid and turn very slowly, and it is this inability to turn fast that proves their undoing. upon appearing the next time, a rocket was instantly fired into a vital place and the final flurry came at once and made lancing unnecessary. the row back was a pleasure, and our joyful shanties could be heard for a long distance. we were alongside by midday, and after dinner, flensing commenced. i amused myself again with the fulmars. getting a boat, i laid my left elbow over the side so that i could look between it and the gunwale. every time a fulmar came under, i darted my right hand over, catching him by the neck and taking him on board. when i had a great flock of them, i put them on the poop, around which there was a base board about four inches high, and above this the iron railing. the birds had eaten so much blubber that they could not get over the base board. one had to be careful of bites, as they had the curved, pointed bills peculiar to the albatross, shearwater and other birds of this tribe. it is curious that the great albatross and diminutive storm petrel, the wren of the sea, should belong to the same species. in a very short time, i saw the advisability of throwing my flock of pets overboard. we did not go below for supper until the fish was flensed. _august nd, saturday,_ was cold and cloudy, but no wind. we were hooked on with two boats on the bran; all hands making off during the afternoon. _august th. monday_. three of the four boats were after a whale among some loose ice to the north of us. one boat got fast and all immediately lowered away. when we reached the ice, navigation became difficult and the fish came up where we could not touch it. several boats came out of the ice and tried to row around. ours was one of these; then we found that the harpoon had drawn and the whale had vanished. we pursued some distance down the sound and had nothing for our trouble but exercise. _august th. tuesday_. much loose ice in the sound, caused by wind during the night. narwhal were abundant, and two boats went after them with no result. later the ship unhooked and steamed east looking for open water. i spent a long time in the "crow's nest," and, as there was no mirage, got a beautiful view of the south coast--very wintry at bed time. _august th. wednesday_. the rushing of feet overhead brought me to the deck on a gloomy cold morning, and before i had time to add anything to the clothes in which i slept, we were a mile from the ship. a whale had been seen some distance to the north and four boats pursuing it. we paused and put on some more clothes to keep out the keen arctic air, and then we went off again, as the whale had come up. long before the leading boat got near, it had disappeared, but we were not discouraged, so kept on, and this hard work continued until we were far from the ship and getting amongst pans of loose ice. the whale we were following was a fast traveller and we were ultimately obliged to give up the chase and return. the row back was long and wearisome, and when i reached the ship i had my long delayed breakfast and retired, but the moment i turned in to my berth, the rush above told of more whales in sight, so i went on deck. a fish had been seen blowing a long way down the sound and six boats were away, but bed appealed to me more than another long pull, so i returned to it and remained there until the following morning. our boats did not get a shot but had a long chase and did not return until very late. the day was cold and the density of the atmosphere uniform, so i was able to see all the other ships distinctly with the glass. some swell had broken up the edge of our floe and some pieces had been driven up the sound, so it looked more icy than any day since the time when all the whales came. during the afternoon we hooked on to a large floe. the _polynia and esquimaux_ were near us, but to the south; the _arctic_ was some distance down the sound. swarms of white whales were about us in the open places. _august th. thursday_. the loose ice was gone. we had unhooked during the night and steamed west to the fast floe. i went up to the barrel and the captain went down to get his pipe. while gazing at distant things, i heard a noise on deck and, looking over, saw all hands lowering away for two whales astern of us. i must have been looking in another direction when they appeared, because the first i knew of it, was the noise below. our boats lay about half on each side and were playing the usual waiting game. the captain came up to the barrel and i went down, but too late to enter a boat, as they had all gone, except the two upper quarter boats. this was a great disappointment to me, as i had assisted in killing every whale we had taken on board. after a while, one fish came up on the south or port side and was fastened by the farthest south boat. the whale went under the ice, but came out nearer the ship and was fastened again. this proved the worst whale we had seen. it did not go down again but rolled about so much and slapped the water with its flukes to such an extent that the boats were rather afraid of it. this went on for a long time, when the captain called out that he would kill it himself, so he came down and ordered the port upper quarter boat launched. all boats had their gear ready, whether we used them or not. a crew of irregulars was called, the captain as harpooner, myself next, the sailmaker next, third engineer, cooper, etc. the captain went up at once and, driving a lance into the whale's neck, began churning it up and down. the fish allowed itself to sink a few feet, and the bows of the boat glided over it as the captain held on to the lance. then coming to the surface again, it tumbled the boat over on its starboard side and instantly gave a great blast from its lungs. my oar came out of the water, so i let it go and, grasping the seat with my right hand and putting my left on the whale's back, i got the full charge of blood and water over my side and shoulder, as i was almost over the blow-hole, and such was the force, that my thick pilot coat was soaked with-blood, and also the thick coat underneath. i saw the sailmaker, who was in front of me, turn around; his face was green, in spite of the tan. he was almost in the water. the boat, fortunately, slid off the slippery neck and a serious accident was averted. the great danger would have been from being caught between the whale and the many lines it had wound around itself. after this, a couple of rockets were put in and the most troublesome fish of the season gave up its ghost. as all this happened beside the ship, we were saved the usual tedious tow, and in an hour flensing was commenced. it was six when we had all on board. the second whale did not reappear--probably finding a breathing place in the floe. the sky was overcast at bedtime and there was a bitterly cold wind. having the engines aft made a great difference to the temperature of the cabin, as the bulkhead between the pantry and engine room was always hot. _august th. friday_. we were off cape hay when i came on deck and sailing east under topsails. this cape was a wonderful place for looms. they bred there in thousands; but we did not land or go very close, so i had no chance of seeing much. quite a number of the ships had already left the sound, among others the _arctic_. her captain, having secured thirteen black whales, had decided to try his luck in repulse bay, fox channel, where he had had former success. owing to the amount of ice in the sound and on the west coast, he had come to this decision. consequently he had sailed to hudson's straits, passing from frobisher bay through gabriel straits and encountering the dreadful current for which the neighborhood is noted. ice was met with about salisbury island, and beyond this he was unable to take his ship, so he returned to cumberland gulf and from there home without adding to his cargo. lancaster sound was beginning to look and feel like winter, the weather being very frosty. the mountains on the south side, which are about two thousand feet high, were very white, as a number of snow storms had passed over them. we were anticipating with pleasure a visit to pond's bay and the points usually called at on the west coast. one can generally take a ship by navy board inlet through eclipse sound to ponds bay, but this year the ice precluded such a trip. we kept under sail, to save our coal, and ended off wollaston islands at the entrance of navy board inlet, without having seen any whales. here we hooked on to a large floe. _august th. saturday._ after breakfast all hands were called to make off. it was a very cheerful performance, our men being in good spirits. the day was bitterly cold, but work kept them warm. ice formed where the sun did not strike the water as there was hardly any wind to disturb it. by dinner time the whale was made off and during the afternoon the watch employed cleaning up. we remained hooked on all night. sunday was a bitterly cold day and blowing a little, so we went further down the sound under topsails. about ten a. m. we sighted a whale and sent four boats in pursuit. i was in the second mate's. after a long chase the mate got fast. there was much ice about, so it was dangerous work for the fast boat, as it was impossible to avoid the pieces when being towed, and should the boat strike a floe it would be smashed at once and all hands would have to jump. when the fish came up first there was no boat near, but on coming up a second time watson got in an iron and we had a very lively run down the sound. with two harpoons in, there was a considerable drag on, and in a short time she reappeared and a boat was soon lancing. our boat had been delayed by pieces of ice, so that it was late when we arrived on the scene. however this was a very vital whale and difficult to kill. i saw our specksioneer lyon's boat almost smashed by one of the flukes during a flurry. the perfectly fearless old man was so absorbed in his lancing operations that he did not notice the fluke coming, and but for the quick action of his boat-steerer, an accident would have occurred. the ship had followed us, so we had no towing when the battle was over, as she picked the boats up, taking the whale with her to a floe where she anchored. two more boats had been lowered away when they heard "a fall" called. one had gone to help the mate with more line, and the other had taken part in the chase. after having something to eat, flensing was the order of the day, our cheerful crew singing with great spirit to the orders "heave away capstan" and "heave away windlass." this, our tenth whale, was a heavy one and it was late when we got it all on board. the ship remained at the floe all night, drifting with it down the sound. _monday, the th_, was a wintry day, bitterly cold and an overcast sky. during the afternoon we had some snow squalls. we dodged about under topsails, but did not see even a narwhal. it was evident that our chance of catching white whales this year in prince regent inlet was small. we anchored to the ice off cape liverpool at night. _tuesday, august th_, all hands were engaged making off in the morning and doing a general clean up during the afternoon. [illustration: ] chapter xvii--lancaster sound to dundee "to claim the arctic came the sun, with banners of the burning zone unrolled upon their airy spars. they froze beneath the light of stars, and there they float, those streamers old, those northern lights, forever cold." |the neighborhood of cape byam martin was considered good whaling ground, so we spent the next few days cruising off it and the coast further down, but without seeing anything of interest. even seals were scarce. it was remarkable how few we saw north of the arctic circle. by going aloft, one could always see, in some direction on the ice, a black dot, which represented a seal, but after the tens of thousands seen on the coasts of newfoundland and labrador, they were scarce indeed; in fact, i never shot one during the whole northern trip. we found ponds bay that paradise of the old whalers so full of ice that we were unable to visit the natives, which was a great disappointment to us all. it was a bad year for seeing much of the land as there was so much ice coming down. from the ship, the line of the shore looked straight, except off the bay, but there were great fiords running into the land for miles. one of them, known as "hell's kitchen," had been a noted place for whalers. two branches of it, named respectively, "morris" and "cooney" extended far into the country, one of them having been navigated by captain guy for about forty miles. ponds bay was a celebrated place for salmon fishing, the whalers often getting wonderful catches there, thereby improving their menu greatly. at this time, the weather was very wintry, frost and snow reminding us of where we were, and by the night of sunday, the th, we were only off cape bowen. monday was a beautiful day and we were fast to the shore floe, a long way from the land. the captain decided to improve the shining hour by having the ship painted, so the boats were put upon the ice and the men employed, cleaning and painting. the _aurora_ was comparatively new, so it was very easy cleaning her, as her woodwork was good and she had been well kept up. even washing her down with the alkaline solution used gave her a nice appearance. by evening, a great deal had been accomplished and inside she looked very neat. the little auks were numerous about here. one of our firemen killed three with a broom handle and i shot a fine bag. there was a good flight of ducks along the floe edge and i had several shots at them. as the birds were young, they were worth having, being free from the fishy flavor peculiar to their parents. [illustration: ] _august th._ we finished painting the boats, but left them on the ice, excepting two from which the lines had not been removed. our fishing, so far, had nearly all been floe edge. we had not entered the middle pack very far, where the whales were sometimes numerous at this season. the enormous amount of ice made the captain think twice about pushing his ship, with her valuable cargo, into it, and so we kept quietly down the coast, occasionally going out a little where the ice was loose, but remembering sir leopold mcclintock's winter in the middle pack with the _fox._ the southwest fishing, to which we were now going, was generally prosecuted in the autumn. the ships lay at anchor in some harbor, and every morning the boats rowed out and watched for whales. it was cold, dreary work and very unpopular with the men; but whales killed late in the season were often large and well worth looking for. _august th. wednesday_. the boats were hoisted up this day and, with the captain, i went on the ice to look at the ship. it was cold and i had on half-boots, a thick double-breasted monkey jacket, with leather gauntlets and a leather sealing cap. we walked to where the painting had been done and there admired the ship. she looked well, sitting rather down by the stern. all the crew, practically, had been standing on this ice for the last two days and nothing had happened: i went rather close to the edge and the piece i was standing on gave way and i went down at once, but on coming up, with one or two strokes, reached the ice edge. it took some seconds for my clothes to soak as i had so much on, and by that time, one of the men, jock fairly, came with a boat hook, by the help of which i was pulled out. my clothes were so completely water-logged that, without assistance, getting out would have been impossible. again the gentle warmth of the top of the boiler proved a comfort. _august st. thursday_. hooked on, with a stiff breeze blowing and the sky overcast. ducks were flying in great numbers past a point half a mile away, so, taking the dingey, i went off to it. there was no shelter and, although every bird must have seen me, the silly things would not leave the ice edge, but would just swing out far enough to make my shots effective. this shooting both barrels into the "brown," as the ducks passed, was not so much fun as getting them in pairs, but one soon picks up a good bag, and as i was shooting for the pot, a bag was what i wanted. when i came on board, the birds were tied in bundles and hung up on the davit guys above the quarter boats. august nd. during the afternoon, a bear was seen, so we went off in a boat to capture it. as there was no solid ice, the beast had to get out of and into the water so many times that he could not escape, and he was killed from the boat by the mate. i landed and tried to stalk him, but he left my pan and i could not follow him. two ships were in sight southeast of us. one of them was the _cornwallis,_ which we had not seen for some time. i was anxious to get near her as armitage was on hoard, but she was a long way off. we always knew the other, the _esquimaux_, by her mizzentop, as she had once been a full-rigged ship, although now a barque. on saturday, the wind blew a gale, which kept us dodging under the canvas; but by sunday the weather had improved. during the morning we sailed up to the shore floe, as we saw some natives there, and picked them up. they had tusks and dog skins for trade. we took them, with their dogs and sledges, on board. one of them was a good-looking, pleasant native, called enu. he added greatly to my eskimo vocabulary during the next few days, and he told me that deer were plentiful in certain places and that salmon abounded. we steamed south all day, after picking up the natives, the weather being cold but fine. _august th. monday_. steaming down the coast and the weather quite fine. during the afternoon, a black spot inshore indicated the mouth of a river. the shore floe at this point was a mile wide, but the ice was smooth. a boat and the dingey with a net and ten men were sent to try to catch some salmon. a number of men were sent to haul the boats across the floe to the open water of the river mouth, and the natives came also. mr. adam took the boat and i took the dingey. we had a boat's sail, plenty of coal, two ship's kettles, coffee, sugar, salt, biscuits and tins of mutton. arriving at the open water, our helpers returned to the ship, and the natives, after turning their sleds upside down, so that the dogs could not run away with them, came with us in the boats. we rowed into a river, which was about thirty or forty yards wide at the mouth, shallow and placid. we went up a short distance and camped on the right bank. above our camp, the river was a nice-looking little salmon stream; but below, it was more pretentious looking on account of its width. the net was drawn, with no result. it was tried in another place without getting a fin. then, as it was growing late, we returned to camp. tying two oars together, with their blades crossed, we laid the end of the long steering oar between these and this gave us an excellent frame for our tent, completed by throwing the large square boat's sail over it and tucking two of the corners underneath. then a fine coal fire was started, a kettle of coffee made, and an excellent hash prepared, by mixing tinned mutton, sea biscuits, snow, pepper and salt. we enjoyed this thoroughly and i sat by the camp fire afterwards and listened to these men tell tales of happenings in former years. thus, on the unhospitable shores of baffin bay, i had my first experience of camp life. after awhile i noticed that in spite of my clothing, my back was cold, so i turned it to the fire. then my face was nearly frozen, so i turned back. in the excitement of starting, i had thrown a rug into the boat and not thought of blankets. now i began to wish i had brought some, for i spent a miserable night, waking up very often with the cold. _august th._ at last the tedious night came to an end, and breakfast thawed us out and made things look more cheerful. the day was fine, so the _aurora_ was safe, and preparations were made for further fishing. had the morning looked threatening, the ship would probably have signalled us to come on board. i am a keen fisherman, but the net did not appeal to me very much; so i decided to see what the country looked like and, taking enu with me, went up the river. the bitterly cold night had caused some ice, so the men waited for a higher sun to dissipate this before we left camp. i found the country flat, as a whole, with low hills in the background. the native gave me to understand that beyond these hills was the caribou country, but one dared not risk going far from the ship, and so my chance of bagging a barren land head was small. little gulches led away from the river, on the exposed sides of which there was no snow, but boggy ground and bad walking; while on the shady sides the ground was frozen and covered with patches of snow. i saw some places on the river which made me long to try the fly, and i am sure good sport could have been obtained. after a very tiresome walk of some hours, during which i did not see a bird or beast, i returned to camp. on coming close, i saw a man walking from the river with a salmon in each hand, the first two caught. they had tried a number of places and had caught only these, so they sent them to camp for dinner. one was put in a big ship's kettle to boil, and the other split and cut into pieces which were hung around the fire on stakes made from driftwood. each salmon weighed about ten pounds, the flesh being very red, and while they did not compare with those from home rivers, we considered them excellent, as they were the first fresh fish we had had on the voyage. leaving camp, i went down to the boat and found they had just taken a splendid haul; the net was shot several times and a grand total of fish counted out. dinner was ready when we reached the fire and some more fish were staked out to cook. this delicate repast over, our things were carried down to the boats and we made our way back as we had come. seeing us from the ship, help had been sent to bring the boats across the ice. many of the whalers fish for salmon every year and sometimes catch great numbers. the best place is, as stated before, a river flowing into ponds bay. here several thousands are often taken. the eskimo dogs had eaten their harness and gone away, excepting two lame fellows, and the natives made these pull them to the ship. [illustration: ] _august th. wednesday._ enu, with his menage, left for home, and after breakfast we unhooked, and stood along the floe edge. from the "crow's nest" i saw with the glass a number of eskimo sledges travelling north. they made no attempt to come near us, but kept close to the shore. at noon we were going among some loose ice, so hooked on. i had a very pleasant afternoon at the ducks and secured a good bag. all the birds killed were young eider. in fact, on the voyage, i only killed three varieties of duck, eider, king eider and long tail. _august th. thursday_. two sledges with natives came off. there was a very hungry woman with them. i saw her picking at everything soft on board. she found the side of a box in which plug tobacco had been packed, and picked it up; there were some leaves of tobacco adhering to it. i saw her picking pieces of them and eating them. [illustration: ] dividing the 'tween-decks from the lower forecastle, there was a partition with a door. just outside of this door stood a barrel into which the cook threw refuse from the gallery, which was just within the forecastle. i saw this polar american beauty put her arm into the barrel and bring forth a duck's skin, which had a tremendous coating of fat. she seized the skin with both hands and pulled the fat off with her teeth, devouring it greedily. when she came to the neck, she chewed it, bones and all. there were some most interesting children on board and they thoroughly enjoyed the coffee and biscuit with which they were supplied by the captain's orders. we got some dog skins and small articles from these people, but they had already been visited by some of the ships and their bear skins and horns taken. _august th_. on friday the natives left us early. we unhooked and sailed east, with a breeze from the south. we saw a bear and cub on the ice, so lowered away and went after them. both took to the water, and we had to go around a large island of ice before we could reach them. i landed on this, and running across, tried a shot at them in the water, but they had gone too far and were behind hummocks of ice, so that i could not see them. the boat then overtook them and the mate shot both. as nothing more was seen among the loose ice we steamed to the floe edge and hooked on. i bagged a few ducks in the evening. _august th. saturday_. we steamed down the coast and hooked on off cape raper. two natives came on board, and we bought a live fox from one of them. it was young and blue, and spent the rest of the voyage walking about the funnel casing, where its home was in a lime-juice box. the natives left during the afternoon and we remained at the floe edge all night. it was a beautiful calm sunday and the last day of august on which we arrived at cape kater. the _cornwallis_ very soon afterwards came in and i went on board at once. they had had a most unsuccessful voyage as the ship had been spoiled for sailing by having an engine put in which was of no use. they had killed a whale and picked up a dead one, having one ton of bone from the two. poor old captain nichol was very much depressed. every one said he was a fine sailor; that his blood was tar and his flesh rope yams. they told us that the other ships had done well, the _nova zembla_ having eight, the _polynia_ six and the _esquimaux_ ten whales when last seen. armitage came on shore with me and we visited some native habitations. they were tents made of skin, and the sun beating on them made them warm inside; but as there was not a particle of ventilation, the odor was the worst possible. we saw in them the stone lamps in which the seal oil was burned, moss being used as a wick; sometimes old tins served the purpose instead of stone. [illustration: ] this country is generally called baffin land. there is, however, no reason to believe that it is not divided up by channels into many islands. no doubt passages exist connecting davis straits with fox channel. much of the coast line is uncharted, especially north of fox land. fiords running south from eclipse sound have been visited by whalers, but not explored; possibly they could be traced to fury and hecla straits. whaling stations have several times been established on the west coast, at exeter sound and cumberland gulf--the first party wintering at the latter place in , to the detriment of the natives. these improvident people with modern rifles would kill all the game they could shoot, use what they required at the time and waste the rest, whereas in old times they could just secure enough for their wants. again, children were brought up formerly in a hardy way, and taught how to wrest a living from the inhospitable country. now by loafing around a settlement they acquire some of the pernicious habits of civilized men, and learn to depend upon the european and his ship, forgetting that these might be withdrawn at any time. [illustration: ] monday was spent wandering about, but without seeing anything of interest. the _cornwallis_ was still hooked on when we left cape kater, on tuesday. we kept away from the coast to look for a berg from which we might water. the weather was clear and frosty, and at night the aurora borealis was very beautiful. _september rd. wednesday._ we found a floe fast to the base of a very large berg, and on this there was a lake of fresh water frozen over. the ship being made fast, a hole was drilled in the ice and our water tanks filled. on the berg there was a white fox, but no shooting at it was allowed lest the concussion should bring down masses of ice. by evening we moved away and made fast to a floe far from our dangerous neighbor. the cold was intense and bay ice formed around the ship. i heard the thunder of splitting bergs several times during the night; they sounded like avalanches among the alps in the springtime. at this season, especially on very cold nights, bergs often split and turn over owing to water freezing in crevices formed by the warm summer sun, and for this reason they are avoided as much as possible. we now spent five days dodging about under canvas with fires banked. part of the time we were off cape hooper and part off home bay, but we did not see a single whale. the weather was for the most part fine, but bitterly cold. if a mist arose at night the ship presented a curious spectacle in the morning, her rigging being coated with ice. our handy tradesmen during this period made some pretty things. the carpenter presented the captain with a neat model of a ship, while the cooper turned out a tobacco box which was a work of art. _september th. monday_. we bore up for home. what cheerful news it was! passage sails were bent, boats taken in and placed on skids, bunkers were coaled and all was life and bustle. every one was happy. the voyage had been a success, and we had not had a serious accident. the "crow's nest" was sent down, nautical time adopted and the watch set. to crown all, a fresh breeze sprang up, and with everything set and steaming full speed we started down the straits. by bedtime we were in a heavy fog, so the canvas was taken off and the engines slowed down. during the night the phosphorescence was very beautiful. pieces of ice thrown away by the propeller looked like balls of fire, while the water immediately around the stern seemed all aflame. for the next two days we had fog, so made little progress at night. during the day the men were employed washing lines and stowing them away. guns and harpoons were cleaned and greased and the ship was thoroughly washed. on the th, we had a strong gale with a dark and cloudy sky. it was strange to be at sea and feel the motion of the ship after weeks of smooth water amidst the ice. after this the sea was smooth, and we had fog all the time until, off cape farewell on the th, the day being fine, the ship was hove to and painted outside. a dense fog came down that night, and we did not make another observation until off the scottish coast. on saturday, september th, the fog was very dense and we steamed slowly until noon, when it lifted for a short time and showed us the island of st. kilda. i was sorry we could not land here as it was a wonderful breeding place for the fulmar petrels; but home was in sight, and captain fairweather did not want to linger on a rock-bound coast, so we steered north and on sunday morning, the st, we were off the butt of lewis. it was thick at times during the morning, but cleared in the afternoon and gave us a view of the orkneys. the captain decided to go north of orkney, as he did not like the pentland firth with so much fog about. at night the weather was perfectly clear. _september nd. monday._ on deck in the morning every one was looking pleasant, and the ship neat. we were crossing the moray firth and coming close to the aberdeen coast. a fishing boat from fraserborough was hailed and an assortment of fish purchased for breakfast. these were paid for with tobacco, and the pay was liberal. the first question asked by us was, "is england at war?" this being answered in the negative, greatly pleased those of the crew who were naval reserve men. eight bells struck and my last breakfast on board the _aurora_ was served. after breakfast we passed peterhead, formerly a great port for whalers, and then we steamed south close to the coast. the yellow fields of grain and stubble, the cottages and the trees, looked to our snow-dazzled eyes like fairy land. we passed aberdeen and stonehaven. we were close enough to see dunottar's grim ruin, then montrose, and in a short time our pilot was on board with all the news, and we were at home. of the davis straits ships in one was lost, the _narwhal_; but now, with the exception of the _active and aurora_, the weed-grown ribs of the entire fleet rest beneath the waters of the cold northern seas and the records of their crews' escapes and hardships would fill volumes. appendix notice of arrival of whalers in _dundee advertiser_ of september rd: dundee advertiser, september rd, . the esquimaux--the loss of two men. the _esquimaux_, capt. milne, arrived in the tay last night from davis straits, and will be docked with this morning's tide. the esquimaux was unsuccessful at the newfoundland seal fishing, only , seals having been secured; but she has brought a fair cargo from davis straits, consisting of whales, which will yield tons of oil and tons of whalebone. two fatalities have, unfortunately, occurred during the voyage. early in the season a young man named allan smith, a native of dundee, was dragged overboard by the line catching him after a bottle-nosed whale had been struck, and he was never seen again. it is a painful circumstance that smith's father was lost from the same ship several years ago. another of the crew was lost during the passage home. he accidentally fell overboard, and a boat was sent in search of him. after some time he was picked up in semi-lifeless state, and all attempts to restore animation failed. dundee advertiser, september rd, . davis straits whale fishing--arrival of aurora. the steamer aurora, belonging to messrs. alex. stephen & sons, arrived at dundee yesterday afternoon from the davis straits whale fishing. the _aurora_, commanded by capt. jas. fair-weather, has had a very successful voyage. at newfoundland , seals were secured during the two trips, the _aurora_ being the only one of the dundee fleet which was fortunate in securing a good catch. on the th may she left st. john's for davis straits, and on reaching disco fell in with the _thetis_ and _bear_, on their way north in search of the greely expedition. the three ships thereafter kept in company until they reached the north water, when capt. fairweather steamed across to lancaster sound. an impenetrable barrier of ice blocked the sound, a circumstance which told in favor of the fishing, as a large number of whales were secured at the edge of the ice. the crew were successful in capturing ten, and also three bottle-noses, which will yield tons of oil and about tons of whalebone. as the season advanced the fishing was prosecuted along the west coast of davis straits, but without success, owing to the immense quantities of ice, which seemed never to have been driven out of the straits this year. the frost came on unusually early and very severe, to degrees being registered in august. capt. fairweather bore up for home on the th sept, and experienced a good deal of foggy weather in crossing the atlantic. he confirms the news previously received of the catches of the fleet, and mentions that the _polynia_ is the only vessel which has added to her cargo, which now consists of whales, equal to tons of oil. the _triune_ sailed for home on the th sept. capt. fairweather has brought home a fine specimen of the sabine gull, a bird rarely to be met with in davis straits. it ought to be mentioned that the crew of the _aurora_, after receiving the news of the _chieftain_ disaster from the pilot at the mouth of the river, subscribed the sum of £ s. to the fund. whalers sailing from dundee in : [illustration: ] a list of greenland and davis straits ships sailing from holland, from dr. lang's book: [illustration: ] ships at greenland and davis straits, with number of whales killed: [illustration: ] the above list shows how the trade changed in a few years from london to hull, and it also shows how scotland increased her fleet, while england reduced hers. in an old work--"mcpherson's annals of commerce," is found the following list of ships sent to the whaling: [illustration: ] whaling was now confined to dundee peterhead, and remained so until , when peterhead sent her last whaler to sea, and since then the industry has been carried on by dundee alone. in a bounty of twenty shillings a ton on ships over two hundred tons was given by the english government, and in this was doubled to induce competition with the dutch. [illustration: ] note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) fighting the whales by r. m. ballantyne [illustration: cover art] blackie & son ltd. london ---- glasgow ---- bombay contents chap. i. in trouble, to begin with ii. at sea iii. our first battle iv. "cutting in" the blubber and "trying out" the oil v. a storm, a man overboard, and a rescue vi. the whale--fighting bulls, etc. vii. tom's wisdom--another great battle viii. death on the sea ix. news from home--a gam x. return home illustrations fighting the whales . . . . . . _cover art_ "tom lokins raised the harpoon" "hurled it blazing into the sea" "in a moment i was overboard" fighting the whales chapter i in trouble, to begin with there are few things in this world that have filled me with so much astonishment as the fact that man can kill a whale! that a fish, more than sixty feet long, and thirty feet round the body; with the bulk of three hundred fat oxen rolled into one; with the strength of many hundreds of horses; able to swim at a rate that would carry it right round the world in twenty-three days; that can smash a boat to atoms with one slap of its tail, and stave in the planks of a ship with one blow of its thick skull;--that such a monster can be caught and killed by man, is most wonderful to hear of, but i can tell from experience that it is much more wonderful to see. there is a wise saying which i have often thought much upon. it is this: "knowledge is power". man is but a feeble creature, and if he had to depend on his own bodily strength alone he could make no head against even the ordinary brutes in this world. but the knowledge which has been given to him by his maker has clothed man with great power, so that he is more than a match for the fiercest beast in the forest, or the largest fish in the sea. yet, with all his knowledge, with all his experience, and all his power, the killing of a great old sperm whale costs man a long, tough battle, sometimes it even costs him his life. it is a long time now since i took to fighting the whales. i have been at it, man and boy, for nigh forty years, and many a wonderful sight have i seen; many a desperate battle have i fought in the fisheries of the north and south seas. sometimes, when i sit in the chimney-corner of a winter evening, smoking my pipe with my old messmate tom lokins, i stare into the fire and think of the days gone by till i forget where i am, and go on thinking so hard that the flames seem to turn into melting fires, and the bars of the grate into dead fish, and the smoke into sails and rigging, and i go to work cutting up the blubber and stirring the oil-pots, or pulling the bow-oar and driving the harpoon at such a rate that i can't help giving a shout, which causes tom to start and cry: "hallo! bob" (my name is bob ledbury, you see). "hallo! bob, wot's the matter?" to which i reply, "tom, can it all be true?" "can _wot_ be true?" says he, with a stare of surprise--for tom is getting into his dotage now. and then i chuckle and tell him i was only thinking of old times, and so he falls to smoking again, and i to staring at the fire, and thinking as hard as ever. the way in which i was first led to go after the whales was curious. this is how it happened. about forty years ago, when i was a boy of nearly fifteen years of age, i lived with my mother in one of the seaport towns of england. there was great distress in the town at that time, and many of the hands were out of work. my employer, a blacksmith, had just died, and for more than six weeks i had not been able to get employment or to earn a farthing. this caused me great distress, for my father had died without leaving a penny in the world, and my mother depended on me entirely. the money i had saved out of my wages was soon spent, and one morning when i sat down to breakfast, my mother looked across the table and said, in a thoughtful voice: "robert, dear, this meal has cost us our last halfpenny." my mother was old and frail, and her voice very gentle; she was the most trustful, uncomplaining woman i ever knew. i looked up quickly into her face as she spoke. "all the money gone, mother?" "aye, all. it will be hard for you to go without your dinner, robert, dear." "it will be harder for _you_, mother," i cried, striking the table with my fist; then a lump rose in my throat and almost choked me. i could not utter another word. it was with difficulty i managed to eat the little food that was before me. after breakfast i rose hastily and rushed out of the house, determined that i would get my mother her dinner, even if i should have to beg for it. but i must confess that a sick feeling came over me when i thought of begging. hurrying along the crowded streets without knowing very well what i meant to do, i at last came to an abrupt halt at the end of the pier. here i went up to several people and offered my services in a wild sort of way. they must have thought that i was drunk, for nearly all of them said gruffly that they did not want me. dinner-time drew near, but no one had given me a job, and no wonder, for the way in which i tried to get one was not likely to be successful. at last i resolved to beg. observing a fat, red-faced old gentleman coming along the pier, i made up to him boldly. he carried a cane with a large gold knob on the top of it. that gave me hope, "for of course," thought i, "he must be rich." his nose, which was exactly the colour and shape of the gold knob on his cane, was stuck in the centre of a round, good-natured countenance, the mouth of which was large and firm; the eyes bright and blue. he frowned as i went forward hat in hand; but i was not to be driven back; the thought of my starving mother gave me power to crush down my rising shame. yet i had no reason to be ashamed. i was willing to work, if only i could have got employment. stopping in front of the old gentleman, i was about to speak when i observed him quietly button up his breeches pocket. the blood rushed to my face, and, turning quickly on my heel, i walked away without uttering a word. "hallo!" shouted a gruff voice just as i was moving away. i turned, and observed that the shout was uttered by a broad rough-looking jack-tar, a man of about two or three and thirty, who had been sitting all the forenoon on an old cask smoking his pipe and basking in the sun. "hallo!" said he again. "well," said i. "wot d'ye mean, youngster, by goin' on in that there fashion all the mornin', a-botherin' everybody, and makin' a fool o' yourself like that? eh!" "what's that to you?" said i savagely, for my heart was sore and heavy, and i could not stand the interference of a stranger. "oh! it's nothin' to me of course," said the sailor, picking his pipe quietly with his clasp-knife; "but come here, boy, i've somethin' to say to ye." "well, what is it?" said i, going up to him somewhat sulkily. the man looked at me gravely through the smoke of his pipe, and said, "you're in a passion, my young buck, that's all; and, in case you didn't know it, i thought i'd tell ye." i burst into a fit of laughter. "well, i believe you're not far wrong; but i'm better now." "ah! that's right," said the sailor, with an approving nod of his head; "always confess when you're in the wrong. now, younker, let me give you a bit of advice. never get into a passion if you can help it, and if you can't help it get out of it as fast as possible, and if you can't get out of it, just give a great roar to let off the steam and turn about and run. there's nothing like that. passion han't got legs. it can't hold on to a feller when he's runnin'. if you keep it up till you a'most split your timbers, passion has no chance. it _must_ go a-starn. now, lad, i've been watchin' ye all the mornin', and i see there's a screw loose somewhere. if you'll tell me wot it is, see if i don't help you!" the kind frank way in which this was said quite won my heart, so i sat down on the old cask, and told the sailor all my sorrows. "boy," said he, when i had finished, "i'll put you in the way o' helpin' your mother. i can get you a berth in my ship, if you're willin' to take a trip to the whale fishery of the south seas." "and who will look after my mother when i'm away?" said i. the sailor looked perplexed at the question. "ah! that's a puzzler," he replied, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "will you take me to your mother's house, lad?" "willingly," said i, and, jumping up, i led the way. as we turned to go, i observed that the old gentleman with the gold-headed cane was leaning over the rail of the pier at a short distance from us. a feeling of anger instantly rose within me, and i exclaimed, loud enough for him to hear: "i do believe that stingy old chap has been listening to every word we've been saying!" i thought i observed a frown on the sailor's brow as i said this, but he made no remark, and in a few minutes we were walking rapidly through the streets. my companion stopped at one of those stores so common in seaport towns, where one can buy almost anything, from a tallow candle to a brass cannon. here he [transcriber's note: two pages missing from book] i've got neither family nor friends, and i'm bound for the south seas in six days; so, if you'll take it, you're welcome to it, and if your son bob can manage to cast loose from you without leaving you to sink, i'll take him aboard the ship that i sail in. he'll always find me at the bull and griffin, in the high street, or at the end o' the pier." while the sailor was speaking, i observed a figure standing in a dark corner of the room near the door, and, on looking more closely, i found that it was the old gentleman with the nose like his cane knob. seeing that he was observed, he came forward and said: "i trust that you will forgive my coming here without invitation; but i happened to overhear part of the conversation between your son and this seaman, and i am willing to help you over your little difficulty, if you will allow me." the old gentleman said this in a very quick, abrupt way, and looked as if he were afraid his offer might be refused. he was much heated, with climbing our long stair no doubt, and as he stood in the middle of the room, puffing and wiping his bald head with a handkerchief, my mother rose hastily and offered him a chair. "you are very kind, sir," she said; "do sit down, sir. i'm sure i don't know why you should take so much trouble. but, dear me, you are very warm; will you take a cup of tea to cool you?" "thank you, thank you. with much pleasure, unless, indeed, your son objects to a '_stingy old chap_' sitting beside him." i blushed when he repeated my words, and attempted to make some apology; but the old gentleman stopped me by commencing to explain his intentions in short, rapid sentences. to make a long story short, he offered to look after my mother while i was away, and, to prove his sincerity, laid down five shillings, and said he would call with that sum every week as long as i was absent. my mother, after some trouble, agreed to let me go, and, before that evening closed, everything was arranged, and the gentleman, leaving his address, went away. the sailor had been so much filled with surprise at the suddenness of all this, that he could scarcely speak. immediately after the departure of the old gentleman, he said, "well, good-bye, mistress, good-bye, bob," and throwing on his hat in a careless way, left the room. "stop!" i shouted after him, when he had got about half-way down stair. "hallo! wot's wrong now?" "nothing; i only forgot to ask your name." "tom lokins," he bellowed, in the hoarse voice of a regular boatswain, "w'ich wos my father's name before me." so saying, he departed, whistling "rule, britannia," with all his might. thus the matter was settled. six days afterwards, i rigged myself out in a blue jacket, white ducks, and a straw hat, and went to sea. chapter ii at sea my first few days on the ocean were so miserable that i oftentimes repented of having left my native land. i was, as my new friend tom lokins said, as sick as a dog. but in course of time i grew well, and began to rejoice in the cool fresh breezes and the great rolling billows of the sea. many and many a time i used to creep out to the end of the bowsprit, when the weather was calm, and sit with my legs dangling over the deep blue water, and my eyes fixed on the great masses of rolling clouds in the sky, thinking of the new course of life i had just begun. at such times the thought of my mother was sure to come into my mind, and i thought of her parting words, "put your trust in the lord, robert, and read his word." i resolved to try to obey her, but this i found was no easy matter, for the sailors were a rough lot of fellows, who cared little for the bible. but, i must say, they were a hearty, good-natured set, and much better, upon the whole, than many a ship's crew that i afterwards sailed with. we were fortunate in having fair winds this voyage, and soon found ourselves on the other side of the _line_, as we jack-tars call the equator. of course the crew did not forget the old custom of shaving all the men who had never crossed the line before. our captain was a jolly old man, and uncommonly fond of "sky-larking". he gave us leave to do what we liked the day we crossed the line; so, as there were a number of wild spirits among us, we broke through all the ordinary rules, or, rather, we added on new rules to them. the old hands had kept the matter quiet from us greenhorns, so that, although we knew they were going to do some sort of mischief, we didn't exactly understand what it was to be. about noon of that day i was called on deck and told that old father neptune was coming aboard, and we were to be ready to receive him. a minute after i saw a tremendous monster come up over the side of the ship and jump on the deck. he was crowned with seaweed, and painted in a wonderful fashion; his clothes were dripping wet, as if he had just come from the bottom of the sea. after him came another monster with a petticoat made of sailcloth and a tippet of a bit of old tarpaulin. this was neptune's wife, and these two carried on the most remarkable antics i ever saw. i laughed heartily, and soon discovered, from the tones of their voices, which of my shipmates neptune and his wife were. but my mirth was quickly stopped when i was suddenly seized by several men, and my face was covered over with a horrible mixture of tar and grease! six of us youngsters were treated in this way; then the lather was scraped off with a piece of old hoop-iron, and, after being thus shaved, buckets of cold water were thrown over us. at last, after a prosperous voyage, we arrived at our fishing-ground in the south seas, and a feeling of excitement and expectation began to show itself among the men, insomuch that our very eyes seemed brighter than usual. one night those of us who had just been relieved from watch on deck were sitting on the lockers down below telling ghost stories. it was a dead calm, and one of those intensely dark, hot nights, that cause sailors to feel uneasy, they scarce know why. i began to feel so uncomfortable at last, listening to the horrible tales which tom lokins was relating to the men, that i slipt away from them with the intention of going on deck. i moved so quietly that no one observed me; besides, every eye was fixed earnestly on tom, whose deep low voice was the only sound that broke the stillness of all around. as i was going very cautiously up the ladder leading to the deck, tom had reached that part of his story where the ghost was just appearing in a dark churchyard, dressed in white, and coming slowly forward, one step at a time, towards the terrified man who saw it. the men held their breath, and one or two of their faces turned pale as tom went on with his description, lowering his voice to a hoarse whisper. just as i put my head up the hatchway the sheet of one of the sails, which was hanging loose in the still air, passed gently over my head and knocked my hat off. at any other time i would have thought nothing of this, but tom's story had thrown me into such an excited and nervous condition that i gave a start, missed my footing, uttered a loud cry, and fell down the ladder right in among the men with a tremendous crash, knocking over two or three oil-cans and a tin bread-basket in my fall, and upsetting the lantern, so that the place was instantly pitch-dark. i never heard such a howl of terror as these men gave vent to when this misfortune befell me. they rushed upon deck with their hearts in their mouths, tumbling, and peeling the skin off their shins and knuckles in their haste; and it was not until they heard the laughter of the watch on deck that they breathed freely, and, joining in the laugh, called themselves fools for being frightened by a ghost story. i noticed, however, that, for all their pretended indifference, there was not one man among them--not even tom lokins himself--who would go down below to relight the lantern for at least a quarter of an hour afterwards! feeling none the worse for my fall, i went forward and leaned over the bow of the ship, where i was much astonished by the appearance of the sea. it seemed as if the water was on fire. every time the ship's bow rose and fell, the little belt of foam made in the water seemed like a belt of blue flame with bright sparkles in it, like stars or diamonds. i had seen this curious appearance before, but never so bright as it was on that night. "what is it, tom?" said i, as my friend came forward and leaned over the ship's bulwark beside me. "it's blue fire, bob," replied tom, as he smoked his pipe calmly. "come, you know i can't swallow that," said i; "everybody knows that fire, either blue or red, can't burn in the water." "maybe not," returned tom; "but it's blue fire for all that. leastwise if it's not, i don't know wot else it is." tom had often seen this light before, no doubt, but he had never given himself the trouble to find out what it could be. fortunately the captain came up just as i put the question, and he enlightened me on the subject. "it is caused by small animals," said he, leaning over the side. "small animals!" said i, in astonishment. "aye; many parts of the sea are full of creatures so small and so thin and colourless, that you can hardly see them even in a clear glass tumbler. many of them are larger than others, but the most of them are very small." "but how do they shine like that, sir?" i asked. "that i do not know, boy. god has given them the power to shine, just as he has given us the power to walk or speak; and they do shine brightly, as you see; but how they do it is more than i can tell. i think, myself, it must be anger that makes them shine, for they generally do it when they are stirred up or knocked about by oars, or ships' keels, or tumbling waves. but i am not sure that that's the reason either, because, you know, we often sail through them without seeing the light, though of course they must be there." "p'r'aps, sir," said tom lokins; "p'r'aps, sir, they're sleepy sometimes, an' can't be bothered gettin' angry." "perhaps!" answered the captain, laughing. "but then again, at other times, i have seen them shining over the whole sea when it was quite calm, making it like an ocean of milk; and nothing was disturbing them at that time, d'ye see." "i don' know _that_," objected tom; "they might have bin a-fightin' among theirselves." "or playing, maybe," said i. the captain laughed, and, looking up at the sky, said: "i don't like the look of the weather, tom lokins. you're a sharp fellow, and have been in these seas before; what say you?" "we'll have a breeze," replied tom, briefly. "more than a breeze," muttered the captain, while a look of grave anxiety overspread his countenance; "i'll go below and take a squint at the glass." "what does he mean by that, tom?" said i, when the captain was gone; "i never saw a calmer or a finer night. surely there is no chance of a storm just now." "aye, that shows that you're a young feller, and han't got much experience o' them seas," replied my companion. "why, boy, sometimes the fiercest storm is brewin' behind the greatest calm. an' the worst o' the thing is that it comes so sudden at times, that the masts are torn out o' the ship before you can say jack robinson." "what! and without any warning?" said i. "aye, _almost_ without warnin'; but not _altogether_ without it. you heer'd the captain say he'd go an' take a squint at the glass?" "yes; what is the glass?" "it's not a glass o' grog, you may be sure; nor yet a lookin'-glass. it's the weather-glass, boy. shore-goin' chaps call it a barometer." "and what's the meaning of barometer?" i enquired earnestly. tom lokins stared at me in stupid amazement. "why, boy," said he, "you're too inquisitive. i once asked the doctor o' a ship that question, and says he to me, 'tom,' says he, 'a barometer is a glass tube filled with quicksilver or mercury, which is a metal in a soft or fluid state, like water, you know, and it's meant for tellin' the state o' the weather.' "'yes, sir,' i answers, 'i know that well enough.' "'then why did you ask?' says he, gettin' into a passion. "'i asked what was the meanin' o' the _word_ barometer, sir,' said i. "the doctor he looked grave at that, and shook his head. 'tom,' says he, 'if i was to go for to explain that word, and all about the instrument, in a scientific sort o' way, d'ye see, i'd have to sit here an' speak to you right on end for six hours or more.' "'oh, sir,' says i, 'don't do it, then. _please_, don't do it.' "'no more i will,' says he; 'but it'll serve your turn to know that a barometer is a glass for measurin' the weight o' the air, and, _somehow or other_, that lets ye know wot's a-coming. if the mercury in the glass rises high, all's right. if it falls uncommon low very sudden, look out for squalls; that's all. no matter how smooth the sea may be, or how sweetly all natur' may smile, don't you believe it; take in every inch o' canvas at once.'" "that was a queer explanation, tom." "aye, but it was a true one, as you shall see before long." as i looked out upon the calm sea, which lay like a sheet of glass, without a ripple on its surface, i could scarcely believe what he had said. but before many minutes had passed i was convinced of my error. while i was standing talking to my messmate, the captain rushed on deck, and shouted: "all hands tumble up! shorten sail! take in every rag! look alive, boys, look alive." i was quite stunned for a moment by this, and by the sudden tumult that followed. the men, who seemed never to take thought about anything, and who had but one duty, namely, to _obey orders_, ran upon deck, and leaped up the rigging like cats; the sheets of nearly all the principal sails were clewed up, and, ere long, the canvas was made fast to the yards. a few of the smaller sails only were left exposed, and even these were close-reefed. before long a loud roar was heard, and in another minute the storm burst upon us with terrific violence. the ship at first lay over so much that the masts were almost in the water, and it was as impossible for anyone to walk the deck as to walk along the side of a wall. at the same time, the sea was lashed into white foam, and the blinding spray flew over us in bitter fury. "take in the topsails!" roared the captain. but his voice was drowned in the shriek of the gale. the men were saved the risk of going out on the yards, however, for in a few moments more all the sails, except the storm-trysail, were burst and blown to ribbons. we now tried to put the ship's head to the wind and "lay to", by which landsmen will understand that we tried to face the storm, and remain stationary. but the gale was so fierce that this was impossible. the last rag of sail was blown away, and then there was nothing left for us but to show our stern to the gale, and "scud under bare poles". the great danger now was that we might be "pooped", which means that a huge wave might curl over our stern, fall with terrible fury on our deck, and sink us. many and many a good ship has gone down in this way; but we were mercifully spared. as our safety depended very much on good steering, the captain himself took the wheel, and managed the ship so well, that we weathered the gale without damage, further than the loss of a few sails and light spars. for two days the storm howled furiously, the sky and sea were like ink, with sheets of rain and foam driving through the air, and raging billows tossing our ship about like a cork. during all this time my shipmates were quiet and grave, but active and full of energy, so that every order was at once obeyed without noise or confusion. every man watched the slightest motion of the captain. we all felt that everything depended on him. as for me, i gave up all hope of being saved. it seemed impossible to me that anything that man could build could withstand so terrible a storm. i do not pretend to say that i was not afraid. the near prospect of a violent death caused my heart to sink more than once; but my feelings did not unman me. i did my duty quietly, but quickly, like the rest; and when i had no work to do, i stood holding on to the weather stanchions, looking at the raging sea, and thinking of my mother, and of the words of kindness and counsel she had so often bestowed upon me in vain. the storm ceased almost as quickly as it began, and although the sea did not all at once stop the heavings of its angry bosom, the wind fell entirely in the course of a few hours, the dark clouds broke up into great masses that were piled up high into the sky, and out of the midst of these the glorious sun shone in bright rays down on the ocean, like comfort from heaven, gladdening our hearts as we busily repaired the damage that we had suffered from the storm. chapter iii our first battle i shall never forget the surprise i got the first time i saw a whale. it was in the forenoon of a most splendid day, about a week after we arrived at that part of the ocean where we might expect to find fish. a light nor'-east breeze was blowing, but it scarcely ruffled the sea, as we crept slowly through the water with every stitch of canvas set. as we had been looking out for fish for some time past, everything was in readiness for them. the boats were hanging over the side ready to lower, tubs for coiling away the ropes, harpoons, lances, &c., all were ready to throw in, and start away at a moment's notice. the man in the "crow's-nest", as they call the cask fixed up at the masthead, was looking anxiously out for whales, and the crew were idling about the deck. tom lokins was seated on the windlass smoking his pipe, and i was sitting beside him on an empty cask, sharpening a blubber-knife. "tom," said i, "what like is a whale?" "why, it's like nothin' but itself," replied tom, looking puzzled. "why, wot a queer feller you are to ax questions." "i'm sure you've seen plenty of them. you might be able to tell what a whale is like." "wot it's like! well, it's like a tremendous big bolster with a head and a tail to it." "and how big is it?" "they're of all sizes, lad. i've seen one that was exactly equal to three hundred fat bulls, and its rate of goin' would take it round the whole world in twenty-three days." "i don't believe you," said i, laughing. "don't you?" cried tom; "it's a fact notwithstandin', for the captain himself said so, and that's how i came to know it." just as tom finished speaking, the man in the crow's-nest roared at the top of his voice, "there she blows!" that was the signal that a whale was in sight, and as it was the first time we had heard it that season, every man in the ship was thrown into a state of tremendous excitement. "there she blows!" roared the man again. "where away?" shouted the captain. "about two miles right ahead." in another moment the utmost excitement prevailed on board. suddenly, while i was looking over the side, straining my eyes to catch a sight of the whale, which could not yet be seen by the men on deck, i saw a brown object appear in the sea, not twenty yards from the side of the ship; before i had time to ask what it was, a whale's head rose to the surface, and shot up out of the water. the part of the fish that was visible above water could not have been less then thirty feet in length. it just looked as if our longboat had jumped out of the sea, and he was so near that i could see his great mouth quite plainly. i could have tossed a biscuit on his back easily. sending two thick spouts of frothy water out of his blow-holes forty feet into the air with tremendous noise, he fell flat upon the sea with a clap like thunder, tossed his flukes or tail high into the air, and disappeared. i was so amazed at this sight that i could not speak. i could only stare at the place where the huge monster had gone down. "stand by to lower," shouted the captain. "aye, aye, sir," replied the men, leaping to their appointed stations; for every man in a whale-ship has his post of duty appointed to him, and knows what to do when an order is given. "lower away," cried the captain, whose face was now blazing with excitement. in a moment more three boats were in the water; the tubs, harpoons, &c., were thrown in, the men seized the oars, and away they went with a cheer. i was in such a state of flutter that i scarce knew what i did; but i managed somehow or other to get into a boat, and as i was a strong fellow, and a good rower, i was allowed to pull. "there she blows!" cried the man in the crow's-nest, just as we shot from the side of the ship. there was no need to ask, "where away" this time. another whale rose and spouted not more than three hundred yards off, and before we could speak a third fish rose in another direction, and we found ourselves in the middle of what is called a "school of whales". "now, lads," said the captain, who steered the boat in which i rowed, "bend your backs, my hearties; that fish right ahead of us is a hundred-barrel whale for certain. give way, boys; we _must_ have that fish." there was no need to urge the men, for their backs were strained to the utmost, their faces were flushed, and the big veins in their necks swelled almost to bursting, with the tremendous exertion. "hold hard," said the captain in a low voice, for now that we were getting near our prey we made as little noise as possible. the men at once threw their oars "apeak", as they say; that is, raised them straight, up in the air, and waited for further orders. we expected the whale would rise near to where we were, and thought it best to rest and look out. while we were waiting, tom lokins, who was harpooner of the boat, sat just behind me with all his irons ready. he took this opportunity to explain to me that by a "hundred-barrel fish" is meant a fish that will yield a hundred barrels of oil. he further informed me that such a fish was a big one, though he had seen a few in the north-west seas that had produced upwards of two hundred barrels. i now observed that the other boats had separated, and each had gone after a different whale. in a few minutes the fish we were in chase of rose a short distance off, and sent up two splendid water-spouts high into the air, thus showing that he was what the whalers call a "right" whale. it is different from the sperm whale, which has only one blowhole, and that a little one. we rowed towards it with all our might, and as we drew near, the captain ordered tom lokins to "stand up", so he at once laid in his oar, and took up the harpoon. the harpoon is an iron lance with a barbed point. a whale-line is attached to it, and this line is coiled away in a tub. when we were within a few yards of the fish, which was going slowly through the water, all ignorant of the terrible foes who were pursuing him, tom lokins raised the harpoon high above his head, and darted it deep into its fat side just behind the left fin, and next moment the boat ran aground on the whale's back. [illustration: "tom lokins raised the harpoon"] "stern all, for your lives!" roared the captain, who, before his order was obeyed, managed to give the creature two deep wounds with his lance. the lance has no barbs to its point, and is used only for wounding after the harpoon is fixed. the boat was backed off at once, but it had scarcely got a few yards away when the astonished fish whirled its huge body half out of the water, and, coming down with a tremendous clap, made off like lightning. the line was passed round a strong piece of wood called the "logger-head", and, in running out, it began to smoke, and nearly set the wood on fire. indeed, it would have done so, if a man had not kept constantly pouring water upon it. it was needful to be very cautious in managing the line, for the duty is attended with great danger. if any hitch should take place, the line is apt to catch the boat and drag it down bodily under the waves. sometimes a coil of it gets round a leg or an arm of the man who attends to it, in which case his destruction is almost certain. many a poor fellow has lost his life in this way. the order was now given to "hold on line". this was done, and in a moment our boat was cleaving the blue water like an arrow, while the white foam curled from her bows. i thought every moment we should be dragged under; but whenever this seemed likely to happen, the line was let run a bit, and the strain eased. at last the fish grew tired of dragging us, the line ceased to run out, and tom hauled in the slack, which another man coiled away in its tub. presently the fish rose to the surface, a short distance off our weather bow. "give way, boys! spring your oars," cried the captain; "another touch or two with the lance, and that fish is ours." the boat shot ahead, and we were about to dart a second harpoon into the whale's side, when it took to "sounding",--which means, that it went straight down, head foremost, into the depths of the sea. at that moment tom lokins uttered a cry of mingled anger and disappointment. we all turned round and saw our shipmate standing with the slack line in his hand, and such an expression on his weather-beaten face, that i could scarce help laughing. the harpoon had not been well fixed; it had lost its hold, and the fish was now free! "gone!" exclaimed the captain with a groan. i remember even yet the feeling of awful disappointment that came over me when i understood that we had lost the fish after all our trouble! i could almost have wept with bitter vexation. as for my comrades, they sat staring at each other for some moments quite speechless. before we could recover from the state into which this misfortune had thrown us, one of the men suddenly shouted, "hallo! there's the mate's boat in distress." we turned at once, and, truly, there was no doubt of the truth of this, for, about half a mile off, we beheld our first mate's boat tearing over the sea like a small steamer. it was fast to a fish, and two oars were set up on end to attract our attention. when a whale is struck, it sometimes happens that the whole of the line in a boat is run out. when this is about to occur, it becomes necessary to hold on as much as can be done without running the boat under the water, and an oar is set up on end to show that assistance is required, either from the ship or from the other boats. as the line grows less and less, another and another oar is hoisted to show that help must be sent quickly. if no assistance can be sent, the only thing that remains to be done is to cut the line and lose the fish; but a whale-line, with its harpoon, is a very heavy loss, in addition to that of the fish, so that whalers are tempted to hold on a little too long sometimes. when we saw the mate's boat dashing away in this style, we forgot our grief at the loss of our whale in anxiety to render assistance to our comrades, and we rowed towards them as fast as we could. fortunately the whale changed its course and came straight towards us, so that we ceased pulling, and waited till they came up. as the boat came on i saw the foam curling up on her bows as she leaped and flew over the sea. i could scarcely believe it possible that wood and iron could bear such a strain. in a few minutes they were almost abreast of us. "you're holding too hard!" shouted the captain. "lines all out!" roared the mate. they were past almost before these short sentences could be spoken. but they had not gone twenty yards ahead of us when the water rushed in over the bow, and before we could utter a word the boat and crew were gone. not a trace of them remained! the horror of the moment had not been fully felt, however, when the boat rose to the surface keel up, and, one after another, the heads of the men appeared. the line had fortunately broken, otherwise the boat would have been lost, and the entire crew probably would have gone to the bottom with her. we instantly pulled to the rescue, and were thankful to find that not a man was killed, though some of them were a little hurt, and all had received a terrible fright. we next set to work to right the upset boat, an operation which was not accomplished without much labour and difficulty. now, while we were thus employed, our third boat, which was in charge of the second mate, had gone after the whale that had caused us so much trouble, and when we had got the boat righted and began to look about us, we found that she was fast to the fish about a mile to leeward. "hurrah, lads!" cried the captain, "luck has not left us yet. give way, my hearties, pull like britons! we'll get that fish yet." we were all dreadfully done up by this time, but the sight of a boat fast to a whale restored us at once, and we pulled away as stoutly as if we had only begun the day's work. the whale was heading in the direction of the ship, and when we came up to the scene of action the second mate had just "touched the life"; in other words, he had driven the lance deep down into the whale's vitals. this was quickly known by jets of blood being spouted up through the blowholes. soon after, our victim went into its dying agonies, or, as whalemen say, "his flurry ". this did not last long. in a short time he rolled over dead. we fastened a line to his tail, the three boats took the carcass in tow, and, singing a lively song, we rowed away to the ship. thus ended our first battle with the whales. chapter iv "cutting in" the blubber and "trying out" the oil the scene that took place on board ship after we caught our first fish was most wonderful. we commenced the operation of what is called "cutting in", that is, cutting up the whale, and getting the fat or blubber hoisted in. the next thing we did was to "try out" the oil, or melt down the fat in large iron pots brought with us for this purpose; and the change that took place in the appearance of the ship and the men when this began was very remarkable. when we left port our decks were clean, our sails white, our masts well scraped; the brass-work about the quarter-deck was well polished, and the men looked tidy and clean. a few hours after our first whale had been secured alongside all this was changed. the cutting up of the huge carcass covered the decks with oil and blood, making them so slippery that they had to be covered with sand to enable the men to walk about. then the smoke of the great fires under the melting pots begrimed the masts, sails, and cordage with soot. the faces and hands of the men got so covered with oil and soot that it would have puzzled anyone to say whether they were white or black. their clothes, too, became so dirty that it was impossible to clean them. but, indeed, whalemen do not much mind this. in fact, they take a pleasure in all the dirt that surrounds them, because it is a sign of success in the main object of their voyage. the men in a _clean_ whale ship are never happy. when everything is filthy, and dirty, and greasy, and smoky, and black--decks, rigging, clothes, and person--it is then that the hearty laugh and jest and song are heard as the crew work busily, night and day, at their rough but profitable labour. the operations of "cutting in" and "trying out" were matters of great interest to me the first time i saw them. after having towed our whale to the ship, cutting in was immediately begun. first, the carcass was secured near the head and tail with chains, and made fast to the ship; then the great blocks and ropes fastened to the main and fore mast for hoisting in the blubber were brought into play. when all was ready, the captain and the two mates with tom lokins got upon the whale's body, with long-handled sharp spades or digging-knives. with these they fell to work cutting off the blubber. i was stationed at one of the hoisting ropes, and while we were waiting for the signal to "hoist away", i peeped over the side, and for the first time had a good look at the great fish. when we killed it, so much of its body was down in the water that i could not see it very clearly, but now that it was lashed at full length alongside the ship, and i could look right down upon it, i began to understand more clearly what a large creature it was. one thing surprised me much; the top of its head, which was rough and knotty like the bark of an old tree, was swarming with little crabs and barnacles, and other small creatures. the whale's head seemed to be their regular home! this fish was by no means one of the largest kind, but being the first i had seen, i fancied it must be the largest fish in the sea. its body was forty feet long, and twenty feet round at the thickest part. its head, which seemed to me a great, blunt, shapeless thing, like a clumsy old boat, was eight feet long from the tip to the blowholes or nostrils; and these holes were situated on the back of the head, which at that part was nearly four feet broad. the entire head measured about twenty-one feet round. its ears were two small holes, so small that it was difficult to discover them, and the eyes were also very small for so large a body, being about the same size as those of an ox. the mouth was very large, and the under jaw had great ugly lips. when it was dying, i saw these lips close in once or twice on its fat cheeks, which it bulged out like the leather sides of a pair of gigantic bellows. it had two fins, one on each side, just behind the head. with these, and with its tail, the whale swims and fights. its tail is its most deadly weapon. the flukes of this one measured thirteen feet across, and with one stroke of this it could have smashed our largest boat in pieces. many a boat has been sent to the bottom in this way. i remember hearing our first mate tell of a wonderful escape a comrade of his had in the greenland sea fishery. a whale had been struck, and, after its first run, they hauled up to it again, and rowed so hard that they ran the boat right against it. the harpooner was standing on the bow all ready, and sent his iron cleverly into the blubber. in its agony the whale reared its tail high out of the water, and the flukes whirled for a moment like a great fan just above the harpooner's head. one glance up was enough to show him that certain death was descending. in an instant he dived over the side and disappeared. next moment the flukes came down on the part of the boat he had just left, and cut it clean off; the other part was driven into the waves, and the men were left swimming in the water. they were all picked up, however, by another boat that was in company, and the harpooner was recovered with the rest. his quick dive had been the saving of his life. i had not much time given me to study the appearance of this whale before the order was given to "hoist away!" so we went to work with a will. the first part that came up was the huge lip, fastened to a large iron hook, called the blubber hook. it was lowered into the blubber-room between decks, where a couple of men were stationed to stow the blubber away. then came the fins, and after them the upper jaw, with the whalebone attached to it. the "right" whale has no teeth like the sperm whale. in place of teeth it has the well-known substance called whalebone, which grows from the roof of its mouth in a number of broad thin plates, extending from the back of the head to the snout. the lower edges of these plates of whalebone are split into thousands of hairs like bristles, so that the inside roof of a whale's mouth resembles an enormous blacking brush! the object of this curious arrangement is to enable the whale to catch the little shrimps and small sea-blubbers, called "medusa;", on which it feeds. i have spoken before of these last as being the little creatures that gave out such a beautiful pale-blue light at night. the whale feeds on them. when he desires a meal he opens his great mouth and rushes into the midst of a shoal of medusae; the little things get entangled in thousands among the hairy ends of the whalebone, and when the monster has got a large enough mouthful, he shuts his lower jaw and swallows what his net has caught. the wisdom as well as the necessity of this arrangement is very plain. of course, while dashing through the sea in this fashion, with his mouth agape, the whale must keep his throat closed, else the water would rush down it and choke him. shutting his throat then, as he does, the water is obliged to flow out of his mouth as fast as it flows in; it is also spouted up through his blowholes, and this with such violence that many of the little creatures would be swept out along with it but for the hairy-ended whalebone which lets the sea-water out, but keeps the medusae in. well, let us return to our "cutting in". after the upper jaw came the lower jaw and throat, with the tongue. this last was an enormous mass of fat, about as large as an ox, and it weighed fifteen hundred or two thousand pounds. after this was got in, the rest of the work was simple. the blubber of the body was peeled off in great strips, beginning at the neck and being cut spirally towards the tail. it was hoisted on board by the blocks, the captain and mates cutting, and the men at the windlass hoisting, and the carcass slowly turning round until we got an unbroken piece of blubber, reaching from the water to nearly as high as the mainyard-arm. this mass was nearly a foot thick, and it looked like fat pork. it was cut off close to the deck, and lowered into the blubber-room, where the two men stationed there attacked it with knives, cut it into smaller pieces, and stowed it away. then another piece was hoisted on board in the same fashion, and so on we went till every bit of blubber was cut off; and i heard the captain remark to the mate when the work was done, that the fish was a good fat one, and he wouldn't wonder if it turned out to be worth pounds. now, when this process was going on, a new point of interest arose which i had not thought of before, although my messmate, tom lokins, had often spoken of it on the voyage out. this was the arrival of great numbers of sea-birds. tom had often told me of the birds that always keep company with whalers; but i had forgotten all about it until i saw an enormous albatross come sailing majestically through the air towards us. this was the largest bird i ever saw, and no wonder, for it is the largest bird that flies. soon after that, another arrived, and although we were more than a thousand miles from any shore, we were speedily scented out and surrounded by hosts of gonies, stinkards, haglets, gulls, pigeons, petrels, and other sea-birds, which commenced to feed on pieces of the whale's carcass with the most savage gluttony. these birds were dreadfully greedy. they had stuffed themselves so full in the course of a short time, that they flew heavily and with great difficulty. no doubt they would have to take three or four days to digest that meal! sharks, too, came to get their share of what was going. but these savage monsters did not content themselves with what was thrown away; they were so bold as to come before our faces and take bites out of the whale's body. some of these sharks were eight and nine feet long, and when i saw them open their horrid jaws, armed with three rows of glistening white sharp teeth, i could well understand how easily they could bite off the leg of a man, as they often do when they get the chance. sometimes they would come right up on the whale's body with a wave, bite out great pieces of the flesh, turn over on their bellies, and roll off. while i was looking over the side during the early part of that day, i saw a very large shark come rolling up in this way close to tom lokins's legs. tom made a cut at him with his blubber-spade, but the shark rolled off in time to escape the blow. and after all it would not have done him much damage, for it is not easy to frighten or take the life out of a shark. "hand me an iron and line, bob," said tom, looking up at me. "i've got a spite agin that feller. he's been up twice already. ah! hand it down here, and two or three of ye stand by to hold on by the line. there he comes, the big villain!" the shark came close to the side of the whale at that moment, and tom sent the harpoon right down his throat. "hold on hard," shouted tom. "aye, aye," replied several of the men as they held on to the line, their arms jerking violently as the savage fish tried to free itself. we quickly reeved a line through a block at the fore yard-arm, and hauled it on deck with much difficulty. the scene that followed was very horrible, for there was no killing the brute. it threshed the deck with its tail, and snapped so fiercely with its tremendous jaws, that we had to keep a sharp look-out lest it should catch hold of a leg. at last its tail was cut off, the body cut open, and all the entrails' taken out, yet even after this it continued to flap and thresh about the deck for some time, and the heart continued to contract for twenty minutes after it was taken out and pierced with a knife. i would not have believed this had i not seen it with my own eyes. in case some of my readers may doubt its truth, i would remind them how difficult it is to kill some of those creatures with which we are all familiar. the common worm, for instance, may be cut into a number of small pieces, and yet each piece remains alive for some time after. the skin of the shark is valued by the whalemen, because, when cleaned and dry, it is as good as sand-paper, and is much used in polishing the various things they make out of whales' bones and teeth. when the last piece of blubber had been cut off our whale, the great chain that held it to the ship's side was cast off, and the now useless carcass sank like a stone, much to the sorrow of some of the smaller birds, which, having been driven away by their bigger comrades, had not fed so heartily as they wished perhaps! but what was loss to the gulls was gain to the sharks, which could follow the carcass down into the deep and devour it at their leisure. "now, lads," cried the mate, when the remains had vanished, "rouse up the fires, look alive, my hearties!" "aye, aye, sir," was the ready reply, cheerfully given, as every man sprang to his appointed duty. and so, having "cut in" our whale, we next proceeded to "try out" the oil. chapter v a storm, a man overboard, and a rescue the scenes in a whaleman's life are varied and very stirring. sometimes he is floating on the calm ocean, idling about the deck and whistling for a breeze, when all of a sudden the loud cry is heard, "there she blows!" and in a moment the boats are in the water, and he is engaged in all the toils of an exciting chase. then comes the battle with the great leviathan of the deep, with all its risks and dangers. sometimes he is unfortunate, the decks are clean, he has nothing to do. at other times he is lucky, "cutting in" and "trying out" engage all his energies and attention. frequently storms toss him on the angry deep, and show him, if he will but learn the lesson, how helpless a creature he is, and how thoroughly dependent at all times for life, safety, and success, upon the arm of god. "trying out" the oil, although not so thrilling a scene as many a one in his career, is, nevertheless, extremely interesting, especially at night, when the glare of the fires in the try-works casts a deep-red glow on the faces of the men, on the masts and sails, and even out upon the sea. the try-works consisted of two huge melting-pots fixed upon brick-work fireplaces between the fore and main masts. while some of the men were down in the blubber-room cutting the "blanket-pieces", as the largest masses are called, others were pitching the smaller pieces on deck, where they were seized by two men who stood near a block of wood, called a "horse", with a mincing knife, to slash the junks so as to make them melt easily. these were then thrown into the melting-pots by one of the mates, who kept feeding the fires with such "scraps" of blubber as remain after the oil is taken out. once the fires were fairly set agoing no other kind of fuel was required than "scraps" of blubber. as the boiling oil rose it was baled into copper cooling-tanks. it was the duty of two other men to dip it out of these tanks into casks, which were then headed up by our cooper, and stowed away in the hold. as the night advanced the fires became redder and brighter by contrast, the light shone and glittered on the bloody decks, and, as we plied our dirty work, i could not help thinking, "what would my mother say, if she could get a peep at me now?" the ship's crew worked and slept by watches, for the fires were not allowed to go out all night. about midnight i sat down on the windlass to take a short rest, and began talking to one of the men, fred borders by name. he was one of the quietest and most active men in the ship, and, being quite a young man, not more than nineteen, he and i drew to one another, and became very intimate. "i think we're goin' to have a breeze, bob," said he, as a sharp puff of wind crossed the deck, driving the black smoke to leeward, and making the fire flare up in the try-works. "i hope it won't be a storm, then," said i, "for it will oblige us to put out the fires." just then tom lokins came up, ordered fred to go and attend to the fires, sat down opposite to me on the windlass, and began to "lay down the law" in regard to storms. "you see, bob ledbury," said he, beginning to fill his pipe, "young fellers like you don't know nothin' about the weather--'cause why? you've got no experience. now, i'll put you up to a dodge consarning this very thing." i never found out what was the dodge that tom, in his wisdom, was to have put me up to, for at that moment the captain came on deck, and gave orders to furl the top-gallant sails. three or four of us ran up the rigging like monkeys, and in a few minutes the sails were lashed to the yards. the wind now began to blow steadily from the nor'-west; but not so hard as to stop our tryworks for more than an hour. after that it blew stiff enough to raise a heavy sea, and we were compelled to slack the fires. this was all the harm it did to us, however, for although the breeze was stiffish, it was nothing like a gale. as the captain and the first mate walked the quarter-deck together, i heard the former say to the latter, "i think we had as well take in a reef in the topsails. all hereabouts the fishing-ground is good, we don't need to carry on." the order was given to reduce sail, and the men lay out on the topsail yards. i noticed that my friend fred borders was the first man to spring up the shrouds and lay out on the main-topsail yard. it was so dark that i could scarcely see the masts. while i was gazing up, i thought i observed a dark object drop from the yard; at the same moment there was a loud shriek, followed by a plunge in the sea. this was succeeded by the sudden cry, "man overboard!" and instantly the whole ship was in an uproar. no one who has not heard that cry can understand the dreadful feelings that are raised in the human breast by it. my heart at first seemed to leap into my mouth and almost choke me. then a terrible fear, which i cannot describe, shot through me, when i thought it might be my comrade fred borders. but these thoughts and feelings passed like lightning--in a far shorter time than it takes to write them down. the shriek was still ringing in my ears when the captain roared-- "down your helm! stand by to lower away the boats." at the same moment he seized a light hen-coop and tossed it overboard, and the mate did the same with an oar in the twinkling of an eye. almost without knowing what i did, or why i did it, i seized a great mass of oakum and rubbish that lay on the deck saturated with oil, i thrust it into the embers of the fire in the try-works, and hurled it blazing into the sea. [illustration: "hurled it blazing into the sea"] the ship's head was thrown into the wind, and we were brought to as quickly as possible. a gleam of hope arose within me on observing that the mass i had thrown overboard continued still to burn; but when i saw how quickly it went astern, notwithstanding our vigorous efforts to stop the ship, my heart began to sink, and when, a few moments after, the light suddenly disappeared, despair seized upon me, and i gave my friend up for lost. at that moment, strange to say, thoughts of my mother came into my mind, i remembered her words, "call upon the lord, my dear boy, when you are in trouble." although i had given but little heed to prayer, or to my maker, up to that time, i did pray, then and there, most earnestly that my messmate might be saved. i cannot say that i had much hope that my prayer would be answered--indeed i think i had none,--still, the mere act of crying in my distress to the almighty afforded me a little relief, and it was with a good deal of energy that i threw myself into the first boat that was lowered, and pulled at the oar as if my own life depended on it. a lantern had been fastened to the end of an oar and set up in the boat, and by its faint light i could see that the men looked very grave. tom lokins was steering, and i sat near him, pulling the aft oar. "do you think we've any chance, tom?" said i. a shake of the head was his only reply. "it must have been here away," said the mate, who stood up in the bow with a coil of rope at his feet, and a boat-hook in his hand. "hold on, lads, did anyone hear a cry?" no one answered. we all ceased pulling, and listened intently; but the noise of the waves and the whistling of the winds were all the sounds we heard. "what's that floating on the water?" said one of the men, suddenly. "where away?" cried everyone eagerly. "right off the lee-bow--there, don't you see it?" at that moment a faint cry came floating over the black water, and died away in the breeze. the single word "hurrah!" burst from our throats with all the power of our lungs, and we bent to our oars till we wellnigh tore the rollicks out of the boat. "hold hard! stern all!" roared the mate, as we went flying down to leeward, and almost ran over the hen-coop, to which a human form was seen to be clinging with the tenacity of a drowning man. we had swept down so quickly, that we shot past it. in an agony of fear lest my friend should be again lost in the darkness, i leaped up and sprang into the sea. tom lokins, however, had noticed what i was about; he seized me by the collar of my jacket just as i reached the water, and held me with a grip like a vice till one of the men came to his assistance, and dragged me back into the boat. in a few moments more we reached the hen-coop, and fred was saved! he was half dead with cold and exhaustion, poor fellow, but in a few minutes he began to recover, and before we reached the ship he could speak. his first words were to thank god for his deliverance. then he added: "and, thanks to the man that flung that light overboard. i should have gone down but for that. it showed me where the hen-coop was." i cannot describe the feeling of joy that filled my heart when he said this. "aye, who wos it that throw'd that fire overboard?" enquired one of the men. "don't know," replied another, "i think it wos the cap'n." "you'll find that out when we get aboard," cried the mate; "pull away, lads." in five minutes fred borders was passed up the side and taken down below. in two minutes more we had him stripped naked, rubbed dry, wrapped in hot blankets, and set down on one of the lockers, with a hot brick at his feet, and a stiff can of hot rum and water in his hand. chapter vi the whale--fighting bulls, etc. as the reader may, perhaps, have been asking a few questions about the whale in his own mind, i shall try to answer them, by telling a few things concerning that creature which, i think, are worth knowing. in the first place, the whale is not a fish! i have applied that name to it, no doubt, because it is the custom to do so; but there are great differences between the whales and the fishes. the mere fact that the whale lives in water is not sufficient to prove it to be a fish. the frog lives very much in water--he is born in the water, and, when very young, he lives in it altogether--would die, in fact, if he were taken out of it; yet a frog is not a fish. the following are some of the differences existing between a whale and a fish:--the whale is a warm-blooded animal; the fish is cold-blooded. the whale brings forth its young alive; while most fishes lay eggs or spawn. moreover, the fish lives entirely under water, but the whale cannot do so. he breathes air through enormous lungs, not gills. if you were to hold a whale's head under water for much longer than an hour, it would certainly be drowned; and this is the reason why it comes so frequently to the surface of the sea to take breath. whales seldom stay more than an hour under water, and when they come up to breathe, they discharge the last breath they took through their nostrils or blowholes, mixed with large quantities of water which they have taken in while feeding. but the most remarkable point of difference between the whale and fishes of all kinds is, that it suckles its young. the calf of one kind of whale is about fourteen feet long when it is born, and it weighs about a ton. the cow-whale usually brings forth only one calf at a time, and the manner in which she behaves to her gigantic baby shows that she is affected by feelings of anxiety and affection such as are never seen in fishes, which heartless creatures forsake their eggs when they are laid, and i am pretty sure they would not know their own children if they happened to meet with them. the whale, on the contrary, takes care of her little one, gives it suck, and sports playfully with it in the waves; its enormous heart throbbing all the while, no doubt, with satisfaction. i have heard of a whale which was once driven into shoal water with its calf and nearly stranded. the huge dam seemed to become anxious for the safety of her child, for she was seen to swim eagerly round it, embrace it with her fins, and roll it over in the waves, trying to make it follow her into deep water. but the calf was obstinate; it would not go, and the result was that the boat of a whaler pulled up and harpooned it. the poor little whale darted away like lightning on receiving the terrible iron, and ran out a hundred fathoms of line; but it was soon overhauled and killed. all this time the dam kept close to the side of its calf, and not until a harpoon was plunged into her own side would she move away. two boats were after her. with a single rap of her tail she cut one of the boats in two, and then darted off. but in a short time she turned and came back. her feelings of anxiety had returned, no doubt, after the first sting of pain was over, and she died at last close to the side of her young one. there are various kinds of whales, but the two sorts that are most sought after are the common whale of the greenland seas, which is called the "right whale", and the sperm whale of the south sea. both kinds are found in the south; but the sperm whale never goes to the north seas. both kinds grow to an enormous size--sometimes to seventy feet in length, but there is considerable difference in their appearance, especially about the head. in a former chapter i have partly described the head of a _right_ whale, which has whalebone instead of teeth, with its blowholes on the back of the head. the sperm whale has large white teeth in its lower jaw and none at all in the upper. it has only one blowhole, and that a little one, much farther forward on its head, so that sailors can tell, at a great distance, what kind of whales they see simply by their manner of spouting. the most remarkable feature about the sperm whale is the bluntness of its clumsy head, which looks somewhat like a big log with the end sawn square off, and this head is about one-third of its entire body. the sperm whale feeds differently from the right whale. he seizes his prey with his powerful teeth, and lives, to a great extent, on large cuttle-fish. some of them have been seen to vomit lumps of these cuttle-fish as long as a whale-boat. he is much fiercer, too, than the right whale, which almost always takes to flight when struck, but the sperm whale will sometimes turn on its foes and smash their boat with a blow of his blunt head or tail. fighting-whales, as they are called, are not uncommon. these are generally old bulls, which have become wise from experience, and give the whalers great trouble--sometimes carrying away several harpoons and lines. the lower jaw of one old bull of this kind was found to be sixteen feet long, and it had forty-eight teeth, some of them a foot long. a number of scars about his head showed that this fellow had been in the wars. when two bull-whales take to fighting, their great effort is to catch each other by the lower jaw, and, when locked together, they struggle with a degree of fury that cannot be described. it is not often that the sperm whale actually attacks a ship; but there are a few cases of this kind which cannot be doubted. the following story is certainly true; and while it shows how powerful a creature the whale is, it also shows what terrible risk and sufferings the whaleman has frequently to encounter. in the month of august, , the american whaleship _essex_ sailed from nantucket for the pacific ocean. she was commanded by captain pollard. late in the autumn of the same year, when in latitude degrees of the south pacific, a shoal, or "school", of sperm whales was discovered, and three boats were immediately lowered and sent in pursuit. the mate's boat was struck by one of the fish during the chase, and it was found necessary to return to the ship to repair damages. while the men were employed at this, an enormous whale suddenly rose quite close to the ship. he was going at nearly the same rate with the ship--about three miles an hour; and the men, who were good judges of the size of whales, thought that it could not have been less than eighty-five feet long. all at once he ran against the ship, striking her bows, and causing her to tremble like a leaf. the whale immediately dived and passed under the ship, and grazed her keel in doing so. this evidently hurt his back, for he suddenly rose to the surface about fifty yards off, and commenced lashing the sea with his tail and fins as if suffering great agony. it was truly an awful sight to behold that great monster lashing the sea into foam at so short a distance. in a short time he seemed to recover, and started off at great speed to windward. meanwhile the men discovered that the blow received by the ship had done her so much damage, that she began to fill and settle down at the bows; so they rigged the pumps as quickly as possible. while working them one of the men cried out: "god have mercy! he comes again!" this was too true. the whale had turned, and was now bearing down on them at full speed, leaving a white track of foam behind him. rushing at the ship like a battering-ram, he hit her fair on the weather bow and stove it in, after which he dived and disappeared. the horrified men took to their boats at once, and in _ten minutes_ the ship went down. the condition of the men thus left in three open boats far out upon the sea, without provisions or shelter, was terrible indeed. some of them perished, and the rest, after suffering the severest hardships, reached a low island called ducies on the th of december. it was a mere sand-bank, which supplied them only with water and sea-fowl. still even this was a mercy, for which they had reason to thank god; for in cases of this kind one of the evils that seamen have most cause to dread is the want of water. three of the men resolved to remain on this sand-bank, for dreary and uninhabited though it was, they preferred to take their chance of being picked up by a passing ship rather than run the risks of crossing the wide ocean in open boats, so their companions bade them a sorrowful farewell, and left them. but this island is far out of the usual track of ships. the poor fellows have never since been heard of. it was the th of december when the three boats left the sand-bank with the remainder of the men, and began a voyage of two thousand miles, towards the island of juan fernandez. the mate's boat was picked up, about three months after, by the ship _indian_ of london, with only three living men in it. about the same time the captain's boat was discovered, by the _dauphin_ of nantucket, with only two men living; and these unhappy beings had only sustained life by feeding on the flesh of their dead comrades. the third boat must have been lost, for it was never heard of; and out of the whole crew of twenty men, only five returned home to tell their eventful story. before resuming the thread of my narrative, i must not omit to mention, that in the head of the sperm whale there is a large cavity or hole called the "case", which contains pure oil that does not require to be melted, but can be baled at once into casks and stowed away. this is the valuable spermaceti from which the finest candles are made. one whale will sometimes yield fifteen barrels of spermaceti oil from the "case" of its head. a large fish will produce from eighty to a hundred barrels of oil altogether, sometimes much more; and when whalemen converse with each other about the size of whales, they speak of "eighty-barrel fish", and so on. although i have written much about the fighting powers of the sperm whale, it must not be supposed that whales are by nature fond of fighting. on the contrary, the "right" whale is a timid creature, and never shows fight except in defence of its young. and the sperm whale generally takes to flight when pursued. in fact, most of the accidents that happen to whalemen occur when the wounded monster is lashing the water in blind terror and agony. the whale has three bitter enemies, much smaller, but much bolder than himself, and of these he is terribly afraid. they are: the swordfish, the thrasher, and the killer. the first of these, the sword-fish, has a strong straight horn or sword projecting from his snout, with which he boldly attacks and pierces the whale. the thrasher is a strong fish, twenty feet long, and of great weight. its method of attack is to leap out of the water on the whale's back, and deal it a tremendous blow with its powerful tail. the sword-fish and thrasher sometimes act together in the attack; the first stabbing him below, and the second belabouring him above, while the whale, unable, or too frightened to fight, rushes through the water, and even leaps its whole gigantic length into the air in its endeavours to escape. when a whale thus leaps his whole length out of the water, the sailors say he "breaches", and breaching is a common practice. they seem to do it often for amusement as well as from terror. but the most deadly of the three enemies is the killer. this is itself a kind of small whale, but it is wonderfully strong, swift, and bold. when one of the killers gets into the middle of a school of whales, the frightened creatures are seen flying in all directions. his mode of attack is to seize his big enemy by the jaw, and hold on until he is exhausted and dies. chapter vii tom's wisdom--another great battle one day i was standing beside the windlass, listening to the conversation of five or six of the men, who were busy sharpening harpoons and cutting-knives, or making all kinds of toys and things out of whales' bones. we had just finished cutting in and trying out our third whale, and as it was not long since we reached the fishing-ground, we were in high hopes of making a good thing of it that season; so that everyone was in good spirits, from the captain down to the youngest man in the ship. tom lokins was smoking his pipe, and tom's pipe was an uncommonly black one, for he smoked it very often. moreover, tom's pipe was uncommonly short, so short that i always wondered how he escaped burning the end of his nose. indeed, some of the men said that the redness of the end of tom's nose was owing to its being baked like a brick by the heat of his pipe. tom took this pipe from his mouth, and while he was pushing down the tobacco with the end of his little finger, he said: "d'ye know, lads, i've been thinkin'----" "no, have ye?" cried one of the men, interrupting him with a look of pretended surprise. "well now, i do think, messmates, that we should ax the mate to make a note o' that in the log, for it's not often that tom lokins takes to thinkin'." there was a laugh at this, but tom, turning with a look of contempt to the man who interrupted him, replied: "i'll tell you wot it is, bill blunt, if all the thoughts that _you_ think, and especially the jokes that you utter, wos put down in the log, they'd be so heavy that i do believe they would sink the ship!" "well, well," cried bill, joining in the laugh against himself, "if they did, _your_ jokes would be so light and triflin' that i do believe they'd float her again. but what have you been a-thinkin' of, tom?" "i've been thinkin'," said tom slowly, "that if a whale makes his breakfast entirely off them little things that you can hardly see when you get 'em into a tumbler--i forget how the captain calls 'em--wot a _tree-mendous_ heap of 'em he must eat in the course of a year!" "thousands of 'em, i suppose," said one of the men. "thousands!" cried tom, "i should rather say billions of them." "how much is billions, mate?" enquired bill. "i don't know," answered tom. "never could find out. you see it's heaps upon heaps of thousands, for the thousands come first and the billions afterwards; but when i've thought uncommon hard, for a long spell at a time, i always get confused, because millions comes in between, d'ye see, and that's puzzlin'." "i think i could give you some notion about these things," said fred borders, who had been quietly listening all the time, but never putting in a word, for, as i have said, fred was a modest bashful man and seldom spoke much. but we had all come to notice that when fred spoke, he had always something to say worth hearing; and when he did speak he spoke out boldly enough. we had come to have feelings of respect for our young shipmate, for he was a kind-hearted lad, and we saw by his conversation that he had been better educated than the most of us, so all our tongues stopped as the eyes of the party turned on him. "come, fred, let's hear it then," said tom. "it's not much i have to tell," began fred, "but it may help to make your minds clearer on this subject. on my first voyage to the whale fishery (you know, lads, this is my second voyage) i went to the greenland seas. we had a young doctor aboard with us--quite a youth; indeed he had not finished his studies at college, but he was cleverer, for all that, than many an older man that had gone through his whole course. i do believe that the reason of his being so clever was, that he was for ever observing things, and studying them, and making notes, and trying to find out reasons. he was never satisfied with knowing a thing; he must always find out _why_ it was. one day i heard him ask the captain what it was that made the sea so green in some parts of those seas. our captain was an awfully stupid man. so long as he got plenty oil he didn't care two straws for the reason of anything. the young doctor had been bothering him that morning with a good many questions, so when he asked him what made the sea green, he answered sharply, 'i suppose it makes itself green, young man,' and then he turned from him with a fling. "the doctor laughed, and came forward among the men, and began to tell us stories and ask questions. ah! he was a real hearty fellow; he would tell you all kinds of queer things, and would pump you dry of all you knew in no time. well, but the thing i was going to tell you was this. one of the men said to him he had heard that the greenness of the greenland sea was caused by the little things like small bits of jelly on which the whales feed. as soon as he heard this he got a bucket and hauled some sea-water aboard, and for the next ten days he was never done working away with the sea-water; pouring it into tumblers and glasses; looking through it by daylight and by lamplight; tasting it, and boiling it, and examining it with a microscope." "what's a microscope?" enquired one of the men. "don't you know?" said tom lokins, "why, it's a glass that makes little things seem big, when ye look through it. i've heerd that say beasts that are so uncommon small you that can't see them at all are made to come into sight and look quite big by means o' this glass. but i can't myself say that it's true." "but i can," said fred, "for i have seen it with my own eyes. well, after a good while, i made bold to ask the young doctor what he had found out. "'i've found,' said he, 'that the greenness of these seas is in truth caused by uncountable numbers of medusae----'" "ha! that's the word," shouted tom lokins, "medoosy, that's wot the captain calls 'em. heave ahead, fred." "well then," continued fred, "the young doctor went on to tell me that he had been counting the matter to himself very carefully, and he found that in every square mile of sea-water there were living about eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions of these little creatures!" "oh! hallo! come now!" we all cried, opening our eyes very wide indeed. "but, i say, how much is that?" enquired tom lokins. "ah! that's just what i said to the young doctor, and he said to me, 'i'll tell you what, fred borders, no man alive understands how much that is, and what's more, no man ever will; but i'll give you _some notion_ of what it means'; and so he told me how long it would take forty thousand men to count that number of eleven quadrillions, nine hundred and ninety-nine trillions, each man of the forty thousand beginning 'one ', 'two', 'three', and going on till the sum of the whole added together would make it up. now, how long d'ye think it would take them?--guess." fred borders smiled as he said this, and looked round the circle of men. "i know," cried one; "it would take the whole forty thousand _a week_ to do it." "oh! nonsense, they could do it easy in two days," said another. "that shows how little you know about big numbers," observed tom lokins, knocking the ashes out of his pipe. "i'm pretty sure it couldn't be done in much less than six months; workin' hard all day, and makin' allowance for only one hour off for dinner." "you're all wrong, shipmates," said fred borders. "that young doctor told me that if they'd begun work at the day of creation they would only have just finished the job last year!" "oh! gammon, you're jokin'," cried bill blunt. "no, i'm not," said fred, "for i was told afterwards by an old clergyman that the young doctor was quite right, and that anyone who was good at 'rithmetic could work the thing out for himself in less than half an hour." just as fred said this there came a loud cry from the mast-head that made us all spring to our feet like lightning. "there she blows! there she breaches!" the captain was on deck in a moment. "where away?" he cried. "on the lee beam, sir. sperm whale, about two miles off. there she blows!" every man was at his station in a moment; for, after being some months out, we became so used to the work, that we acted together like a piece of machinery. but our excitement never abated in the least. "sing out when the ship heads for her." "aye, aye, sir." "keep her away!" said the captain to the man at the helm. "bob ledbury, hand me the spy-glass." "steady," from the mast-head. "steady it is," answered the man at the helm. while we were all looking eagerly out ahead we heard a thundering snore behind us, followed by a heavy splash. turning quickly round, we saw the flukes of an enormous whale sweeping through the air not more than six hundred yards astern of us. "down your helm," roared the captain; "haul up the mainsail, and square the yards. call all hands." "all hands, ahoy!" roared bill blunt, in a voice of thunder, and in another moment every man in the ship was on deck. "hoist and swing the boats," cried the captain. "lower away." down went the boats into the water; the men were into their places almost before you could wink, and we pulled away from the ship just as the whale rose the second time, about half a mile away to leeward. from the appearance of this whale we felt certain that it was one of the largest we had yet seen, so we pulled after it with right good will. i occupied my usual place in the captain's boat, next the bow oar, just beside tom lokins, who was ready with his harpoons in the bow. young borders pulled the oar directly in front of me. the captain himself steered, and, as our crew was a picked one, we soon left the other two boats behind us. presently a small whale rose close beside us, and, sending a shower of spray over the boat, went down in a pool of foam. before we had time to speak, another whale rose on the opposite side of the boat, and then another on our starboard bow. we had got into the middle of a shoal of whales, which commenced leaping and spouting all round us, little aware of the dangerous enemy that was so near. in a few minutes more up comes the big one again that we had first seen. he seemed very active and wild. after blowing on the surface once or twice, about a quarter of a mile off, he peaked his flukes, and pitched down head foremost. "now then, lads, he's down for a long dive," said the captain; "spring your oars like men, we'll get that fish for certain, if you'll only pull." the captain was mistaken; the whale had only gone down deep in order to come up and breach, or spring out of the water, for the next minute he came up not a hundred yards from us, and leaped his whole length into the air. a shout of surprise broke from the men, and no wonder, for this was the largest fish i ever saw or heard of, and he came up so clear of the water that we could see him from head to tail as he turned over in the air, exposing his white belly to view, and came down on his great side with a crash like thunder, that might have been heard six miles off. a splendid mass of pure white spray burst from the spot where he fell, and in another moment he was gone. "i do believe it's _new zealand tom_," cried bill blunt, referring to an old bull whale that had become famous among the men who frequented these seas for its immense size and fierceness, and for the great trouble it had given them, smashing some of their boats, and carrying away many of their harpoons. "i don't know whether it's new zealand tom or not," said the captain, "but it's pretty clear that he's an old sperm bull. give way, lads, we must get that whale whatever it should cost us." we did not need a second bidding; the size of the fish was so great that we felt more excited than we had yet been during the voyage, so we bent our oars till we almost pulled the boat out of the water. the other boats had got separated, chasing the little whales, so we had this one all to ourselves. "there she blows!" said tom lokins, in a low voice, as the fish came up a short distance astern of us. we had overshot our mark, so, turning about, we made for the whale, which kept for a considerable time near the top of the water, spouting now and then, and going slowly to windward. we at last got within a few feet of the monster, and the captain suddenly gave the word, "stand up." this was to our harpooner, tom lokins, who jumped up on the instant, and buried two harpoons deep in the blubber. "stern all!" was the next word, and we backed off with all our might. it was just in time, for, in his agony, the whale tossed his tail right over our heads, the flukes were so big that they could have completely covered the boat, and he brought them down flat on the sea with a clap that made our ears tingle, while a shower of spray drenched us to the skin. for one moment i thought it was all over with us, but we were soon out of immediate danger, and lay on our oars watching the writhings of the wounded monster as he lashed the ocean into foam. the water all round us soon became white like milk, and the foam near the whale was red with blood. suddenly this ceased, and, before we could pull up to lance him, he went down, taking the line out at such a rate that the boat spun round, and sparks of fire flew from the loggerhead from the chafing of the rope. "hold on!" cried the captain, and next moment we were tearing over the sea at a fearful rate, with a bank of white foam rolling before us, high above our bows, and away on each side of us like the track of a steamer, so that we expected it every moment to rush inboard and swamp us. i had never seen anything like this before. from the first i had a kind of feeling that some evil would befall us. while we were tearing over the water in this way, we saw the other whales coming up every now and then and blowing quite near to us, and presently we passed close enough to the first mate's boat to see that he was fast to a fish, and unable, therefore, to render us help if we should need it. in a short time the line began to slack, so we hauled it in hand over hand, and tom lokins coiled it away in the tub in the stern of the boat, while the captain took his place in the bow to be ready with the lance. the whale soon came up, and we pulled with all our might towards him. instead of making off again, however, he turned round and made straight at the boat. i now thought that destruction was certain, for, when i saw his great blunt forehead coming down on us like a steamboat, i felt that we could not escape. i was mistaken. the captain received him on the point of his lance, and the whale has such a dislike to pain, that even a small prick will sometimes turn him. for some time we kept dodging round this fellow; but he was so old and wise, that he always turned his head to us, and prevented us from getting a chance to lance him. at last he turned a little to one side, and the captain plunged the lance deep into his vitals. "ha! that's touched his life," cried tom, as a stream of blood flew up from his blowholes, a sure sign that he was mortally wounded. but he was not yet conquered. after receiving the cruel stab with the lance, he pitched right down, head foremost, and once more the line began to fly out over the bow. we tried to hold on, but he was going so straight down that the boat was almost swamped, and we had to slack off to prevent our being pulled under water. before many yards of the line had run out, one of the coils in the tub became entangled. "look out, lads!" cried tom, and at once throwing the turn off the logger-head, he made an attempt to clear it. the captain, in trying to do the same thing, slipped and fell. seeing this, i sprang up, and, grasping the coil as it flew past, tried to clear it. before i could think, a turn whipped round my left wrist. i felt a wrench as if my arm had been torn out of the socket, and in a moment i was overboard, going down with almost lightning speed into the depths of the sea. strange to say, i did not lose my presence of mind. i knew exactly what had happened. i felt myself rushing down, down, down with terrific speed; a stream of fire seemed to be whizzing past my eyes; there was a dreadful pressure on my brain, and a roaring as if of thunder in my ears. yet, even in that dread moment, thoughts of eternity, of my sins, and of meeting with my god, flashed into my mind, for thought is quicker than the lightning flash. [illustration: "in a moment i was overboard"] of a sudden the roaring ceased, and i felt myself buffeting the water fiercely in my efforts to reach the surface. i know not how i got free, but i suppose the turn of the line must have slackened off somehow. all this happened within the space of a few brief moments; but oh! they seemed fearfully long to me. i do not think i could have held my breath a second longer. when i came to the surface, and tried to look about me, i saw the boat not more than fifty yards off, and, being a good swimmer, i struck out for it, although i felt terribly exhausted. in a few minutes my comrades saw me, and, with a cheer, put out the oars and began to row towards me. i saw that the line was slack, and that they were hauling it in--a sign that the whale had ceased running and would soon come to the surface again. before they had pulled half-a-dozen strokes i saw the water open close beside the boat, and the monstrous head of the whale shot up like a great rock rising out of the deep. he was not more than three feet from the boat, and he came up with such force, that more than half his gigantic length came out of the water right over the boat. i heard the captain's loud cry--"_stern all!_" but it was too late, the whole weight of the monster's body fell upon the boat; there was a crash and a terrible cry, as the whale and boat went down together. for a few moments he continued to lash the sea in his fury, and the fragments of the boat floated all round him. i thought that every man, of course, had been killed; but one after another their heads appeared in the midst of blood and foam, and they struck out for oars and pieces of the wreck. providentially, the whale, in his tossings, had shot a little away from the spot, else every man must certainly have been killed. a feeling of horror filled my heart, as i beheld all this, and thought upon my position. fortunately, i had succeeded in reaching a broken plank; for my strength was now so much exhausted, that i could not have kept my head above water any longer without its assistance. just then i heard a cheer, and the next time i rose on the swell, i looked quickly round and saw the mate's boat making for the scene of action as fast as a stout and willing crew could pull. in a few minutes more i was clutched by the arm and hauled into it. my comrades were next rescued, and we thanked god when we found that none were killed, although one of them had got a leg broken, and another an arm twisted out of joint. they all, however, seemed to think that my escape was much more wonderful than theirs; but i cannot say that i agreed with them in this. we now turned our attention to the whale, which had dived again. as it was now loose, we did not know, of course, where it would come up: so we lay still awhile. very soon up he came, not far from us, and as fierce as ever. "now, lads, we _must_ get that whale," cried the mate; "give way with a will." the order was obeyed. the boat almost leaped over the swell, and, before long, another harpoon was in the whale's back. "fast again, hurrah!" shouted the mate, "now for the lance." he gave the monster two deep stabs while he spoke, and it vomited up great clots of blood, besides spouting the red stream of life as it rolled on the sea in its agony, obliging us to keep well out of its way. i could not look upon the dying struggles of this enormous fish without feelings of regret and self-reproach for helping to destroy it. i felt almost as if i were a murderer, and that the creator would call me to account for taking part in the destruction of one of his grandest living creatures. but the thought passed quickly from my mind as the whale became more violent and went into its flurry. it began to lash the sea with such astonishing violence, that all the previous struggles seemed as nothing. the water all round became white like milk, with great streaks of red blood running through it, and the sound of the quick blows of its tail and fins resembled that of dull hollow thunder. we gazed at this scene in deep silence and with beating hearts. all at once the struggles ceased. the great carcass rolled over belly up, and lay extended on the sea in death. to me it seemed as if a dead calm had suddenly fallen around us, after a long and furious storm, so great was the change when that whale at length parted with its huge life. the silence was suddenly broken by three hearty cheers, and then, fastening a rope to our prize, we commenced towing it to the ship, which operation occupied us the greater part of the night, for we had no fewer than eight miles to pull. chapter viii death on the sea the whale which we had taken, as i have related in the last chapter, was our largest fish of that season. it produced ninety barrels of oil, and was worth about pounds, so that we did not grieve much over the loss of our boat. but our next loss was of a kind that could not be made up for by oil or money, for it was the loss of a human life. in the whale-fishery men must, like soldiers, expect to risk their lives frequently, and they have too often, alas! to mourn over the loss of a shipmate or friend. up to this time our voyage had gone prosperously. we had caught so many fish that nearly half our cargo was already completed, and if we should be as lucky the remainder of the voyage, we should be able to return home to old england much sooner than we had expected. of course, during all this time we had met with some disappointments, for i am not describing everything that happened on that voyage. it would require a much thicker volume than this to tell the half of our adventures. we lost five or six fish by their sinking before we could get them made fast to the ship, and one or two bolted so fast that they broke loose and carried away a number of harpoons and many a fathom of line. but such misfortunes were what we had to look for. every whaler meets with similar changes of luck, and we did not expect to fare differently from our neighbours. these things did not cause us much regret beyond the time of their occurrence. but it was far otherwise with the loss that now befell us. it happened on a sunday forenoon. i was standing close to the starboard gangway early that morning, looking over the side into the calm water, for there was not a breath of wind, and talking to the first mate, who was a gruff, surly man, but a good officer, and kind enough in his way when everything went smooth with him. but things don't go very smooth generally in whaling life, so the mate was oftener gruff than sweet. "bob ledbury," said he, "have you got your cutting-in gear in order? i've got a notion that we'll 'raise the oil' this day." "all right, sir," said i; "you might shave yourself with the blubber-spades. that was a good fish we got last, sir, wasn't it?" "pretty good, though i've seen bigger." "he gave us a deal of trouble too," said i. "not so much as i've seen others give," said he. "when i was fishing in the greenland seas we made fast to a whale that cost us i don't know how many hundred dollars." (you must know the first mate was a yankee, and he reckoned everything in dollars.) "how was that, sir?" asked i. "well, it was something in this fashion. we were floating about in the north atlantic one calm, hot day, just something like this, only it was the afternoon, not the morning. we were doing nothing, and whistling for a breeze, when, all of a sudden, up comes five or six whales all round the ship, as if they had spied her from the bottom of the sea, and had come up to have a squint at her. of course the boats were manned at once, and in less than no time we were tearing after them like all alive. but them whales were pretty wildish, i guess. they kept us pullin' the best part of five hours before we got a chance at them. my boat was out of sight of the ship before we made fast to a regular snorer, a hundred-barreller at the least. the moment he felt the iron, away he went like the shot out of a gun; but he didn't keep it up long, for soon after another of our boats came up and made fast. well, for some two or three hours we held fast, but could not haul on to him to use the lance, for the moment we came close up alongside of his tail he peaked flukes and dived, then up again, and away as fast as ever. it was about noon before we touched him again; but by that time two more harpoons were made fast, and two other boats cast tow-lines aboard of us, and were hauled along. that was four boats, and more than sixteen hundred fathoms of line, besides four harpoons that was fast to that whale, and yet, for all that, he went ahead as fast as we could have rowed, takin' us along with him quite easy. "a breeze having sprung up, our ship overhauled us in the course of the afternoon, and towards evening we sent a line on board, to see if that would stop the big fish, and the topsails were lowered, so as to throw some of the ship's weight on him, but the irons drew out with the strain. however, we determined to try it again. another line was sent aboard about eight o'clock, and the topsails were lowered, but the line snapped immediately. well, we held on to that whale the whole of that night, and at four o'clock next morning, just thirty-six hours after he was first struck, two fast lines were taken aboard the ship. the breeze was fresh, and against us, so the top-gallant sails were taken in, the courses hauled up, and the topsails clewed down, yet, i assure you, that whale towed the ship dead against the wind for an hour and a half at the rate of two miles an hour, and all the while beating the water with his fins and tail, so that the sea was in a continual foam. we did not kill that fish till after forty hours of the hardest work i ever went through." some of my shipmates seemed to doubt the truth of this story; but, for my part, i believed it, because the mate was a grave, truthful man, though he was gruff, and never told lies, as far as i knew. moreover, a case of the same kind happened some years afterwards, to a messmate of mine, while he was serving aboard the _royal bounty_, on the th of may, . i know that some of the stories which i now tell must seem very wild and unlikely to landsmen; but those who have been to the whale-fishery will admit that i tell nothing but the truth, and if there are any of my readers who are still doubtful, i would say, go and read the works of captain scoresby. it is well known that this whaling captain was a truly religious man, who gave up the fishing, though it turned him in plenty of money, and became a minister of the gospel with a small income, so it is not likely that he would have told what was untrue. well, in his works we find stories that are quite as remarkable as the one i have just told, some of them more so. for instance, he tells us of one whale, in the greenland seas, which was not killed till it had drawn out ten thousand four hundred and forty yards, or about _six miles_ of line, fastened to fifteen harpoons, besides taking one of the boats entirely under water, which boat was never seen again. the mate told us two or three more stories, and a lot of us were gathered round him, listening eagerly, for there is nothing jack likes so much as a _good yarn_, when all of a sudden, the man at the mast-head sang out that a large sperm whale was spouting away two points off the lee-bow. of course we were at our posts in a moment. "there she blows! there she breaches!" sung the look-out. "lower away!" roared the captain. the boats were in the water, and the men on their seats in a moment. the whale we were after was a very large one, we could see that, for after two hours' hard pulling we got near enough to throw a harpoon, and after it was fixed he jumped clean out of the water. then there was the usual battle. it was fierce and long; so long that i began to fear we would have to return empty-handed to the ship. we put ten harpoons into him, one after another, and had a stiff run between the fixing of each. it is astonishing the difference between the fish. one will give you no trouble at all. i have often seen a good big fellow killed in half an hour. another will take you half a day, and perhaps you may lose him after all. the whale we were now after at last took to showing fight. he made two or three runs at the boat, but the mate, who was in command, pricked him off with the lance cleverly. at last we gave him a severe wound, and immediately he dived. "that was into his life," remarked tom lokins, as we sat waiting for him to come up again. the captain's boat was close to ours, about ten yards off. we had not to wait long. the sudden stoppage and slacking off of all the lines showed that the whale was coming up. all at once i saw a dark object rising directly under the captain's boat. before i could make out what it was, almost before i could think, the boat flew up into the air, as if a powder magazine had exploded beneath it. the whale had come up, and hit it with his head right on the keel, so that it was knocked into pieces, and the men, oars, harpoons, lances, and tackle shot up in confusion into the air. immediately after that the whale went into his flurry, but we paid no attention to him, in our anxiety to pick up our companions. they all came to the surface quickly enough, but while some made for the boats vigorously, others swam slowly and with pain, showing that they were hurt, while one or two floated, as if dead, upon the water. most of the men had escaped with only a few cuts and bruises, but one poor fellow was hauled out of the water with a leg broken, and another was so badly knocked about the head that it was a long time before he was again fit for duty. the worst case, however, was that of poor fred borders. he had a leg broken, and a severe wound in the side from a harpoon which had been forced into the flesh over the barbs, so that we could hardly get it drawn out. we laid him in the stern of the boat, where he lay for some time insensible; but in a short time he revived, and spoke to us in a faint voice. his first words were: "i'm dying, messmates. it is into my life, too." "don't say that, fred," said i, while my heart sank within me. "cheer up, my boy, you'll live to be the death of many a whale yet. see, put your lips to this can--it will do you good." he shook his head gently, being too weak to reply. we had killed a big fish that day, and we knew that when he was "tried in" we should have completed our cargo; but there was no cheer given when the monster turned over on his side, and the pull to the ship that evening seemed to us the longest and heaviest we ever had, for our hearts were very sad. next day fred was worse, and we all saw that his words would come true--he was dying; and before the sun had again set poor fred had left us for ever. we buried our shipmate in the usual sailor fashion. we wrapped him in his hammock, with a cannon-ball at his feet to sink him. the captain read the burial-service at the gangway, and then, in deep silence, we committed his corpse to the deep. chapter ix news from home--a gam shoregoing people have but little notion of the ease with which the heart of a jack-tar is made to rejoice when he is out on a long voyage. his pleasures and amusements are so few that he is thankful to make the most of whatever is thrown in his way. in the whale-fisheries, no doubt, he has more than enough of excitement, but after a time he gets used to this, and begins to long for a little variety--and of all the pleasures that fall to his lot, that which delights him most is to have a gam with another ship. now, a gam is the meeting of two or more whale-ships, their keeping company for a time, and the exchanging of visits by the crews. it is neither more nor less than a jollification on the sea--the inviting of your friends to feast and make merry in your floating house. there is this difference, however, between a gam at sea and a party on land, that your _friends_ on the ocean are men whom you perhaps never saw before, and whom you will likely never meet again. there is also another difference--there are no ladies at a gam. this is a great want, for man is but a rugged creature when away from the refining influence of woman; but, in the circumstances, of course, it can't be helped. we had a gam one day, on this voyage, with a yankee whale-ship, and a first-rate gam it was, for, as the yankee had gammed three days before with another english ship, we got a lot of news second-hand; and, as we had not seen a new face for many months, we felt towards those yankees like brothers, and swallowed all they had to tell us like men starving for news. it was on a fine calm morning, just after breakfast, that we fell in with this ship. we had seen no whales for a day or two, but we did not mind that, for our hold was almost full of oil-barrels. tom lokins and i were leaning over the starboard bulwarks, watching the small fish that every now and then darted through the clear-blue water like arrows, and smoking our pipes in silence. tom looked uncommonly grave, and i knew that he was having some deep and knowing thoughts of his own which would leak out in time. all at once he took his pipe from his mouth and stared earnestly at the horizon. "bob," said he, speaking very slowly, "if there ain't a ship right off the starboard beam, i'm a dutchman." "you don't mean it!" said i, starting with a feeling of excitement. before another word could be uttered, the cry of "sail ho!" came ringing down from the mast-head. instantly the quiet of the morning was broken; sleepers sprang up and rubbed their eyes, the men below rushed wildly up the hatchway, the cook came tearing out of his own private den, flourishing a soup-ladle in one hand and his tormentors in the other, the steward came tumbling up with a lump of dough in his fist that he had forgot to throw down in his haste, and the captain bolted up from the cabin without his hat. "where away?" cried he, with more than his usual energy. "right off the starboard beam, sir." "square the yards! look alive, my hearties," was the next order; for although the calm sea was like a sheet of glass, a light air, just sufficient to fill our top-gallant sails, enabled us to creep through the water. "hurrah!" shouted the men as we sprang to obey. "what does she look like?" roared the captain. "a big ship, sir, i think," replied the lookout: "but i can only just make out the top of her main t-gallan' s'l."--(sailors scorn to speak of _top-gallant sails_.) gradually, one by one, the white sails of the stranger rose up like cloudlets out of the sea, and our hearts beat high with hope and expectation as we beheld the towering canvas of a full-rigged ship rise slowly into view. "show our colours," said the captain. in a moment the union jack of old england was waving at the mast-head in the gentle breeze, and we watched anxiously for a reply. the stranger was polite; his colours flew up a moment after, and displayed the stripes and stars of america. "a yankee!" exclaimed some of the men in a tone of slight disappointment. i may remark, that our disappointment arose simply from the fact that there was no chance, as we supposed, of getting news from "home" out of a ship that must have sailed last from america. for the rest, we cared not whether they were yankees or britons--they were men who could speak the english tongue, that was enough for us. "never mind, boys," cried one, "we'll have a jolly gam; that's a fact." "so we will," said another, "and i'll get news of my mad irish cousin, terrence o'flannagan, who went out to seek his fortin in ameriky with two shillin's and a broken knife in his pocket, and it's been said he's got into a government situation o' some sort connected with the jails--whether as captain or leftenant o' police, or turnkey, i'm not rightly sure." "more likely as a life-tenant of one of the cells," observed bill blunt, laughing. "don't speak ill of a better man than yerself behind his back," retorted the owner of the irish cousin. "stand by to lower the jolly-boat," cried the captain. "aye, aye, sir." "lower away!" in a few minutes we were leaping over the calm sea in the direction of the strange ship, for the breeze had died down, and we were too eager to meet with new faces, and to hear the sound of new voices, to wait for the wind. to our joy we found that the yankee had had a gam (as i have already said) with an english ship a few days before, so we returned to our vessel loaded with old newspapers from england, having invited the captain and crew of the yankee to come aboard of us and spend the day. while preparation was being made for the reception of our friends, we got hold of two of the old newspapers, and tom lokins seized one, while bill blunt got the other, and both men sat down on the windlass to retail the news to a crowd of eager men who tried hard to listen to both at once, and so could make nothing out of either. "hold hard, tom lokins," cried one. "what's that you say about the emperor, bill?" "the emperor of roosia," said bill blunt, reading slowly, and with difficulty, "is--stop a bit, messmates, wot can this word be?--the emperor of roosia is----" "blowed up with gunpowder, and shattered to a thousand pieces," said tom lokins, raising his voice with excitement, as he read from _his_ paper an account of the blowing up of a mountain fortress in india. "oh! come, i say, one at a time, if you please," cried a harpooner; "a feller can't git a word of sense out of sich a jumble." "come, messmates," cried two or three voices, as tom stopped suddenly, and looked hard at the paper, "go ahead! wot have ye got there that makes ye look as wise as an owl? has war been and broke out with the french?" "i do believe he's readin' the births, marriages, and deaths," said one of the men, peeping over tom's shoulder. "read 'em out, then, can't ye?" cried another. "i say, bill blunt, i think this consarns _you_," cried tom: "isn't your sweetheart's name susan croft?" "that's a fact," said bill, looking up from his paper, "and who has got a word to say agin the prettiest lass in all liverpool?" "nobody's got a word to say against her," replied tom; "but she's married, that's all." bill blunt leaped up as if he had been shot, and the blood rushed to his face, as he seized the paper, and tried to find the place. "where is it, tom? let me see it with my own two eyes. oh, here it is!" the poor man's face grew paler and paler as he read the following words:-- "married at liverpool, on the th inst., by the rev. charles manson, edward gordon, esq., to susan, youngest daughter of admiral croft----" a perfect roar of laughter drowned the remainder of the sentence. "well done, bill blunt--mister blunt, we'll have to call him hereafter," said tom, with a grim smile; "i had no notion you thought so much o' yourself as to aim at an admiral's daughter." "all right, my hearties, chaff away!" said bill, fetching a deep sigh of relief, while a broad grin played on his weather-beaten visage. "there's _two_ susan crofts, that's all; but i wouldn't give _my_ susan for all the admirals' daughters that ever walked in shoe-leather." "hallo! here come the yankees," cried the captain, coming on deck at that moment. our newspapers were thrown down at once, and we prepared to receive our guests, who, we could see, had just put off from their ship in two boats. but before they had come within a mile of us, their attention, as well as ours, was riveted on a most extraordinary sight. not more than a hundred yards ahead of our ship, a whale came suddenly to the surface of the water, seeming, by its wild motions, to be in a state of terror. it continued for some time to struggle, and lash the whole sea around it into a white foam. at once the boats were lowered from both ships, and we went after this fish, but his motions were so violent, that we found it utterly impossible to get near enough to throw a harpoon. when we had approached somewhat closely, we discovered that it had been attacked by a killer fish, which was fully twenty feet long, and stuck to it like a leech. the monster's struggles were made in trying to shake itself free of this tremendous enemy, but it could not accomplish this. the killer held him by the under jaw, and hung on there, while the whale threw himself out of the water in his agony, with his great mouth open like a huge cavern, and the blood flowing so fast from the wound that the sea was dyed for a long distance round. this killer fought like a bulldog. it held on until the whale was exhausted, but they passed away from us in such a confused struggle, that a harpoon could not be fixed for an hour after we first saw them. on this being done, the killer let go, and the whale, being already half dead, was soon killed. the yankee boats were the first to come up with this fish, so the prize belonged to them. we were well pleased at this, as we could afford to let them have it, seeing that we could scarcely have found room to stow away the oil in our hold. it was the yankee's first fish, too, so they were in great spirits about it, and towed it to their ship, singing "yankee-doodle" with all their might. as they passed our boat the captain hailed them. "i wish you joy of your first fish, sir," said he to the yankee captain. "thank you, stranger. i guess we're in luck, though it ain't a big one. i say, what sort o' brute was that that had hold of him? never seed sich a crittur in all my life." "he's a killer," said our captain. "a killer! guess he just is, and no mistake: if we hadn't helped him, he'd have done the job for himself! what does he kill him for?" "to eat him, but i'm told he only eats the tongue. you'll not forget that you've promised to gam with us to-night," cried our captain, as they were about to commence pulling again. "all right, stranger, one half will come to-night, before sundown; t'other half to-morrow, if the calm holds. good day. give way, lads." the men dipped their oars, and resumed their song, while we pulled back to our ship. we did not offer to help them, because the fish was a small one, and the distance they had to go not great. it was near sunset when, according to promise, the yankees came on board, and spent a long evening with us. they were a free, open-hearted, boastful, conceited, good-humoured set of fellows, and a jolly night we had of it in the forecastle, while the mates and captains were enjoying themselves and spinning their yarns in the cabin. of course, we began with demands for home-news, and, when we had pumped out of them every drop they had, we began to songs and spinning yarns. and it was now that my friend tom lokins came out strong, and went on at such a rate, that he quite won the hearts of our guests. tom was not noisy, and he was slow in his talk, but he had the knack of telling a good story; he never used a wrong word, or a word too many, and, having a great deal of humour, men could not help listening when he began to talk. after this we had a dance, and here i became useful, being able to play scotch reels and irish jigs on the fiddle. then we had songs and yarns again. some could tell of furious fights with whales that made our blood boil; others could talk of the green fields at home, until we almost fancied we were boys again; and some could not tell stories at all. they had little to say, and that little they said ill; and i noticed that many of those who were perfect bores would cry loudest to be heard, though none of us wanted to hear them. we used to quench such fellows by calling loudly for a song with a rousing chorus. it was not till the night was far spent, and the silver moon was sailing through the starry sky, that the yankees left us, and rowed away with a parting cheer. chapter x return home six months after our "gam" with the yankees tom lokins and i found ourselves seated once more in the little garret beside my dear old mother. "deary me, robert, how changed ye are!" "changed, mother! i should think so! if you'd gone through all that i've done and seen since we last sat together in this room, you'd be changed too." "and have ye really seen the whales, my boy?" continued my mother, stroking my face with her old hand. "seen them? aye, and killed them too--many of them." "you've been in danger, my son," said my mother earnestly, "but the lord has preserved you safe through it all." "aye, mother, he has preserved my life in the midst of many dangers," said i, "for which i am most thankful." there was a short silence after this, during which my mother and i gazed earnestly at each other, and tom lokins smoked his pipe and stared at the fire. "robert, how big is a whale?" enquired my mother suddenly. "how big? why, it's as big as a small ship, only it's longer, and not quite so fat." "robert," replied my mother gravely, "ye didn't use to tell untruths; ye must be jokin'." "joking, mother, i was never more in earnest in my life. why, i tell you that i've seen, aye, and helped to cut up, whales that were more than sixty feet long, with heads so big that their mouths could have taken in a boat. why, mother, i declare to you that you could put this room into a whale's mouth, and you and tom and i could sit round this table and take our tea upon his tongue quite comfortable. isn't that true, tom?" my mother looked at tom, who removed his pipe, puffed a cloud of smoke, and nodded his head twice very decidedly. "moreover," said i, "a whale is so big and strong, that it can knock a boat right up into the air, and break in the sides of a ship. one day a whale fell right on top of one of our boats and smashed it all to bits. now that's a real truth!" again my mother looked at tom lokins, and again that worthy man puffed an immense cloud of smoke, and nodded his head more decidedly than before. being anxious to put to flight all her doubts at once, he said solemnly, "old ooman, that's a fact!" "robert," said my mother, "tell me something about the whales." just as she said this the door opened, and in came the good old gentleman with the nose like his cane-knob, and with as kind a heart as ever beat in a human breast. my mother had already told me that he came to see her regularly once a week, ever since i went to sea, except in summer, when he was away in the country, and that he had never allowed her to want for anything. i need scarcely say that there was a hearty meeting between us three, and that we had much to say to each other. but in the midst of it all my mother turned to the old gentleman and said: "robert was just going to tell me something about his adventures with the whales." "that's capital!" cried the old gentleman, rubbing his hands. "come, bob, my boy, let's hear about 'em." being thus invited, i consented to spin them a yarn. the old gentleman settled himself in his chair, my mother smoothed her apron, folded her hands, and looked meekly into my face. tom lokins filled his pipe, stretched out his foot to poke the fire with the toe of his shoe, and began to smoke like a steam-engine; then i cleared my throat and began my tale, and before i had done talking that night, i had told them all that i have told in this little book to you, good reader, almost word for word. thus ended my first voyage to the south seas. many and many a trip have i made since then, and many a wonderful sight have i seen, both in the south and in the north. but if i were to write an account of all my adventures, my little book would grow into a big one; i must therefore come to a close. the profits of this voyage were so great, that i was enabled to place my mother in a position of comfort for the rest of her life, which, alas! was very short. she died about six months after my return. i nursed her to the end, and closed her eyes. the last word she uttered was her saviour's name. she died, as she had lived, trusting in the lord; and when i laid her dear head in the grave my heart seemed to die within me. i'm getting to be an old man now, but, through the blessing of god, i am comfortable and happy. as i have more than enough of this world's goods, and no family to care for, my chief occupation is to look after the poor, and particularly the old women who live in my neighbourhood. after the work of the day is done, i generally go and spend the evening with tom lokins, who lives near by, and is stout and hearty still; or he comes and spends it with me, and, while we smoke our pipes together, we often fall to talking about those stirring days when, in the strength and hope of youth, we sailed together to the south seas, and took to--_fighting the whales_. the red eric, by r.m. ballantyne. chapter one. the tale begins with the engaging of a "tail"--and the captain delivers his opinions on various subjects. captain dunning stood with his back to the fireplace in the back-parlour of a temperance coffee-house in a certain town on the eastern seaboard of america. the name of that town is unimportant, and, for reasons with which the reader has nothing to do, we do not mean to disclose it. captain dunning, besides being the owner and commander of a south sea whale-ship, was the owner of a large burly body, a pair of broad shoulders, a pair of immense red whiskers that met under his chin, a short, red little nose, a large firm mouth, and a pair of light-blue eyes, which, according to their owner's mood, could flash like those of a tiger or twinkle sweetly like the eyes of a laughing child. but his eyes seldom flashed; they more frequently twinkled, for the captain was the very soul of kindliness and good-humour. yet he was abrupt and sharp in his manner, so that superficial observers sometimes said he was hasty. captain dunning was, so to speak, a sample of three primary colours-- red, blue, and yellow--a walking fragment, as it were, of the rainbow. his hair and face, especially the nose, were red; his eyes, coat, and pantaloons were blue, and his waistcoat was yellow. at the time we introduce him to the reader he was standing, as we have said, with his back to the fireplace, although there was no fire, the weather being mild, and with his hands in his breeches pockets. having worked with the said hands for many long years before the mast, until he had at last worked himself _behind_ the mast, in other words, on to the quarterdeck and into possession of his own ship, the worthy captain conceived that he had earned the right to give his hands a long rest; accordingly he stowed them away in his pockets and kept them there at all times, save when necessity compelled him to draw them forth. "very odd," remarked captain dunning, looking at his black straw hat which lay on the table before him, as if the remark were addressed to it--"very odd if, having swallowed the cow, i should now be compelled to worry at the tail." as the black straw hat made no reply, the captain looked up at the ceiling, but not meeting with any response from that quarter, he looked out at the window and encountered the gaze of a seaman flattening his nose on a pane of glass, and looking in. the captain smiled. "ah! here's a tail at last," he said, as the seaman disappeared, and in another moment reappeared at the door with his hat in his hand. it may be necessary, perhaps, to explain that captain dunning had just succeeded in engaging a first-rate crew for his next whaling voyage (which was the "cow" he professed to have swallowed), with the exception of a cook (which was the "tail," at which he feared he might be compelled to worry). "you're a cook, are you?" he asked, as the man entered and nodded. "yes, sir," answered the "tail," pulling his forelock. "and an uncommonly ill-favoured rascally-looking cook you are," thought the captain; but he did not say so, for he was not utterly regardless of men's feelings. he merely said, "ah!" and then followed it up with the abrupt question-- "do you drink?" "yes, sir, and smoke too," replied the "tail," in some surprise. "very good; then you can go," said the captain, shortly. "eh!" exclaimed the man: "you can go," repeated the captain. "you won't suit. my ship is a temperance ship, and all the hands are teetotalers. i have found from experience that men work better, and speak better, and in every way act better, on tea and coffee than on spirits. i don't object to their smoking; but i don't allow drinkin' aboard my ship; so you won't do, my man. good-morning." the "tail" gazed at the captain in mute amazement. "ah! you may look," observed the captain, replying to the gaze; "but you may also mark my words, if you will. i've not sailed the ocean for thirty years for nothing. i've seen men in hot seas and in cold--on grog, and on tea--and _i_ know that coffee and tea carry men through the hardest work better than grog. i also know that there's a set o' men in this world who look upon teetotalers as very soft chaps--old wives, in fact. very good," (here the captain waxed emphatic, and struck his fist on the table.) "now look here, young man, _i'm_ an old wife, and my ship's manned by similar old ladies; so you won't suit." to this the seaman made no reply, but feeling doubtless, as he regarded the masculine specimen before him, that he would be quite out of his element among such a crew of females, he thrust a quid of tobacco into his cheek, put on his hat, turned on his heel and left the room, shutting the door after him with a bang. he had scarcely left when a tap at the door announced a second visitor. "hum! another `tail,' i suppose. come in." if the new-comer _was_ a "tail," he was decidedly a long one, being six feet three in his stockings at the very least. "you wants a cook, i b'lieve?" said the man, pulling off his hat. "i do. are you one?" "yes, i jist guess i am. bin a cook for fifteen year." "been to sea as a cook?" inquired the captain. "i jist have. once to the south seas, twice to the north, an' once round the world. cook all the time. i've roasted, and stewed, and grilled, and fried, and biled, right round the 'arth, i have." being apparently satisfied with the man's account of himself, captain dunning put to him the question--"do you drink?" "ay, like a fish; for i drinks nothin' but water, i don't. bin born and raised in the state of maine, d'ye see, an' never tasted a drop all my life." "very good," said the captain, who plumed himself on being a clever physiognomist, and had already formed a good opinion of the man. "do you ever swear?" "never, but when i can't help it." "and when's that?" "when i'm fit to bu'st." "then," replied the captain, "you must learn to bu'st without swearin', 'cause i don't allow it aboard my ship." the man evidently regarded his questioner as a very extraordinary and eccentric individual; but he merely replied, "i'll try;" and after a little further conversation an agreement was come to; the man was sent away with orders to repair on board immediately, as everything was in readiness to "up anchor and away next morning." having thus satisfactorily and effectually disposed of the "tail," captain dunning put on his hat very much on the back of his head, knit his brows, and pursed his lips firmly, as if he had still some important duty to perform; then, quitting the hotel, he traversed the streets of the town with rapid strides. chapter two. important personages are introduced to the reader--the captain makes insane resolutions, fights a battle, and conquers. in the centre of the town whose name we have declined to communicate, there stood a house--a small house--so small that it might have been more appropriately, perhaps, styled a cottage. this house had a yellow-painted face, with a green door in the middle, which might have been regarded as its nose, and a window on each side thereof, which might have been considered its eyes. its nose was, as we have said, painted green, and its eyes had green venetian eyelids, which were half shut at the moment captain dunning walked up to it as if it were calmly contemplating that seaman's general appearance. there was a small garden in front of the house, surrounded on three sides by a low fence. captain dunning pushed open the little gate, walked up to the nose of the house, and hit it several severe blows with his knuckles. the result was that the nose opened, and a servant-girl appeared in the gap. "is your mistress at home?" inquired the captain. "guess she is--both of 'em!" replied the girl. "tell both of 'em i'm here, then," said the captain, stepping into the little parlour without further ceremony; "and is my little girl in?" "yes, she's in." "then send her here too, an' look alive, lass." so saying, captain dunning sat down on the sofa, and began to beat the floor with his right foot somewhat impatiently. in another second a merry little voice was heard in the passage, the door burst open, a fair-haired girl of about ten years of age sprang into the room, and immediately commenced to strangle her father in a series of violent embraces. "why, ailie, my darling, one would think you had not seen me for fifty years at least," said the captain, holding his daughter at arm's-length, in order the more satisfactorily to see her. "it's a whole week, papa, since you last came to see me," replied the little one, striving to get at her father's neck again, "and i'm sure it seems to me like a hundred years at least." as the child said this she threw her little arms round her father, and kissed his large, weather-beaten visage all over--eyes, mouth, nose, chin, whiskers, and, in fact, every attainable spot. she did it so vigorously, too, that an observer would have been justified in expecting that her soft, delicate cheeks would be lacerated by the rough contact; but they were not. the result was a heightening of the colour, nothing more. having concluded this operation, she laid her cheek on the captain's and endeavoured to clasp her hands at the back of his neck, but this was no easy matter. the captain's neck was a remarkably thick one, and the garments about that region were voluminous; however, by dint of determination, she got the small fingers intertwined, and then gave him a squeeze that ought to have choked him, but it didn't: many a strong man had tried that in his day, and had failed signally. "you'll stay a long time with me before you go away to sea again, won't you, dear papa?" asked the child earnestly, after she had given up the futile effort to strangle him. "how like!" murmured the captain, as if to himself, and totally unmindful of the question, while he parted the fair curls and kissed ailie's forehead. "like what, papa?" "like your mother--your beloved mother," replied the captain, in a low, sad voice. the child became instantly grave, and she looked up in her father's face with an expression of awe, while he dropped his eyes on the floor. poor alice had never known a mother's love. her mother died when she was a few weeks old, and she had been confided to the care of two maiden aunts--excellent ladies, both of them; good beyond expression; correct almost to a fault; but prim, starched, and extremely self-possessed and judicious, so much so that they were injudicious enough to repress some of the best impulses of their natures, under the impression that a certain amount of dignified formality was essential to good breeding and good morals in every relation of life. dear, good, starched misses dunning! if they had had their way, boys would have played cricket and football with polite urbanity, and girls would have kissed their playmates with gentle solemnity. they did their best to subdue little alice, but that was impossible. the child _would_ rush about the house at all unexpected and often inopportune seasons, like a furiously insane kitten and she _would_ disarrange their collars too violently every evening when she bade them good-night. alice was intensely sympathetic. it was quite enough for her to see any one in tears, to cause her to open up the flood-gates of her eyes and weep--she knew not and she cared not why. she threw her arms round her father's neck again, and hugged him, while bright tears trickled like diamonds from her eyes. no diamonds are half so precious or so difficult to obtain as tears of genuine sympathy! "how would you like to go with me to the whale-fishery?" inquired captain dunning, somewhat abruptly as he disengaged the child's arms and set her on his knee. the tears stopped in an instant, as alice leaped, with the happy facility of childhood, totally out of one idea and thoroughly into another. "oh, i should like it _so_ much!" "and how much is `so' much, ailie?" inquired the captain. ailie pursed her mouth, and looked at her father earnestly, while she seemed to struggle to give utterance to some fleeting idea. "think," she said quickly, "think something good _as much as ever you can_. have you thought?" "yes," answered the captain, smiling. "then," continued ailie, "its twenty thousand million times as much as that, and a great deal more!" the laugh with which captain dunning received this curious explanation of how much his little daughter wished to go with him to the whale-fishery, was interrupted by the entrance of his sisters, whose sense of propriety induced them to keep all visitors waiting at least a quarter of an hour before they appeared, lest they should be charged with unbecoming precipitancy. "here you are, lassies; how are ye?" cried the captain as he rose and kissed each lady on the cheek heartily. the sisters did not remonstrate. they knew that their brother was past hope in this respect, and they loved him, so they suffered it meekly. having admitted that they were well--as well, at least, as could be expected, considering the cataract of "trials" that perpetually descended upon their devoted heads--they sat down as primly as if their visitor were a perfect stranger, and entered into a somewhat lengthened conversation as to the intended voyage, commencing, of course, with the weather. "and now," said the captain, rubbing the crown of his straw hat in a circular manner, as if it were a beaver, "i'm coming to the point." both ladies exclaimed, "what point, george?" simultaneously, and regarded the captain with a look of anxious surprise. "_the_ point," replied the captain, "about which i've come here to-day. it ain't a point o' the compass; nevertheless, i've been steerin' it in my mind's eye for a considerable time past. the fact is" (here the captain hesitated), "i--i've made up my mind to take my little alice along with me this voyage." the misses dunning wore unusually tall caps, and their countenances were by nature uncommonly long, but the length to which they grew on hearing this announcement was something preternaturally awful. "take ailie to sea!" exclaimed miss martha dunning, in horror. "to fish for whales!" added miss jane dunning, in consternation. "brother, you're mad!" they exclaimed together, after a breathless pause; "and you'll do nothing of the kind," they added firmly. now, the manner in which the misses dunning received this intelligence greatly relieved their eccentric brother. he had fully anticipated, and very much dreaded, that they would at once burst into tears, and being a tender-hearted man he knew that he could not resist that without a hard struggle. a flood of woman's tears, he was wont to say, was the only sort of salt water storm he hadn't the heart to face. but abrupt opposition was a species of challenge which the captain always accepted at once--off-hand. no human power could force him to any course of action. in this latter quality captain dunning was neither eccentric nor singular. "i'm sorry you don't like my proposal, my dear sisters," said he; "but i'm resolved." "you won't!" said martha. "you shan't!" cried jane. "i _will_!" replied the captain. there was a pause here of considerable length, during which the captain observed that martha's nostrils began to twitch nervously. jane, observing the fact, became similarly affected. to the captain's practised eye these symptoms were as good as a barometer. he knew that the storm was coming, and took in all sail at once (mentally) to be ready for it. it came! martha and jane dunning were for once driven from the shelter of their wonted propriety--they burst simultaneously into tears, and buried their respective faces in their respective pocket-handkerchiefs, which were immaculately clean and had to be hastily unfolded for the purpose. "now, now, my dear girls," cried the captain, starting up and patting their shoulders, while poor little ailie clasped her hands, sat down on a footstool, looked up in their faces--or, rather, at the backs of the hands which covered their faces--and wept quietly. "it's very cruel, george--indeed it is," sobbed martha; "you know how we love her." "very true," remarked the obdurate captain; "but you _don't_ know how _i_ love her, and how sad it makes me to see so little of her, and to think that she may be learning to forget me--or, at least," added the captain, correcting himself as ailie looked at him reproachfully through her tears--"at least to do without me. i can't bear the thought. she's all i have left to me, and--" "brother," interrupted martha, looking hastily up, "did you ever before hear of such a thing as taking a little girl on a voyage to the whale-fishing?" "no, never," replied the captain; "what has that got to do with it?" both ladies held up their hands and looked aghast. the idea of any man venturing to do what no one ever thought of doing before was so utterly subversive of all their ideas of propriety--such a desperate piece of profane originality--that they remained speechless. "george," said martha, drying her eyes, and speaking in tones of deep solemnity, "did you ever read _robinson crusoe_?" "yes, i did, when i was a boy; an' that wasn't yesterday." "and did you," continued the lady in the same sepulchral tone, "did you note how that man--that beacon, if i may use the expression, set up as a warning to deter all wilful boys and men from reckless, and wicked, and wandering, and obstreperous courses--did you note, i say, how that man, that beacon, was shipwrecked, and spent a dreary existence on an uninhabited and dreadful island, in company with a low, dissolute, black, unclothed companion called friday?" "yes," answered the captain, seeing that she paused for a reply. "and all," continued martha, "in consequence of his resolutely and obstinately, and wilfully and wickedly going to sea?" "well, it couldn't have happened if he hadn't gone to sea, no doubt." "then," argued martha, "will you, can you, george, contemplate the possibility of your only daughter coming to the same dreadful end?" george, not exactly seeing the connection, rubbed his nose with his forefinger, and replied--"certainly not." "then you are bound," continued martha, in triumph, "by all that is upright and honourable, by all the laws of humanity and _propriety_, to give up this wild intention--and you _must_!" "there!" cried miss jane emphatically, as if the argument were unanswerable--as indeed it was, being incomprehensible. the last words were unfortunate. they merely riveted the captain's determination. "you talk a great deal of nonsense, martha," he said, rising to depart. "i've fixed to take her, so the sooner you make up your minds to it the better." the sisters knew their brother's character too well to waste more time in vain efforts; but martha took him by the arm, and said earnestly--"will you promise me, my dear george, that when she comes back from this voyage, you will never take her on another?" "yes, dear sister," replied the captain, somewhat melted, "i promise that." without another word martha sat down and held out her arms to ailie, who incontinently rushed into them. propriety fled for the nonce, discomfited. miss martha's curls were disarranged beyond repair, and miss martha's collar was crushed to such an extent that the very laundress who had washed and starched and ironed it would have utterly failed to recognise it. miss jane looked on at these improprieties in perfect indifference--nay, when, after her sister had had enough, the child was handed over to her, she submitted to the same violent treatment without a murmur. for once nature was allowed to have her way, and all three had a good hearty satisfactory cry; in the midst of which captain dunning left them, and, proceeding on board his ship, hastened the preparations for his voyage to the southern seas. chapter three. the tea-party--accidents and incidents of a minor kind--glynn proctor gets into trouble. on the evening of the day in which the foregoing scenes were enacted, the misses dunning prepared a repast for their brother and one or two of his officers, who were to spend the last evening in port there, and discuss various important and unimportant matters in a sort of semi-convivio-business way. an event of this kind was always of the deepest interest and productive of the most intense anxiety to the amiable though starched sisters; first, because it was of rare occurrence; and second, because they were never quite certain that it would pass without some unhappy accident, such as the upsetting of a tea-cup or a kettle, or the scalding of the cat, not to mention visitors' legs. they seemed to regard a tea-party in the light of a firearm--a species of blunderbuss--a thing which, it was to be hoped, would "go off well"; and, certainly, if loading the table until it groaned had anything to do with the manner of its "going off," there was every prospect of its doing so with pre-eminent success upon that occasion. but besides the anxieties inseparable from the details of the pending festivities, the misses dunning were overwhelmed and weighed down with additional duties consequent upon their brother's sudden and unexpected determination. little ailie had to be got ready for sea by the following morning! it was absolute and utter insanity! no one save a madman or a sea-captain could have conceived such a thing, much less have carried it into effect tyrannically. the misses dunning could not attempt any piece of duty or work separately. they always acted together, when possible; and might, in fact, without much inconvenience, have been born siamese twins. whatever martha did, jane attempted to do or to mend; wherever jane went, martha followed. not, by any means, that one thought she could improve upon the work of the other; their conduct was simply the result of a desire to assist each other mutually. when martha spoke, jane echoed or corroborated; and when jane spoke, martha repeated her sentences word for word in a scarcely audible whisper--not after the other had finished, but during the course of the remarks. with such dispositions and propensities, it is not a matter to be wondered at that the good ladies, while arranging the tea-table, should suddenly remember some forgotten article of ailie's wardrobe, and rush simultaneously into the child's bedroom to rectify the omission; or, when thus engaged, be filled with horror at the thought of having left the buttered toast too near the fire in the parlour. "it is really quite perplexing," said martha, sitting down with a sigh, and regarding the tea-table with a critical gaze; "quite perplexing. i'm sure i don't know how i shall bear it. it is too bad of george-- darling ailie--(dear me, jane, how crookedly you have placed the urn)-- it is really too bad." "too bad, indeed; yes, isn't it?" echoed jane, in reference to the captain's conduct, while she assisted martha, who had risen to readjust the urn. "oh!" exclaimed martha, with a look of horror. "what?" cried jane, who looked and felt equally horrified, although she knew not yet the cause. "the eggs!" "the eggs?" "yes, the eggs. you know every one of the last dozen we got was bad, and we've forgot to send for more," said martha. "for more; so we have!" cried jane; and both ladies rushed into the kitchen, gave simultaneous and hurried orders to the servant-girl, and sent her out of the house impressed with an undefined feeling that life or death depended on the instant procuring of two dozen fresh eggs. it may be as well to remark here, that the misses dunning, although stiff, and starched, and formal, had the power of speeding nimbly from room to room, when alone and when occasion required, without in the least degree losing any of their stiffness or formality, so that we do not use the terms "rush," "rushed," or "rushing" inappropriately. nevertheless, it may also be remarked that they never acted in a rapid or impulsive way in company, however small in numbers or unceremonious in character the company might be--always excepting the servant-girl and the cat, to whose company, from long habit, they had become used, and therefore indifferent. the sisters were on their knees, stuffing various articles into a large trunk, and ailie was looking on, by way of helping, with very red and swollen eyes, and the girl was still absent in quest of eggs, when a succession of sounding blows were administered to the green door, and a number of gruff voices were heard conversing without. "_there_!" cried martha and jane, with bitter emphasis, looking in each other's faces as if to say, "we knew it. before that girl was sent away for these eggs, we each separately and privately prophesied that they would arrive, and that we should have to open the door. and you see, so it has happened, and we are not ready!" but there was no time for remark. the case was desperate. both sisters felt it to be so, and acted accordingly, while ailie, having been forbidden to open the door, sat down on her trunk, and looked on in surprise. they sprang up, washed their hands simultaneously in the same basin, with the same piece of soap broken in two; dried them with the same towel, darted to the mirror, put on two identically similar clean tall caps, leaped down-stairs, opened the door with slow dignity of demeanour, and received their visitors in the hall with a calmness and urbanity of manner that contrasted rather strangely with their flushed countenances and heaving bosoms. "hallo! ailie!" exclaimed the captain, as his daughter pulled down his head to be kissed. "why, you take a fellow all aback, like a white squall. are you ready, my pet? kit stowed and anchor tripped? come this way, and let us talk about it. dear me, martha, you and jane--look as if you had been running a race, eh? here are my messmates come to talk a bit with you. my sisters, martha and jane--dr hopley." (dr hopley bowed politely.) "my first mate, mr millons" (mr millons also bowed, somewhat loosely); "and rokens--tim rokens, my chief harpooner." (mr rokens pulled his forelock, and threw back his left leg, apparently to counterbalance the bend in his body.) "he didn't want to come; said he warn't accustomed to ladies' society; but i told him you warn't ladies--a--i don't mean that--not ladies o' the high-flyin' fashionable sort, that give themselves airs, you know. come along, ailie." while the captain ran on in this strain, hung up his hat, kissed ailie, and ran his fingers through his shaggy locks, the misses dunning performed a mingled bow and courtsey to each guest as his name was mentioned, and shook hands with him, after which the whole party entered the parlour, where the cat was discovered enjoying a preliminary meal of its own at one of the pats of butter. a united shriek from martha and jane, a nautical howl from the guests, and a rolled-up pocket-handkerchief from rokens sent that animal from the table as if it had received a galvanic shock. "i ax yer parding, ladies," said mr rokens, whose aim had been so perfect that his handkerchief not only accelerated the flight of the cat, but carried away the violated pat of butter along with it. "i ax yer parding, but them brutes is sich thieves--i could roast 'em alive, so i could." the harpooner unrolled his handkerchief, and picking the pat of butter from its folds with his fingers, threw it into the fire. thereafter he smoothed down his hair, and seated himself on the extreme edge of a chair, as near the door as possible. not that he had any intention whatever of taking to flight, but he deemed that position to be more suited to his condition than any other. in a few minutes the servant-girl returned with the eggs. while she is engaged in boiling them, we shall introduce captain dunning's friends and messmates to the reader. dr hopley was a surgeon, and a particular friend of the captain's. he was an american by birth, but had travelled so much about the world that he had ceased to "guess" and "calculate," and to speak through his nose. he was a man about forty, tall, big-boned, and muscular, though not fat; and besides being a gentlemanly man, was a good-natured, quiet creature, and a clever enough fellow besides, but he preferred to laugh at and enjoy the jokes and witticisms of others rather than to perpetrate any himself. dr hopley was intensely fond of travelling, and being possessed of a small independence, he indulged his passion to the utmost. he had agreed to go with captain dunning as the ship's doctor, simply for the sake of seeing the whale-fishery of the south seas, having already, in a similar capacity, encountered the dangers of the north. dr hopley had few weaknesses. his chief one was an extravagant belief in phrenology. we would not be understood to imply that phrenology is extravagant; but we assert that the doctor's belief in it was extravagant, assigning, as he did, to every real and ideal facility of the human mind "a local habitation and a name" in the cranium, with a corresponding depression or elevation of the surface to mark its whereabouts. in other respects he was a commonplace sort of a man. mr millons, the first mate, was a short, hale, thick-set man, without any particularly strong points of character. he was about thirty-five, and possessed a superabundance of fair hair and whiskers, with a large, broad chin, a firm mouth, rather fierce-looking eyes, and a hasty, but by no means a bad temper. he was a trustworthy, matter-of-fact seaman, and a good officer, but not bright intellectually. like most men of his class, his look implied that he did not under-estimate his own importance, and his tones were those of a man accustomed to command. tim rokens was an old salt; a bluff, strong, cast-iron man, of about forty-five years of age, who had been at sea since he was a little boy, and would not have consented to live on dry land, though he had been "offered command of a seaport town all to himself," as he was wont to affirm emphatically. his visage was scarred and knotty, as if it had been long used to being pelted by storms--as indeed it had. there was a scar over his left eye and down his cheek, which had been caused by a slash from the cutlass of a pirate in the china seas; but although it added to the rugged effect of his countenance, it did not detract from the frank, kindly expression that invariably rested there. tim rokens had never been caught out of temper in his life. men were wont say he had no temper to lose. whether this was true or no, we cannot presume to say, but certainly he never lost it. he was the best and boldest harpooner in captain dunning's ship, and a sententious deliverer of his private opinion on all occasions whatsoever. when we say that he wore a rough blue pilot-cloth suit, and had a large black beard, with a sprinkling of silver hairs in it, we have completed his portrait. "what's come of glynn?" inquired captain dunning, as he accepted a large cup of smoking tea with one hand, and with the other handed a plate of buttered toast to dr hopley, who sat next him. "i really cannot imagine," replied miss martha. "no, cannot imagine," whispered miss jane. "he promised to come, and to be punctual," continued miss martha ("punctual," whispered miss j), "but something seems to have detained him. perhaps--" here miss martha was brought to an abrupt pause by observing that mr rokens was about to commence to eat his egg with a teaspoon. "allow me, mr rokens," she said, handing that individual an ivory eggspoon. "oh, cer'nly, ma'am. by all means," replied rokens, taking the spoon and handing it to miss jane, under the impression that it was intended for her. "i beg pardon, it is for yourself, mr rokens," said martha and jane together. "thank'ee, ma'am," replied rokens, growing red, as he began to perceive he was a little "off his course" somehow. "i've no occasion for _two_, an' this one suits me oncommon." "ah! you prefer big spoons to little ones, my man, don't you?" said captain dunning, coming to the rescue. "let him alone, martha, he's used to take care of himself. doctor, can you tell me now, which is the easiest of digestion--a hard egg or a soft one?" thus appealed to, dr hopley paused a moment and frowned at the teapot, as though he were about to tax his brain to the utmost in the solution of an abstruse question in medical science. "well now," he replied, stirring his tea gently, and speaking with much deliberation, "that depends very much upon circumstances. some digestions can manage a hard egg best, others find a soft one more tractable. and then the state of the stomach at the time of eating has to be taken into account. i should say now, that my little friend ailie, here, to judge from the rosy colour of her cheeks, could manage hard or soft eggs equally well; couldn't you, eh?" ailie laughed, as she replied, "i'm sure i don't know, doctor hopley; but i _like_ soft ones best." to this, captain dunning said, "of course you do, my sensible little pet;" although it would be difficult to show wherein lay the sensibility of the preference, and then added--"there's rokens, now; wouldn't you, doctor--judging from his rosy, not to say purple cheeks--conclude that he wasn't able to manage even two eggs of any kind?" "wot, _me_!" exclaimed mr rokens, looking up in surprise, as indeed he well might, having just concluded his fourth, and being about to commence his fifth egg, to the no small anxiety of martha and jane, into whose limited and innocent minds the possibility of such a feat had never entered. "wot, _me_! why, capting, if they was biled as hard as the head of a marline-spike--" the expanding grin on the captain's face, and a sudden laugh from the mate, apprised the bold harpooner at this point of his reply that the captain was jesting, so he felt a little confused, and sought relief by devoting himself assiduously to egg number . it fared ill with tim rokens that evening that he had rashly entered into ladies' society, for he was a nervous man in refined company, though cool and firm as a grounded iceberg when in the society of his messmates, or when towing with the speed of a steamboat in the wake of a sperm-whale. egg number proved to be a bad one. worse than that, egg number happened to belong to that peculiar class of bad eggs which "go off" with a little crack when hit with a spoon, and sputter their unsavoury contents around them. thus it happened, that when mr rokens, feeling confused, and seeking relief in attention to the business then in hand, hit egg number a smart blow on the top, a large portion of its contents spurted over the fair white tablecloth, a small portion fell on mr rokens' vest, and a minute yellow globule thereof alighted on the fair martha's hand, eliciting from that lady a scream, and as a matter of course, an echo from jane in the shape of a screamlet. mr rokens flushed a deep indian-red, and his nose assumed a warm blue colour instantly. "oh! ma'am, i ax yer parding." "pray don't mention it--a mere accident. i'm so sorry you have got a bad--oh!" the little scream with which miss martha interrupted her remark was caused by mr rokens (who had just observed the little yellow globule above referred to) seizing her hand, and wiping away the speck with the identical handkerchief that had floored the cat and swept away the pat of butter. immediately thereafter, feeling heated, he wiped the perspiration from his forehead, and unwittingly transferred the spot thereto in the form of a yellow streak, whereat ailie and the first mate burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. even miss martha smiled, although she rather objected to jesting, as being a dangerous amusement, and never laughed at the weaknesses or misfortunes of others, however ludicrous they might be, when she could help it. "how can you, brother?" she said, reproachfully, shaking her head at the captain, who was winking at the doctor with one eye in a most obstreperous manner. "do try another egg, mr rokens; the others, i am sure, are fresh. i cannot imagine how a bad one came to be amongst them." "ah, try another, my lad," echoed the captain. "pass 'em up this way, mr millons." "by no manner o' means; i'll eat this 'un!" replied the harpooner, commencing to eat the bad egg with apparent relish. "i like 'em this way--better than nothin', anyhow. bless ye, marm, ye've no notion wot sort o' things i've lived on aboard ship--" rokens came to an abrupt pause in consequence of the servant-girl, at a sign from her mistresses (for she always received duplicate orders), seizing his plate and carrying it off bodily. it was immediately replaced by a clean one and a fresh egg. while rokens somewhat nervously tapped the head of number , miss martha, in order to divert attention from him, asked mr millons if sea-fare was always salt junk and hard biscuit? "oh, no, madam," answered the first mate. "we've sometimes salt pork, and vegetables now and agin; and pea-soup, and plum-duff--" "plum-duff, ailie," interrupted the captain, in order to explain, "is just a puddin' with few plums and fewer spices in it. something like a white-painted cannon-shot, with brown spots on it here and there." "is it good?" inquired ailie. "oh, ain't it!" remarked mr rokens, who had just concluded number , and felt his self-possession somewhat restored. "yes, miss, it is; but it ain't equal to whale's-brain fritters, it ain't; them's first-chop." "have whales got brains?" inquired miss martha, in surprise. "brains!" echoed miss jane, in amazement. "yes, madam, they 'ave," answered the first mate, who had hitherto maintained silence, but having finished tea was now ready for any amount of talk; "and what's more remarkable still, they've got several barrels of oil in their skulls besides." "dear me!" exclaimed the sisters. "yes, ladies, capital oil it is, too; fetches a 'igher price hin the markit than the other sort." "by the bye, millons, didn't you once fall into a whale's skull, and get nearly drowned in oil?" inquired the doctor. "i did," answered the first mate, with the air of a man who regarded such an event as a mere trifle, that, upon consideration, might almost be considered as rather a pleasant incident than otherwise in one's history. "nearly drowned in oil!" exclaimed the sisters, while ailie opened her eyes in amazement, and mr rokens became alarmingly purple in the face with suppressed chuckling. "it's true," remarked rokens, in a hoarse whisper to miss martha, putting his hand up to his mouth, the better to convey the sound to her ears; "i seed him tumble in, and helped to haul him out." "let's have the story, millons," cried the captain, pushing forward his cup to be replenished; "it's so long since i heard it, that i've almost forgotten it. another cup o' tea, martha, my dear--not quite so strong as the last, and three times as sweet. i'll drink `success to the cup that cheers, but don't inebriate.' go ahead, millons." nothing rejoiced the heart of mr millons more than being asked to tell a story. like most men who are excessively addicted to the habit, his stories were usually very long and very dry; but he had a bluff good-natured way of telling them, that rendered his yarns endurable on shore, and positively desirable at sea. fortunately for the reader, the story he was now requested to relate was not a long one. "it ain't quite a _story_," he began--and in beginning he cleared his throat with emphasis, thrust his thumbs into the arm-holes of his vest, and tilted his chair on its hind-legs--"it ain't quite a story; it's a hanecdote, a sort of hincident, so to speak, and this is 'ow it 'appened:-- "many years ago, w'en i was a very young man, or a big boy, i was on a voyage to the south seas after whales. tim rokens was my messmate then, and has bin so almost ever since, off, and on." (mr rokens nodded assent to this statement.) "well, we came up with a big whale, and fixed an iron cleverly in him at the first throw--" "an iron?" inquired miss martha, to whose mind flat and italian irons naturally occurred. "yes, madam, an iron; we call the 'arpoons irons. well, away went the fish, like all alive! not down, but straight for'ard, takin' out the line at a rate that nearly set the boat on fire, and away we went along with it. it _was_ a chase, that. for six hours, off and on, we stuck to that whale, and pitched into 'im with 'arpoons and lances; but he seemed to have the lives of a cat--nothin' would kill 'im. at last the 'arpooner gave him a thrust in the life, an' up went the blood and water, and the fish went into the flurries, and came nigh capsizin' the boat with its tail as it lashed the water into foam. at last it gave in, and we had a four hours' pull after that, to tow the carcase to the ship, for there wasn't a cat's-paw of wind on the water. "w'en we came alongside, we got out the tackles, and before beginning to flense (that means, ma'am, to strip off the blubber), we cut a hole in the top o' the skull to get out the oil that was there; for you must know that the sperm-whale has got a sort of 'ollow or big cavern in its 'ead, w'ich is full o' the best oil, quite pure, that don't need to be cleared, but is all ready to be baled out and stowed away in casks. well, w'en the 'ole was cut in its skull i went down on my knees on the edge of it to peep in, when my knees they slipped on the blubber, and in i went 'ead-foremost, souse into the whale's skull, and began to swim for life in the oil. "of course i began to roar for 'elp like a bull, and rokens there, 'oo 'appened to be near, 'e let down the hend of a rope, but my 'ands was so slippy with oil i couldn't ketch 'old of it; so 'e 'auls it up agin, and lets down a rope with a 'ook at the hend, and i got 'old of this and stuck it into the waistband o' my trousers, and gave the word, `'eave away, my 'earties;' and sure enough so they did, and pulled me out in a trice. and that's 'ow it was; and i lost a suit o' clo's, for nothing on 'arth would take the oil out, and i didn't need to use pomatum for six months after." "no more you did," cried rokens, who had listened to the narrative with suppressed delight; "no more you did. i never see sich a glazed rat as you wos when you comed out o' that hole, in all my life; an' he wos jist like a eel; it wos all we could do to keep 'old on 'im, marm, he was so slippery." while the captain was laughing at the incident, and rokens was narrating some of the minute details in the half-unwilling yet half-willing ears of the sisters, the door opened, and a young man entered hastily and apologised for being late. "the fact is, miss dunning, had i not promised faithfully to come, i should not have made my appearance at all to-night." "why, glynn, what has kept you, lad?" interrupted the captain. "i thought you were a man of your word." "ay, that's the question, capting," said rokens, who evidently regarded the new arrival with no favourable feelings; "it's always the way with them _gentlemen_ sailors till they're got into blue water and brought to their bearin's." mr rokens had wisdom enough to give forth the last part of his speech in a muttered tone, for the youth was evidently a favourite with the captain, as was shown by the hearty manner in which he shook him by the hand. "messmates, this is glynn proctor, a friend o' mine," said captain dunning, in explanation: "he is going with us this voyage _before_ the mast, so you'll have to make the most of him as an equal to-night, for i intend to keep him in his proper place when afloat. he chooses to go as an ordinary seaman, against my advice, the scamp; so i'll make him keep his head as low as the rest when aboard. you'll to keep your time better, too, than you have done to-night, lad," continued the captain, giving his young friend a slap on the shoulder. "what has detained you, eh?" "necessity, captain," replied the youth, with a smile, as he sat down to table with an off-hand easy air that savoured of recklessness; "and i am prepared to state, upon oath if need be, that necessity is not `the mother of invention.' if she had been, she would have enabled me to invent a way of escape from my persecutors in time to keep my promise to miss dunning." "persecutors, glynn!" exclaimed martha; "to whom do you refer?" "to the police of this good city." "police!" echoed the captain, regarding his young friend seriously, while the doctor and the first mate and tim rokens listened in some surprise. "why, the fact is," said glynn, "that i have just escaped from the hands of the police, and if it had not been that i was obliged to make a very wide detour, in order to reach this house without being observed, i should have been here long ago." "boy, boy, your hasty disposition will bring you into serious trouble one of these days," said the captain, shaking his head. "what mischief have you been about?" "ay, there you go--it's my usual fate," cried glynn, laughing. "if i chance to get into a scrape, you never think of inquiring whether it was my fault or my misfortune. this time, however, it _was_ my misfortune, and if miss dunning will oblige me with a cup of tea, i'll explain how it happened. "little more than two hours ago i left the ship to come here to tea, as i had promised to do. nikel sling, the long-legged cook you engaged this morning, went ashore with me. as we walked up the street together, i observed a big porter passing along with a heavy deal plank on his shoulder. the street was somewhat narrow and crowded at that part, and sling had turned to look in at a shop-window just as the big fellow came up. the man shouted to my shipmate to get out o' the way, but the noise in the street prevented him from hearing. before i could turn to touch the cook's arm, the fellow uttered an oath and ran the end of the plank against his head. poor sling was down in an instant. before i well knew what i was about, i hit the porter between the eyes and down he went with a clatter, and the plank above him. in a moment three policemen had me by the collar. i tried to explain, but they wouldn't listen. as i was being hurried away to the lock-up, it flashed across me that i should not only lose my tea and your pleasant society this evening, but be prevented from sailing to-morrow, so i gave a sudden twist, tripped up the man on my left, overturned the one on my right, and bolted." "they ran well, the rascals, and shouted like maniacs, but i got the start of 'em, dived down one street, up another, into a by-lane, over a back-garden wall, in at the back-door of a house and out at the front, took a round of two or three miles, and came in here from the west; and whatever other objections there may be to the whole proceeding, i cannot say that it has spoiled my appetite." "and so, sir," said captain dunning, "you call this your `misfortune?'" "surely, captain," said glynn, putting down his cup and looking up in some surprise--"surely, you cannot blame me for punishing the rascal who behaved so brutally, without the slightest provocation, to my shipmate!" "hear, hear!" cried rokens involuntarily. "i do blame you, lad," replied the captain seriously. "in the first place, you had no right to take the law into your own hands. in the second place, your knocking down the man did no good whatever to your shipmate; and in the third place, you've got yourself and me and the ship into a very unsatisfactory scrape." rokens' face, which had hitherto expressed approval of glynn's conduct, began to elongate as the captain went on in this strain; and the youth's recklessness of manner altogether disappeared as inquired, "how so, captain? i have escaped, as you see; and poor sling, of course, was not to blame, so he'll be all safe aboard, and well, i hope, by this time." "there you're mistaken, boy. they will have secured sling and made him tell the name of his ship, and also the name of his pugnacious comrade." "and do you think he'd be so mean as to tell?" asked glynn indignantly. "you forget that the _first_ act in this nice little melodrama was the knocking down of sling, so that he could not know what happened after, and the police would not be so soft as to tell him _why_ they wanted such information until after they had got it." poor glynn looked aghast, and rokens was overwhelmed. "it seems to me, i'd better go and see about this," said millons, rising and buttoning his coat with the air of a man who had business to transact and meant to transact it. "right, millons," answered the captain. "i'm sorry to break up our evening so soon, but we must get this man aboard by hook or crook as speedily as possible. you had better go too, doctor. rokens and i will take care of this young scamp, who must be made a nigger of in order to be got on board, for his face, once seen by these sharp limbs of justice, is not likely soon to be forgotten." glynn proctor was indeed a youth whose personal appearance was calculated to make a lasting impression on most people. he was about eighteen years of age, but a strong, well-developed muscular frame, a firm mouth, a large chin, and an eagle eye, gave him the appearance of being much older. he was above the middle height, but not tall, and the great breadth of his shoulders and depth of his chest made him appear shorter than he really was. his hair was of that beautiful hue called nut-brown, and curled close round his well-shaped head. he was a model of strength and activity. glynn proctor had many faults. he was hasty and reckless. he was unsteady, too, and preferred a roving idle life to a busy one; but he had redeeming qualities. he was bold and generous. above all, he was unselfish, and therefore speedily became a favourite with all who knew him. glynn's history is briefly told. he was an englishman. his father and mother had died when he was a child, and left him in charge of an uncle, who emigrated to america shortly after his brother's death. the uncle was a good man, after a fashion, but he was austere and unlovable. glynn didn't like him; so when he attained the age of thirteen, he quietly told him that he meant to bid him good-bye, and go seek his fortune in the world. the uncle as quietly told glynn that he was quite right, and the sooner he went the better. so glynn went, and never saw his uncle again, for the old man died while he was abroad. glynn travelled far and encountered many vicissitudes of fortune in his early wanderings; but he was never long without occupation, because men liked his looks, and took him on trial without much persuasion. to say truth, glynn never took the trouble to persuade them. when his services were declined, he was wont to turn on his heel and walk away without a word of reply; and not unfrequently he was called back and employed. he could turn his hand to almost anything, but when he tired of it, he threw it up and sought other work elsewhere. in the course of his peregrinations, he came to reside in the city in which our story finds him. here he had become a compositor in the office of a daily newspaper, and, happening to be introduced to the misses dunning, soon became a favourite with them, and a constant visitor at their house. thus he became acquainted with their brother. becoming disgusted with the constant work and late hours of the printing-office, he resolved to join captain dunning's ship, and take a voyage to southern seas as an ordinary seaman. glynn and little alice dunning were great friends, and it was a matter of extreme delight to both of them that they were to sail together on this their first voyage. having been made a nigger of--that is, having had his face and hands blackened in order to avoid detection--glynn sallied forth with the captain and rokens to return to their ship, the _red eric_, which lay in the harbour, not ten minutes' walk from the house. they passed the police on the wharf without creating suspicion, and reached the vessel. chapter four. the escape. "well, millons, what news?" inquired the captain, as he stepped on deck. "bad news, sir, i fear" replied the first mate. "i found, on coming aboard, that no one knew anything about sling, so i went ashore at once and 'urried up to the hospital, w'ere, sure enough, i found 'im lyin' with his 'ead bandaged, and lookin' as if 'e were about gone. they asked me if i knew what ship 'e belonged to, as the police wanted to know. so i told 'em i knew well enough, but i wasn't going to tell if it would get the poor fellow into a scrape. "`why don't you ask himself?' says i. "they told me 'e was past speaking, so i tried to make 'im understand, but 'e only mumbled in reply. w'en i was about to go 'e seemed to mumble very 'ard, so i put down my ear to listen, and 'e w'ispered quite distinct tho' very low--`all right, my 'eartie. i'm too cute for 'em by a long way; go aboard an' say nothin'.' so i came away, and i've scarce been five minutes aboard before you arrived. my own opinion is, that 'e's crazed, and don't know what 'e's sayin'." "oh!" ejaculated captain dunning. "he said that, did he? then _my_ opinion is, that he's not so crazed as you think. tell the watch, mr millons, to keep a sharp look-out." so saying, captain dunning descended to the cabin, and rokens to the forecastle (in sea phraseology the "fok-sail"), while glynn proctor procured a basin and a piece of soap, and proceeded to rub the coat of charcoal off his face and hands. half-an-hour had not elapsed when the watch on deck heard a loud splash near the wharf, as if some one had fallen into the water. immediately after, a confused sound of voices and rapid footsteps was heard in the street that opened out upon the quay, and in a few seconds the end of the wharf was crowded with men who shouted to each other, and were seen in the dim starlight to move rapidly about as if in search of something. "wot can it be?" said tim rokens in a low voice, to a seaman who leaned on the ship's bulwarks close to him. "deserter, mayhap," suggested the man. while rokens pondered the suggestion, a light plash was heard close to the ship's side, and a voice said, in a hoarse whisper, "heave us a rope, will ye. look alive, now. guess i'll go under in two minits if ye don't." "oho!" exclaimed rokens, in a low, impressive voice, as he threw over the end of a rope, and, with the aid of the other members of the watch, hauled nikel sling up the side, and landed him dripping and panting on the deck. "w'y--sling! what on airth--?" exclaimed one of the men. "it's lucky--i am--on airth--" panted the tall cook, seating himself on the breech of one of the main-deck carronades, and wringing the water from his garments. "an' it's well i'm not at the bottom o' this 'ere 'arbour." "but where did ye come from, an' why are they arter ye, lad?" inquired rokens. "w'y? 'cause they don't want to part with me, and i've gi'n them the slip, i guess." when nikel sling had recovered himself so as to talk connectedly, he explained to his wondering shipmates how that, after being floored in the street, he had been carried up to the hospital, and on recovering his senses, found mr millons standing by the bedside, conversing with the young surgeons. the first words of their conversation showed him that something was wrong, so, with remarkable self-possession, he resolved to counterfeit partial delirium, by which means he contrived to give the first mate a hint that all was right, and declined, without creating suspicion, to give any intelligible answers as to who he was or where he had come from. the blow on his head caused him considerable pain, but his mind was relieved by one of the young surgeons, who remarked to another, in going round the wards, that the "skull of that long chap wasn't fractured after all, and he had no doubt he would be dismissed cured in a day or two." so the cook lay quiet until it was dark. when the house-surgeon had paid his last visit, and the nurses had gone their rounds in the accident-ward, and no sound disturbed the quiet of the dimly-lighted apartment save the heavy fitful breathing and occasional moans and restless motions of the sufferers, nikel sling raised himself on his elbow, and glanced stealthily round on the rows of pain-worn and haggard countenances around him. it was a solemn sight to look upon, especially at that silent hour of the night. there were men there with almost every species of painful wound and fracture. some had been long there, wasting away from day to day, and now lay quiet, though suffering, from sheer exhaustion. others there were who had been carried in that day, and fidgeted impatiently in their unreduced strength, yet nervously in their agony; or, in some cases, where the fear of death was on them, clasped their hands and prayed in whispers for mercy to him whose name perhaps they had almost never used before except for the purpose of taking it in vain. but such sights had little or no effect on the cook, who had rubbed hard against the world's roughest sides too long to be easily affected by the sight of human suffering, especially when exhibited in men. he paused long enough to note that the nurses were out of the way or dozing, and then slipping out of bed, he stalked across the room like a ghost, and made for the outer gateway of the hospital. he knew the way, having once before been a temporary inmate of the place. he reached the gate undiscovered, tripped up the porter's heels, opened the wicket, and fled towards the harbour, followed by the porter and a knot of chance passers-by. the pursuers swelled into a crowd as he neared the harbour. besides being long-limbed, nikel sling was nimble. he distanced his pursuers easily, and, as we have seen, swam off and reached his ship almost as soon as they gained the end of the wharf. the above narration was made much more abruptly and shortly than we have presented it, for oars were soon heard in the water, and it behoved the poor hunted cook to secrete himself in case they should take a fancy to search the vessel. just as the boat came within a few yards of the ship he hastily went below. "boat ahoy!" shouted tim rokens; "wot boat's that?" the men lay on their oars. "have you a madman on board your ship?" inquired the gatekeeper of the hospital, whose wrath at the unceremonious treatment he had received had not yet cooled down. "no," answered rokens, laying his arms on the bulwarks, and looking down at his questioner with a sly leer; "no, we ha'n't, but you've got a madman aboord that boat." "who's that?" inquired the warder, who did not at first understand the sarcasm. "why, yourself, to be sure," replied rokens, "an' the sooner you takes yourself off, an' comes to an anchor in a loo-natick asylum, the better for all parties consarned." "no, but i'm in earnest, my man--" "_as_ far as that goes," interrupted the imperturbable rokens, "so am i." "the man," continued the gatekeeper, "has run out of the hospital with a smashed head, i calc'late, stark starin' mad, and gone off the end o' the w'arf into the water--" "you don't mean it!" shouted rokens, starting with affected surprise. "now you _are_ a fine fellow, ain't you, to be talkin' here an' wastin' time while a poor feller-mortal is bein' drownded, or has gone and swummed off to sea--p'r'aps without chart, compass, or rudder! hallo, lads! tumble up there! man overboard! tumble up, tumble up!" in less than three minutes half-a-dozen men sprang up the hatchway, hauled up the gig which swung astern, tumbled into it, and began to pull wildly about the harbour in search of the drowning man. the shouts and commotion roused the crews of the nearest vessels, and ere long quite a fleet of boats joined in the search. "wos he a big or a little feller?" inquired rokens, panting from his exertions, as he swept up to the boat containing the hospital warder, round which several of the other boats began to congregate. "a big fellow, i guess, with legs like steeples. he was sloping when they floored him. a thief, i expect he must ha' bin." "a thief!" echoed rokens, in disgust; "why didn't ye say, so at first? if he's a thief, he's born to be hanged, so he's safe and snug aboard his ship long ago, i'll be bound. good-night t'ye, friend, and better luck next time." a loud laugh greeted the ears of the discomfited warder as the crews of the boats dipped their oars in the water and pulled towards, their respective ships. next morning, about daybreak, little alice dunning came on board her father's ship, accompanied by her two aunts, who, for once, became utterly and publicly regardless of appearances and contemptuous of all propriety, as they sobbed on the child's neck and positively refused to be comforted. just as the sun rose, and edged the horizon with a gleam of liquid fire, the _red eric_ spread her sails and stood out to sea. chapter five. day dreams and adventures among the clouds--a chase, a battle, and a victory. early morning on the ocean! there is poetry in the idea; there is music in the very sound. as there is nothing new under the sun, probably a song exists with this or a similar title; if not, we now recommend it earnestly to musicians. ailie dunning sat on the bulwarks of the _red eric_, holding on tightly by the mizzen-shrouds, and gazing in open-eyed, open-mouthed, inexpressible delight upon the bright calm sea. she was far, far out upon the bosom of the atlantic now. sea-sickness--which during the first part of the voyage, had changed the warm pink of her pretty face into every imaginable shade of green--was gone, and the hue of health could not now be banished even by the rudest storm. in short, she had become a thorough sailor, and took special delight in turning her face to windward during the wild storm, and drinking-in the howling blast as she held on by the rigid shrouds, and laughed at the dashing spray--for little ailie was not easily frightened. martha and jane dunning had made it their first care to implant in the heart of their charge a knowledge of our saviour's love, and especially of his tenderness towards, and watchful care over, the lambs of his flock. besides this, little ailie was naturally of a trustful disposition. she had implicit confidence in the strength and wisdom of her father, and it never entered into her imagination to dream that it was possible for any evil to befall the ship which _he_ commanded. but, although ailie delighted in the storm, she infinitely preferred the tranquil beauty and rest of a "great calm," especially at the hour just before sunrise, when the freshness, brightness, and lightness of the young day harmonised peculiarly with her elastic spirit. it was at this hour that we find her alone upon the bulwarks of the _red eric_. there was a deep, solemn stillness around, that irresistibly and powerfully conveyed to her mind the idea of rest. the long, gentle undulation of the deep did not in the least detract from this idea. so perfect was the calm, that several masses of clouds in the sky, which shone with the richest saffron light, were mirrored in all their rich details as if in a glass. the faintest possible idea of a line alone indicated, in one direction, where the water terminated and the sky began. a warm golden haze suffused the whole atmosphere, and softened the intensity of the deep-blue vault above. there was, indeed, little variety of object to gaze upon--only the water and the sky. but what a world of delight did not ailie find in that vast sky and that pure ocean, that reminded her of the sea of glass before the great white throne, of which she had so often read in revelation. the towering masses of clouds were so rich and thick, that she almost fancied them to be mountains and valleys, rocks and plains of golden snow. nay, she looked so long and so ardently at the rolling mountain heights in the sky above, and their magical counterparts in the sky below, that she soon, as it were, _thought herself into_ fairyland, and began a regular journey of adventures therein. such a scene at such an hour is a source of gladsome, peaceful delight to the breast of man in every stage of life; but it is a source of unalloyed, bounding, exhilarating, romantic, unspeakable joy only in the years of childhood, when the mind looks hopefully forward, and before it has begun--as, alas! it must begin, sooner or later--to gaze regretfully back. how long ailie would have sat in motionless delight it is difficult to say. the man at the wheel having nothing to do, had forsaken his post, and was leaning over the stern, either lost in reverie, or in a vain effort to penetrate with his vision the blue abyss to the bottom. the members of the watch on deck were either similarly engaged or had stowed themselves away to sleep in quiet corners among blocks and cordage. no one seemed inclined to move or speak, and she would probably have sat there immovable for hours to come, had not a hand fallen gently on her shoulder, and by the magic of its simple contact scattered the bright dreams of fairyland as the finger-touch destroys the splendour of the soap-bubble. "oh! glynn," exclaimed ailie, looking round and heaving a deep sigh; "i've been away--far, far away--you can't believe how far." "away, ailie! where have you been?" asked glynn, patting the child's head as he leaned over the gunwale beside her. "in fairyland. up in the clouds yonder. out and in, and up and down. oh, you've no idea. just look." she pointed eagerly to an immense towering cloud that rose like a conspicuous landmark in the centre of the landscape of the airy world above. "do you see that mountain?" "yes, ailie; the one in the middle, you mean, don't you? yes, well?" "well," continued the child, eagerly and hurriedly, as if she feared to lose the thread of memory that formed the warp and woof of the delicate fabric she had been engaged in weaving; "well, i began there; i went in behind it, and i met a fairy--not really, you know, but i tried to think i met one, so i began to speak to her, and then i made her speak to me, and her voice was so small and soft and sweet. she had on silver wings, and a star--a bright star in her forehead--and she carried a wand with a star on the top of it too. so i asked her to take me to see her kingdom, and i made her say she would--and, do you know, glynn, i really felt at last as if she didn't wait for me to tell her what to say, but just went straight on, answering my questions, and putting questions to me in return. wasn't it funny? "well, we went on, and on, and on--the fairy and me--up one beautiful mountain of snow and down another, talking all the time so pleasantly, until we came to a great dark cave; so i made up my mind to make a lion come out of it; but the fairy said, `no, let it be a bear;' and immediately a great bear came out. wasn't it strange? it really seemed as if the fairy had become real, and could do things of her own accord." the child paused at this point, and looking with an expression of awe into her companion's face, said--"do you think, glynn, that people can _think_ so hard that fairies _really_ come to them?" glynn looked perplexed. "no, ailie, i suspect they can't--not because we can't think hard enough, but because there are no fairies to come." "oh, i'm _so_ sorry!" replied the child sadly. "why?" inquired glynn. "because i love them _so_ much--of course, i mean the good ones. i don't like the bad ones--though they're very useful, because they're nice to kill, and punish, and make examples of, and all that, when the good ones catch them." "so they are," said the youth, smiling. "i never thought of that before. but go on with your ramble in the clouds." "well," began ailie; "but where was i?" "just going to be introduced to a bear." "oh yes; well--the bear walked slowly away, and then the fairy called out an elephant, and after that a 'noceros--" "a 'noceros!" interrupted glynn; "what's that?" "oh, you know very well. a beast with a thick skin hanging in folds, and a horn on its nose--" "ah, a _rhi_noceros--i see. well, go on, ailie." "then the fairy told a camel to appear, and after that a monkey, and then a hippopotamus, and they all came out one after another, and some of them went away, and others began to fight. but the strangest thing of all was, that every one of them was _so_ like the pictures of wild beasts that are hanging in my room at home! the elephant, too, i noticed, had his trunk broken exactly the same way as my toy elephant's one was. wasn't it odd?" "it was rather odd," replied glynn; "but where did you go after that?" "oh, then we went on, and on again, until we came to--" "it's your turn at the wheel, lad, ain't it?" inquired mr millons, coming up at that moment, and putting an abrupt termination to the walk in fairyland. "it is, sir," answered glynn, springing quickly to the wheel, and relieving the man who had been engaged in penetrating the ocean's depths. the mate walked forward; the released sailor went below, and ailie was again left to her solitary meditations;--for she was enough of a sailor now, in heart, to know that she ought not to talk too much to the steersman, even though the weather should be calm and there was no call for his undivided attention to the duties of his post. while nature was thus, as it were, asleep, and the watch on deck were more than half in the same condition, there was one individual in the ship whose faculties were in active play, whose "steam," as he himself would have remarked, "was up." this was the worthy cook, nikel sling, whose duties called him to his post at the galley-fire at an early hour each day. we have often thought that a cook's life must be one of constant self-denial and exasperation of spirit. besides the innumerable anxieties in reference to such important matters as boiling over and over-boiling, being done to a turn, or over-done, or singed or burned, or capsized, he has the diurnal misery of being the first human being in his little circle of life, to turn out of a morning, and must therefore experience the discomfort--the peculiar discomfort--of finding things as _they were left_ the night before. any one who does not know what that discomfort is, has only to rise an hour before the servants of a household, whether at sea or on shore, to find out. cook, too, has generally, if not always, to light the fire; and that, especially in frosty weather, is not agreeable. moreover, cook roasts _himself_ to such an extent, and at meal-times, in nine cases out of ten, gets into such physical and mental perturbation, that he cannot possibly appreciate the luxuries he has been occupied all the day in concocting. add to this, that he spends all the morning in preparing breakfast; all the forenoon in preparing dinner; all the afternoon in preparing tea and supper, and all the evening in clearing up, and perhaps all the night in dreaming of the meals of the following day, and mentally preparing breakfast, and we think that we have clearly proved the truth of the proposition with which we started--namely, that a cook's life must be one of constant self-denial and exasperation of spirit. but this is by the way, and was merely suggested by the fact that, while all other creatures were enjoying either partial or complete repose, nikel sling was washing out pots and pans and kettles, and handling murderous-looking knives and two-pronged tormentors with a demoniacal activity that was quite appalling. beside him, on a little stool close to the galley-fire, sat tim rokens-- not that mr rokens was cold--far from it. he was, to judge from appearances, much hotter than was agreeable. but tim had come there and sat down to light his pipe, and being rather phlegmatic when not actively employed, he preferred to be partially roasted for a few minutes to getting up again. "we ought," remarked tim rokens, puffing at a little black pipe which seemed inclined to be obstinate, "we ought to be gittin' among the fish by this time. many's the one i've seed in them 'ere seas." "i rather guess we should," replied the cook, pausing the midst of his toils and wiping the perspiration from his forehead with an immense bundle of greasy oakum. "but i've seed us keep dodgin' about for weeks, i have, later in the year than this, without clappin' eyes on a fin. what sort o' baccy d'ye smoke, rokens?" "dun know. got it from a spanish smuggler for an old clasp-knife. why?" "cause it smells like rotten straw, an' won't improve the victuals. guess you'd better take yourself off, old chap." "wot a cross-grained crittur ye are," said rokens, as he rose to depart. at that moment there was heard a cry that sent the blood tingling to the extremities of every one on board the _red eric_. "thar she blows! thar she blows!" shouted the man in the crow's-nest. the crow's-nest is a sort of cask, or nest, fixed at the top of the mainmast of whale-ships, in which a man is stationed all day during the time the ships are on the fishing-ground, to look out for whales; and the cry, "thar she blows," announced the fact that the look-out had observed a whale rise to the surface and blow a spout of steamy water into the air. no conceivable event--unless perhaps the blowing-up of the ship itself-- could have more effectually and instantaneously dissipated the deep tranquillity to which we have more than once referred. had an electric shock been communicated through the ship to each individual, the crew could not have been made to leap more vigorously and simultaneously. many days before, they had begun to expect to see whales. every one was therefore on the _qui vive_, so that when the well-known signal rang out like a startling peal in the midst of the universal stillness, every heart in the ship leaped in unison. had an observant man been seated at the time in the forecastle, he would have noticed that from out of the ten or fifteen hammocks that swung from the beams, there suddenly darted ten or fifteen pairs of legs which rose to the perpendicular position in order to obtain leverage to "fetch way." instantly thereafter the said legs descended, and where the feet had been, ten or fifteen heads appeared. next moment the men were "tumbling up" the fore-hatch to the deck, where the watch had already sprung to the boat-tackles. "where away?" sang out captain dunning who was among the first on deck. "off the weather bow, sir, three points." "how far?" "about two miles. thar she blows!" "call all hands," shouted the captain. "starboard watch, ahoy!" roared the mate, in that curious hoarse voice peculiar to boatswains of men-of-war. "tumble up, lads, tumble up! whale in sight! bear a hand, my hearties!" the summons was almost unnecessary. the "starboard watch" was--with the exception of one or two uncommonly heavy sleepers--already on deck pulling on its ducks and buckling its belts. "thar she breaches, thar she blows!" again came from the crow's-nest in the voice of a stentor. "well done, dick barnes, you're the first to raise the oil," remarked one of the men, implying by the remark that the said dick was fortunate enough to be the first to sight a whale. "where away now?" roared the captain, who was in a state of intense excitement. "a mile an' a half to leeward, sir." "clear away the boats," shouted the captain. "masthead, ahoy! d'ye see that whale now?" "ay, ay, sir. thar she blows!" "bear a hand, my hearties," cried the captain, as the men sprang to the boats which were swinging at the davits. "get your tubs in! clear your falls! look alive, lads! stand-by to lower! all ready?" "all ready, sir." "thar she blows!" came again from the masthead with redoubled energy. "sperm-whales, sir; there's a school of 'em." "a _school_ of them!" whispered ailie, who had left her post at the mizzen-shrouds, and now stood by her father's side, looking on at the sudden hubbub in unspeakable amazement. "do whales go to school?" she said, laughing. "out of the road, ailie, my pet," cried her father hastily. "you'll get knocked over. lower away, lads, lower away!" down went the starboard, larboard, and waist-boats as if the falls had been cut, and almost before you could wink the men literally tumbled over the side into them, took their places, and seized their oars. "here, glynn, come with me, and i'll show you a thing or two," said the captain. "jump in, lad; look sharp." glynn instantly followed his commander into the starboard boat, and took the aft oar. tim rokens, being the harpooner of that boat, sat at the bow oar with his harpoons and lances beside him, and the whale-line coiled in a tub in the boat's head. the captain steered. and now commenced a race that taxed the boats' crews to the utmost; for it is always a matter keenly contested by the different crews, who shall fix the first harpoon in the whale. the larboard boat was steered by mr millons, the first mate; the waist-boat by mr markham, the second mate--the latter an active man of about five-and-twenty, whose size and physical strength were herculean, and whose disposition was somewhat morose and gloomy. "now, lads, give way! that's it! that's the way. bend your backs, now! _do_ bend your backs," cried the captain, as the three boats sprang from the ship's side and made towards the nearest whale, with the white foam curling at their bow. several more whales appeared in sight spouting in all directions, and the men were wild with excitement. "that's it! go it lads!" shouted mr millons, as the waist-boat began to creep ahead. "lay it on! give way! what d'ye say, boys; shall we beat 'em?" captain dunning stood in the stern-sheets of the starboard boat, almost dancing with excitement as he heard these words of encouragement. "give way, boys!" he cried. "they can't do it! that whale's ours--so it is. only bend your backs! a steady pull! pull like steam-tugs! that's it! bend the oars! double 'em up! smash 'em in bits, _do_!" without quite going the length of the captain's last piece of advice, the men did their work nobly. they bent their strong backs with a will, and strained their sinewy arms to the utmost. glynn, in particular, to whom the work was new, and therefore peculiarly exciting and interesting, almost tore the rowlocks out of the boat in his efforts to urge it on, and had the oar not been made of the toughest ash, there is no doubt that he would have obeyed the captain's orders literally and have smashed it in bits. on they flew like racehorses. now one boat gained an inch on the others, then it lost ground again as the crew of another put forth additional energy, and the three danced over the glassy sea as if the inanimate planks had been suddenly endued with life, and inspired with the spirit that stirred the men. a large sperm-whale lay about a quarter of a mile ahead, rolling lazily in the trough of the sea. towards this the starboard boat now pulled with incredible speed, leaving the other two gradually astern. a number of whales rose in various directions. they had got into the midst of a shoal, or school of them, as the whale-men term it; and as several of these were nearer the other boats than the first whale was, they diverged towards them. "there go flukes," cried rokens, as the whale raised its huge tail in the air and "sounded"--in other words, dived. for a few minutes the men lay on their oars, uncertain in what direction the whale would come up again; but their doubts were speedily removed by its rising within a few yards of the boat. "now, rokens," cried the captain; "now for it; give him the iron. give way, lads; spring, boys. softly now, softly." in another instant the boat's bow was on the whale's head, and rokens buried a harpoon deep in its side. "stern all!" thundered the captain. the men obeyed, and the boat was backed off the whale just in time to escape the blow of its tremendous flukes as it dived into the sea, the blue depths of which were instantly dyed red with the blood that flowed in torrents from the wound. down it went, carrying out the line at a rate that caused the chocks through which it passed to smoke. in a few minutes the line ceased to run out, and the whale returned to the surface. it had scarcely showed its nose, when the slack of the line was hauled in, and a second harpoon was fixed in its body. infuriated with pain, the mighty fish gave vent to a roar like a bull, rolled half over, and lashed the sea with his flukes, till, all round for many yards, it was churned into red slimy foam. then he turned round, and dashed off with the speed of a locomotive engine, tearing the boat through the waves behind it, the water curling up like a white wall round the bows. "she won't stand that long," muttered glynn proctor, as he rested on his oar, and looked over his shoulder at the straining line. "that she will, boy," said the captain; "and more than that, if need be. you'll not be long of havin' a chance of greasin' your fingers, i'll warrant." in a few minutes the speed began to slacken, and after a time they were able to haul in on the line. when the whale again came to the surface, a third harpoon was cleverly struck into it, and a spout of blood from its blow-hole showed that it was mortally wounded. in throwing the harpoon, tim rokens slipped his foot, and went down like a stone head-foremost into the sea. he came up again like a cork, and just as the boat flew past fortunately caught hold of glynn proctor's hand. it was well that the grasp was a firm one, for the strain on their two arms was awful. in another minute tim was in his place, ready with his lance to finish off the whale at its next rise. up it came again, foaming, breaching, and plunging from wave to wave, flinging torrents of blood and spray into the air. at one moment he reared his blunt gigantic head high above the sea; the next he buried his vast and quivering carcase deep in the gory brine, carrying down with him a perfect whirlpool of red foam. then he rose again and made straight for the boat. had he known his own power, he might have soon terminated the battle, and come off the victor, but fortunately he did not. tim rokens received his blunt nose on the point of his lance, and drove him back with mingled fury and terror. another advance was made, and a successful lance-thrust delivered. "that's into his life," cried the captain. "so it is," replied rokens. and so it was. a vital part had been struck. for some minutes the huge leviathan lashed and rolled and tossed in the trembling waves in his agony, while he spouted up gallons of blood with every throe; then he rolled over on his back, and lay extended a lifeless mass upon the waters. "now, lads; three cheers for our first whale. hip! hip! hip!--" the cheer that followed was given with all the energy and gusto inspired by a first victory, and it was repeated again and again, and over again, before the men felt themselves sufficiently relieved to commence the somewhat severe and tedious labour of towing the carcase to the ship. it was a hard pull, for the whale had led them a long chase, and as the calm continued, those left aboard could not approach to meet the boats. the exhausted men were cheered, however, on getting aboard late that night, to find that the other boats had been equally successful, each of them having captured a sperm-whale. chapter six. disagreeable changes--sagacious conversations, and a terrible accident. a striking and by no means a pleasant change took place in the general appearance of the _red eric_ immediately after the successful chase detailed in the last chapter. before the arrival of the whales the decks had been beautifully clean and white, for captain dunning was proud of his ship, and fond of cleanliness and order. a few hours after the said arrival the decks were smeared with grease, oil, and blood, and everything from stem to stern became from that day filthy and dirty. this was a sad change to poor ailie, who had not imagined it possible that so sudden and disagreeable an alteration could take place. but there was no help for it; the duties of the fishery in which they were engaged required that the whales should not only be caught, but cut up, boiled down to oil, and stowed away in the hold in casks. if the scene was changed for the worse a few hours after the cutting-up operations were begun, it became infinitely more so when the _try-works_ were set going, and the melting-fires were lighted, and huge volumes of smoke begrimed the masts, and sails, and rigging. it was vain to think of clearing up; had they attempted that, the men would have been over-tasked without any good being accomplished. there was only one course open to those who didn't like it, and that was--to "grin and bear it." "cutting out" and "trying in" are the terms used by whale-men to denote the processes of cutting off the flesh or "blubber" from the whale's carcase, and reducing it to oil. at an early hour on the following morning the first of these operations was commenced. ailie went about the decks, looking on with mingled wonder, interest, and disgust. she stepped about gingerly, as if afraid of coming in contact with slimy objects, and with her nose and mouth screwed up after the fashion of those who are obliged to endure bad smells. the expression of her face under the circumstances was amusing. as for the men, they went about their work with relish, and total indifference as to consequences. when the largest whale had been hauled alongside, ropes were attached to his head and tail, and the former was secured near the stern of the ship, while the latter was lashed to the bow; the cutting-tackle was then attached. this consisted of an arrangement of pulleys depending from the main-top, with a large blubber-hook at the end thereof. the cutting was commenced at the neck, and the hook attached; then the men hove on the windlass, and while the cutting was continued in a spiral direction round the whale's body, the tackle raised the mass of flesh until it reached the fixed blocks above. this mass, when it could be hauled up no higher, was then cut off, and stowed away under the name of a "blanket-piece." it weighed upwards of a ton. the hook being lowered and again attached, the process was continued until the whole was cut off. afterwards, the head was severed from the body and hoisted on board, in order that the oil contained in the hollow of it might be baled out. from the head of the first whale ten barrels of oil were obtained. the blubber yielded about eighty barrels. when the "cutting out" was completed, and the remnants of bone and flesh were left to the sharks which swarmed round the vessel, revelling in their unusually rich banquet, the process of "trying in" commenced. "trying in" is the term applied to the melting of the fat and the stowing of it away in barrels in the form of oil; and an uncommonly dirty process it is. the large "blanket-pieces" were cut into smaller portions, and put into the try-pots, which were kept in constant operation. at night the ship had all the appearance of a vessel on fire, and the scene on deck was particularly striking and unearthly. one night several of the men were grouped on and around the windlass, chatting, singing, and "spinning yarns." ailie dunning stood near them, lost in wonder and admiration; for the ears and eyes of the child were assailed in a manner never before experienced or dreamed of even in the most romantic mood of cloud-wandering. it was a very dark night, darker than usual, and not a breath of wind ruffled the sea, which was like a sheet of undulating glass--for, be it remembered, there is no such thing at any time as absolute stillness in the ocean. at all times, even in the profoundest calm, the long, slow, gentle swell rises and sinks with unceasing regularity, like the bosom of a man in deep slumber. dense clouds of black smoke and occasional lurid sheets of flame rose from the try-works, which were situated between the foremast and the main-hatch. the tops of the masts were lost in the curling smoke, and the black waves of the sea gleamed and flashed in the red light all round the ship. one man stood in front of the melting-pot, pitching in pieces of blubber with a two-pronged pitchfork. two comrades stood by the pots, stirring up their contents, and throwing their figures into wild uncouth attitudes, while the fire glared in their greasy faces, and converted the front of their entire persons into deep vermilion. the oil was hissing in the try-pots; the rough weather-beaten faces of the men on the windlass were smeared, and their dirty-white ducks saturated, with oil. the decks were blood-stained; huge masses of flesh and blubber lay scattered about; sparks flew upwards in splendid showers as the men raked up the fires; the decks, bulwarks, railings, try-works, and windlass were covered with oil and slime, and glistening in the red glare. it was a terrible, murderous-looking scene, and filled ailie's mind with mingled feelings of wonder, disgust, and awe, as she leaned on a comparatively clean spot near the foremast, listening to the men and gazing at the rolling smoke and flames. "ain't it beautiful?" said a short, fat little seaman named gurney, who sat swinging his legs on the end of the windlass, and pointed, as he spoke, with the head of his pipe to a more than usually brilliant burst of sparks and flame that issued that moment from the works. "beautiful!" exclaimed a long-limbed, shambling fellow named jim scroggles, "why, that ain't the word at all. now, i calls it splendiferous." scroggles looked round at his comrades, as if to appeal to their judgment as to the fitness of the word, but not receiving any encouragement, he thrust down the glowing tobacco in his pipe with the end of his little finger, and reiterated the word "splendiferous" with marked emphasis. "did ye ever see that word in johnson?" inquired gurney. "who's johnson?" said scroggles, contemptuously. "wot, don't ye know who johnson is?" cried gurney, in surprise. "in course i don't; how should i?" retorted scroggles. "there's ever so many johnsons in the world; which on 'em all do you mean?" "why, i mean johnson wot wrote the diksh'nary--the great lexikragofer." "oh, it's _him_ you mean, is it? in course i've knowed him ever since i wos at school." a general laugh interrupted the speaker. "at school!" cried nickel sling, who approached the group at that moment with a carving knife in his hand--he seldom went anywhere without an instrument of office in his hand--"at school! wal now, that beats creation. if ye wos, i'm sartin ye only larned to forgit all ye orter to have remembered. i'd take a bet now, ye wosn't at school as long as i've been settin' on this here windlass." "yer about right, sling, it 'ud be unpossible for me to be as _long_ as you anywhere, 'cause everybody knows i'm only five fut two, whereas you're six fut four!" "hear, hear!" shouted dick barnes--a man with a huge black beard, who the reader may perhaps remember was the first to "raise the oil." "it'll be long before you make another joke like that, gurney. come, now, give us a song, gurney, do; there's the cap'n's darter standin' by the foremast, a-waitin' to hear ye. give us `long, long ago.'" "ah! that's it, give us a song," cried the men. "come, there's a good fellow." "well, it's so long ago since i sung that song, shipmates," replied gurney, "that i've bin and forgot it; but tim rokens knows it; where's rokens?" "he's in the watch below." in sea parlance, the men whose turn it is to take rest after their long watch on deck are somewhat facetiously said to belong to the "watch below." "ah! that's a pity; so we can't have that 'ere partickler song. but i'll give ye another, if ye don't object." "no, no. all right; go ahead, gurney! is there a chorus to it?" "ay, in course there is. wot's a song without a chorus? wot's plum-duff without the plums? wot's a ship without a 'elm? it's my opinion, shipmates, that a song without a chorus is no better than it should be. it's wus nor nothin'. it puts them wot listens in the blues an' the man wot sings into the stews--an' sarve him right. i wouldn't, no, i wouldn't give the fag-end o' nothin' mixed in bucket o' salt water for a song without a chorus--that's flat; so here goes." having delivered himself of these opinions in an extremely vigorous manner, and announced the fact that he was about to begin, gurney cleared his throat and drew a number of violent puffs from his pipe in quick succession, in order to kindle that instrument into a glow which would last through the first verse and the commencement of the chorus. this he knew was sufficient, for the men, when once fairly started on the chorus, would infallibly go on to the end with or without his assistance, and would therefore afford him time for a few restorative whiffs. "it hain't got no name, lads." "never mind, gurney--all right--fire away." "oh, i once know'd a man as hadn't got a nose, an' this is how he come to hadn't-- one cold winter night he went and got it froze-- by the pain he was well-nigh madden'd. (_chorus_.) well-nigh madden'd, by the pain he was well-nigh madden'd. "next day it swoll up as big as my head, an' it turn'd like a piece of putty; it kivered up his mouth, oh, yes, so it did, so he could not smoke his cutty. (_chorus_.) smoke his cutty, so he could not smoke his cutty. "next day it grew black, and the next day blue, an' tough as a junk of leather; (oh! he yelled, so he did, fit to pierce ye through)-- an' then it fell off altogether! (_chorus_.) fell off altogether, an' then it fell off altogether! "but the morial is wot you've now got to hear, an' it's good--as sure as a gun; an' you'll never forget it, my messmates dear, for this song it hain't got none! (_chorus_.) hain't got none, for this song it hain't got none!" the applause that followed this song was most enthusiastic, and evidently gratifying to gurney, who assumed a modest deprecatory air as he proceeded to light his pipe, which had been allowed to go out at the third verse, the performer having become so engrossed in his subject as to have forgotten the interlude of puffs at that point. "well sung, gurney. who made it?" inquired phil briant, an irishman, who, besides being a jack-of-all-trades and an able-bodied seaman, was at that time acting-assistant to the cook and steward, the latter--a half spaniard and half negro, of californian extraction--being unwell. "i'm bound not to tell," replied gurney, with a conscious air. "ah, then, yer right, my boy, for it's below the average entirely." "come, phil, none o' yer chaff," cried dick barnes, "that song desarves somethin' arter it. suppose now, phil, that you wos to go below and fetch the bread-kid." "couldn't do it," replied phil, looking solemn, "on no account wotiver." "oh, nonsense, why not?" "'cause its unpossible. why, if i did, sure that surly compound o' all sorts o' human blood would pitch into me with the carvin'-knife." "who? tarquin?" cried dick barnes, naming the steward. "ay, sure enough that same--tarquin's his name, an it's kuriously befittin' the haythen, for of all the cross-grained mixtures o' buffalo, bear, bandicoot, and crackadile i iver seed, he's out o' sight--" "did i hear any one mention my name?" inquired the steward himself who came aft at that moment. he was a wild spanish-like fellow, with a handsome-enough figure, and a swart countenance that might have been good-looking but for the thickish lips and nose and the bad temper that marked it. since getting into the tropics, the sailors had modified their costumes considerably, and as each man had in some particular allowed himself a slight play of fancy, their appearance, when grouped together, was varied and picturesque. most of them wore no shoes, and the caps of some were, to say the least, peculiar. tarquin wore a broad-brimmed straw hat, with a conical crown, and a red silk sash tied round his waist. "yes, tarquin," replied barnes, "we _wos_ engaged in makin' free-an'-easy remarks on you; and phil briant there gave us to understand that you wouldn't let us have the bread--kid up. now, it's my opinion you ain't goin' to be so hard on us as that; you will let us have it up to comfort our hearts on this fine night, won't you?" the steward, whose green visage showed that he was too ill to enter into a dispute at that time, turned on his heel and walked aft, remarking that they might eat the bottom out o' the ship, for all he cared. "there now, you misbemannered patlander, go and get it, or we'll throw you overboard," cried scroggles, twisting his long limbs awkwardly as he shifted his position on the windlass. "now, then, shipmates, don't go for to ax it," said briant, remaining immovable. "don't i know wot's best for ye? let me spaake to ye now. did any of ye iver study midsin?" "no!" cried several with a laugh. "sure i thought not," continued phil, with a patronising air, "or ye'd niver ask for the bread--kid out o' saisin. now i was in the medical way meself wance--ay, ye may laugh, but it's thrue--i wos 'prentice to a 'pothecary, an' i've mixed up more midsins than would pisen the whole popilation of owld ireland--barrin' the praists, av coorse. and didn't i hear the convarse o' all the doctors in the place? and wasn't the word always--`be rigglar with yer mails--don't ait, avic, more nor three times a day, and not too much, now. be sparin'.'" "hah! ye long-winded grampus," interrupted dick barnes, impatiently. "an' warn't the doctors right? three times a day for sick folk, and six times--or more--for them wot's well." "hear, hear!" cried the others, while two of them seized briant by the neck, and thrust him forcibly towards the after-hatch. "bring up the kid, now; an' if ye come without it, look out for squalls." "och! worse luck," sighed the misused assistant, as he disappeared. in a few minutes phil returned with the kid, which was a species of tray filled with broken sea-biscuit, which, when afloat, goes by the name of "bread." this was eagerly seized, for the appetites of sailors are always sharp, except immediately after meals. a quantity of the broken biscuit was put into a strainer, and fried in whale-oil, and the men sat round the kid to enjoy their luxurious feast, and relate their adventures--all of which were more or less marvellous, and many of them undoubtedly true. the more one travels in this world of ours, and the more one reads of the adventures of travellers upon whose narratives we can place implicit confidence, the more we find that men do not now require, as they did of old, to draw upon their imaginations for marvellous tales of wild, romantic adventure, in days gone by, travellers were few; foreign lands were almost unknown. not many books were written; and of the few that were, very few were believed. in the present day men of undoubted truthfulness have roamed far and wide over the whole world, their books are numbered by hundreds, and much that was related by ancient travellers, but not believed, has now been fully corroborated. more than that, it is now known that men have every where received, as true, statements which modern discovery has proved to be false, and on the other hand they have often refused to believe what is now ascertained to be literally true. we would suggest, in passing, that a lesson might be learned from this fact--namely, that we ought to receive a statement in regard to a foreign land, not according to the probability or the improbability of the statement itself, but according to the credibility of him who makes it. ailie dunning had a trustful disposition; she acted on neither of the above principles. she believed all she heard, poor thing, and therefore had a head pretty well stored with mingled fact and nonsense. while the men were engaged with their meal, dr hopley came on deck and found her leaning over the stern, looking down at the waves which shone with sparkling phosphorescent light. an almost imperceptible breeze had sprung up, and the way made by the vessel as she passed through the water was indicated by a stream of what appeared lambent blue flame. "looking at the fish, ailie, as usual?" said the doctor as he came up. "what are they saying to you to-night?" "i'm not looking at the fish," answered ailie; "i'm looking at the fire--no, not the fire; papa said it wasn't fire, but it's so like it, i can scarcely call it anything else. what _is_ it, doctor?" "it is called phosphorescence," replied the doctor, leaning over the bulwarks, and looking down at the fiery serpent that seemed as if it clung to the ship's rudder. "but i dare say you don't know what that means. you know what fire-flies and glow-worms are?" "oh! yes; i've often caught them." "well, there are immense numbers of very small and very thin jelly-like creatures in the sea, so thin and so transparent that they can scarcely be observed in the water. these medusae, as they are called, possess the power of emitting light similar to that of the fire-fly. in short, ailie, they are the fire-flies and glow-worms of the ocean." the child listened with wonder, and for some minutes remained silent. before she could again speak, there occurred one of those incidents which are generally spoken of as "most unexpected" and sudden, but which, nevertheless, are the result of natural causes, and might have been prevented by means of a little care. the wind, as we have said, was light, so light that it did not distend the sails; the boom of the spanker-sail hung over the stern, and the spanker-braces lay slack along the seat on which ailie and the doctor knelt. a little gust of wind came: it was not strong--a mere puff; but the man at the wheel was not attending to his duty: the puff, light as it was, caused the spanker to jibe--that is to fly over from one side of the ship to the other--the heavy boom passed close over the steersman's head as he cried, "look out!" the braces tautened, and in so doing they hurled dr hopley violently to the deck, and tossed ailie dunning over the bulwarks into the sea. it happened at that moment that glynn proctor chanced to step on deck. "hallo! what's wrong?" cried the youth, springing forward, catching the doctor by the coat, as he was about to spring overboard, and pulling him violently back, under the impression that he was deranged. the doctor pointed to the sea, and, with a look of horror, gasped the word "ailie." in an instant glynn released his hold, plunged over the stern of the ship, and disappeared in the waves. chapter seven. the rescue--preparations for a storm. it is impossible to convey by means of words an adequate idea of the terrible excitement and uproar that ensued on board the _red eric_ after the events narrated in the last chapter. from those on deck who witnessed the accident there arose a cry so sharp, that it brought the whole crew from below in an instant. but there was no confusion. the men were well trained. each individual knew his post, and whale-men are accustomed to a sudden and hasty summons. the peculiarity of the present one, it is true, told every man in an instant that something was wrong, but each mechanically sprang to his post, while one or two shouted to ascertain what had happened, or to explain. but the moment captain dunning's voice was heard there was perfect silence. "clear away the starboard-quarter-boat," he cried, in a deep, firm tone. "ay, ay, sir." "stand-by the falls--lower away!" there was no occasion to urge the sailors; they sprang to the work with the fervid celerity of men who knew that life or death depended on their speed. in less time than it takes to relate, the boat was leaping over the long ocean swell, as it had never yet done in chase of the whale, and, in a few seconds, passed out of the little circle of light caused by the fires and into the gloom that surrounded the ship. the wind had been gradually increasing during all these proceedings, and although no time had been lost, and the vessel had been immediately brought up into the wind, ailie and glynn were left struggling in the dark sea a long way behind ere the quarter-boat could be lowered; and now that it was fairly afloat, there was still the danger of its failing to hit the right direction of the objects of which it was in search. after leaping over the stern, glynn proctor, the moment he rose to the surface, gave a quick glance at the ship, to make sure of her exact position, and then struck out in a straight line astern, for he knew that wherever ailie fell, there she would remain struggling until she sank. glynn was a fast and powerful swimmer. he struck out with desperate energy, and in a few minutes the ship was out of sight behind him. then he paused suddenly, and letting his feet sink until he attained an upright position, trod the water and raised himself breast-high above the surface, at the same time listening intently, for he began to fear that he might have overshot his mark. no sound met his straining ear save the sighing of the breeze and the ripple of the water as it lapped against his chest. it was too dark to see more than a few yards in any direction. glynn knew that each moment lost rendered his chance of saving the child terribly slight. he shouted "ailie!" in a loud, agonising cry, and swam forward again with redoubled energy, continuing the cry from time to time, and raising himself occasionally to look round him. the excitement of his mind, and the intensity with which it was bent on the one great object, rendered him at first almost unobservant of the flight of time. but suddenly the thought burst upon him that fully ten minutes or a quarter of an hour had elapsed since ailie fell overboard, and that no one who could not swim could exist for half that time in deep water. he shrieked with agony at the thought, and, fancying that he must have passed the child, he turned round and swam desperately towards the point where he supposed the ship lay. then he thought, "what if i have turned just as i was coming up with her?" so he turned about again, but as the hopelessness of his efforts once more occurred to him, he lost all presence of mind, and began to shout furiously, and to strike out wildly in all directions. in the midst of his mad struggles his hand struck an object floating near him. instantly he felt his arm convulsively grasped, and the next moment he was seized round the neck in a gripe so violent that it almost choked him. he sank at once, and the instinct of self-preservation restored his presence of mind. with a powerful effort he tore ailie from her grasp, and quickly raised himself to the surface, where he swam gently with his left hand, and held the struggling child at arm's-length with his right. the joy caused by the knowledge that she had still life to struggle infused new energy into glynn's well-nigh exhausted frame, and he assumed as calm and cheerful a tone as was possible under the circumstances when he exclaimed--"ailie, ailie, don't struggle, dear, i'll save you _if you keep quiet_." ailie was quiet in a moment. she felt in the terror of her young heart an almost irresistible desire to clutch at glynn's neck; but the well-known voice reassured her, and her natural tendency to place blind, implicit confidence in others, served her in this hour of need, for she obeyed his injunctions at once. "now, dear," said glynn, with nervous rapidity, "don't grasp me, else we shall sink. trust me. _i'll never let you go_. will you trust me?" ailie gazed wildly at her deliverer through her wet and tangled tresses, and with great difficulty gasped the word "yes," while she clenched the garments on her labouring bosom with her little hands, as if to show her determination to do as she was bid. glynn at once drew her towards him and rested her head on his shoulder. the child gave vent to a deep, broken sigh of relief, and threw her right arm round his neck, but the single word "ailie," uttered in a remonstrative tone, caused her to draw it quickly back and again grasp her breast. all this time glynn had been supporting himself by that process well-known to swimmers as "treading water," and had been so intent upon his purpose of securing the child, that he failed to observe the light of a lantern gleaming in the far distance on the sea, as the boat went ploughing hither and thither, the men almost breaking the oars in their desperate haste, and the captain standing in the stern-sheets, pale as death, holding the light high over his head, and gazing with a look of unutterable agony into the surrounding gloom. glynn now saw the distant light, and exerting his voice to the utmost, gave vent to a prolonged cry. ailie looked up in her companion's face while he listened intently. the moving light became stationary for a moment, and a faint reply floated back to them over the waves. again glynn raised his voice to the utmost, and the cheer that came back told him that he had been heard. but the very feeling of relief at the prospect of immediate deliverance had well-nigh proved fatal to them both; for glynn experienced a sudden relaxation of his whole system, and he felt as if he could not support himself and his burden a minute longer. "ailie," he said faintly but quickly, "we shall be saved if you obey at _once_; if not, we shall be drowned. lay your two hands on my breast, and let yourself sink _down to the very lips_." glynn turned on his back as he spoke, spread out his arms and legs to their full extent, let his head fall back, until it sank, leaving only his lips, nose, and chin above water, and lay as motionless as if he had been dead. and now came poor ailie's severest trial. when she allowed herself to sink, and felt the water rising about her ears, and lipping round her mouth, terror again seized upon her; but she felt glynn's breast heaving under her hands, so she raised her eyes to heaven and prayed silently to him who is the only true deliverer from dangers. her self-possession was restored, and soon she observed the boat bearing down on the spot, and heard the men as they shouted to attract attention. ailie tried to reply, but her tiny voice was gone, and her soul was filled with horror as she saw the boat about to pass on. in her agony she began to struggle. this roused glynn, who had rested sufficiently to have recovered a slight degree of strength. he immediately raised his head, and uttered a wild cry as he grasped ailie again with his arm. the rowers paused; the light of the lantern gleamed over the sea, and fell upon the spray tossed up by glynn. next moment the boat swept up to them--and they were saved. the scene that followed baffles all description. captain dunning fell on his knees beside ailie, who was too much exhausted to speak, and thanked god, in the name of jesus christ, again and again for her deliverance. a few of the men shouted; others laughed hysterically; and some wept freely as they crowded round their shipmate, who, although able to sit up, could not speak except in disjointed sentences. glynn, however, recovered quickly, and even tried to warm himself by pulling an oar before they regained the ship, but ailie remained in a state of partial stupor, and was finally carried on board and down into the cabin, and put between warm blankets by her father and dr hopley. meanwhile, glynn was hurried forward, and dragged down into the forecastle by the whole crew, who seemed unable to contain themselves for joy, and expressed their feelings in ways that would have been deemed rather absurd on ordinary occasions. "change yer clo's, avic, at wance," cried phil briant, who was the most officious and violent in his offers of assistance to glynn. "och! but it's wet ye are, darlin'. give me a howld." this last request had reference to the right leg of glynn's trousers, which happened to be blue cloth of a rather thin quality, and which therefore clung to his limbs with such tenacity that it was a matter of the utmost difficulty to get them off. "that's your sort, phil--a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull all together," cried dick barnes, hurrying forward, with a bundle of garments in his arms. "here's dry clo's for him." "have a care, phil," shouted gurney, who stood behind glynn and held him by the shoulders; "it'll give way." "niver a taste," replied the reckless irishman. but the result proved that gurney was right, for the words had scarce escaped his lips when the garment parted at the knee, and phil briant went crashing back among a heap of tin pannikins, pewter plates, blocks, and cordage. a burst of laughter followed, of course, but the men's spirits were too much roused to be satisfied with this, so they converted the laugh into a howl, and prolonged it into a cheer; as if their comrade had successfully performed a difficult and praiseworthy deed. "hold on, lads," cried glynn. "i'm used up, i can't stand it." "here you are," shouted nickel sling, pushing the men violently aside, and holding a steaming tumbler of hot brandy-and-water under glynn's nose. "down with it; that's the stuff to get up the steam fit to bust yer biler, i calc'late." the men looked on for a moment in silence, while glynn drank, as if they expected some remarkable chemical change to take place in his constitution. "och! ain't it swate?" inquired phil briant, who, having gathered himself up, now stood rubbing his shoulder with the fragment of the riven garment. "av i wasn't a taytotaler, it's meself would like some of that same." in a few minutes our hero was divested of his wet garments, rubbed perfectly dry by his kind messmates, and clad in dry costume, after which he felt almost as well as if nothing unusual had happened to him. the men meanwhile cut their jokes at him or at each other as they stood round and watched, assisted, or retarded the process. as for tim rokens, who had been in the boat and witnessed the rescue, he stood gazing steadfastly at glynn without uttering a word, keeping his thumbs the while hooked in the arm-holes of his vest, and his legs very much apart. by degrees--as he thought on what had passed, and the narrow escape poor little ailie had had, and the captain's tears, things he had never seen the captain shed before and had not believed the captain to have possessed--as he pondered these things, we say, his knotty visage began to work, and his cast-iron chin began to quiver, and his shaggy brows contracted, and his nose, besides becoming purple, began to twist, as if it were an independent member of his face, and he came, in short, to that climax which is familiarly expressed by the words "bursting into tears." but if anybody thinks the act, on the part of tim rokens, bore the smallest resemblance to the generally received idea of that sorrowful affection, "anybody," we take leave to tell him, is very much mistaken. the bold harpooner did it thus--he suddenly unhooked his right hand from the arm-hole of his vest, and gave his right thigh a slap which produced a crack that would have made a small pistol envious; then he uttered a succession of ferocious roars, that might have quite well indicated pain, or grief, or madness, or a drunken cheer, and, un-hooking the left hand, he doubled himself up, and thrust both knuckles into his eyes. the knuckles were wet when he pulled them out of his eyes, but he dried them on his pantaloons, bolted up the hatchway, and rushing up to the man at the wheel, demanded in a voice of thunder--"how's 'er head?" "sou'-sou'-east-and-by-east," replied the man, in some surprise. "sou'-sou'-east-and-by-east!" repeated mr rokens, in a savage growl of authority, as if he were nothing less than the admiral of the channel fleet. "that's two points and a half off yer course, sir. luff, luff, you--you--" at this point tim rokens turned on his heel, and began to walk up and down the deck as calmly as if nothing whatever had occurred to disturb his equanimity. "the captain wants glynn proctor," said the second mate, looking down the fore-hatch. "ay, ay, sir," answered glynn, ascending, and going aft. "ailie wants to see you, glynn, my boy," said captain dunning, as the former entered the cabin; "and i want to speak to you myself--to thank you glynn. ah, lad! you can't know what a father's heart feels when--go to her, boy." he grasped the youth's hand, and gave it a squeeze that revealed infinitely more of his feelings than could have been done by words. glynn returned the squeeze, and opening the door of ailie's private cabin, entered and sat down beside her crib. "oh, glynn, i want to speak to you; i want to thank you. i love you so much for jumping into the sea after me," began the child, eagerly, and raising herself on one elbow while she held out her hand. "ailie," interrupted glynn, taking her hand, and holding up his finger to impose silence, "you obeyed me _in_ the water, and now i insist on your obedience _out_ of the water. if you don't, i'll leave you. you're still too weak to toss about and speak loud in this way. lie down, my pet." glynn kissed her forehead, and forced her gently back on the pillow. "well, i'll be good, but don't leave me yet, glynn. i'm much better. indeed, i feel quite strong. oh! it was good of you--" "there you go again." "i love you," said ailie. "i've no objection to that," replied glynn, "but don't excite yourself. but tell me, ailie, how was it that you managed to keep afloat so long? the more i think of it the more i am filled with amazement, and, in fact, i'm half inclined to think that god worked a miracle in order to save you." "i don't know," said ailie, looking very grave and earnest, as she always did when our maker's name happened to be mentioned. "does god work miracles still?" "men say not," replied glynn. "i'm sure i don't quite understand what a miracle is," continued ailie, "although aunt martha and aunt jane have often tried to explain it to me. is floating on your back a miracle?" "no," said glynn, laughing; "it isn't." "well, that's the way i was saved. you know, ever since i can remember, i have bathed with aunt martha and aunt jane, and they taught me how to float--and it's so nice, you can't think how nice it is--and i can do it so easily now, that i never get frightened. but, oh!--when i was tossed over the side of the ship into the sea i _was_ frightened just. i don't think i _ever_ got such a fright. and i splashed about for some time, and swallowed some water, but i got upon my back somehow. i can't tell how it was, for i was too frightened to try to do anything. but when i found myself floating as i used to do long ago, i felt my fear go away a little, and i shut my eyes and prayed, and then it went away altogether; and i felt quite sure you would come to save me, and you _did_ come, glynn, and i know it was god who sent you. but i became a good deal frightened again when i thought of the sharks, and--" "now, ailie, stop!" said glynn. "you're forgetting your promise, and exciting yourself again." "so she is, and i must order you out, master glynn," said the doctor, opening the door, and entering at that moment. glynn rose, patted the child's head, and nodded cheerfully as he left the little cabin. the captain caught him as he passed, and began to reiterate his thanks, when their conversation was interrupted by the voice of mr millons, who put his head in at the skylight and said--"squall coming, sir, i think." "so, so," cried the captain, running upon deck. "i've been looking for it. call all hands, mr millons, and take in sail--every rag, except the storm-trysails." glynn hurried forward, and in a few minutes every man was at his post. the sails were furled, and every preparation made for a severe squall; for captain dunning knew that that part of the coast of africa off which the _red eric_ was then sailing was subject to sudden squalls, which, though usually of short duration, were sometimes terrific in their violence. "is everything snug, mr millons?" "all snug, sir." "then let the men stand-by till it's over." the night had grown intensely dark, but away on the starboard-quarter the heavens appeared of an ebony blackness that was quite appalling. this appearance, that rose on the sky like a shroud of crape, quickly spread upwards until it reached the zenith. then a few gleams of light seemed to illuminate it very faintly, and a distant hissing noise was heard. a dead calm surrounded the ship, which lay like a log on the water, and the crew, knowing that nothing more could be done in the way of preparation, awaited the bursting of the storm with uneasy feelings. in a few minutes its distant roar was heard,--like muttered thunder. on it came, with a steady continuous roar, as if chaos were about to be restored, and the crashing wreck of elements were being hurled in mad fury against the yet unshattered portions of creation. another second, and the ship was on her beam-ends, and the sea and sky were white as milk as the wind tore up the waves and beat them flat, and whirled away broad sheets of driving foam. chapter eight. the storm, and its results. although the _red eric_ was thrown on her beam-ends, or nearly so, by the excessive violence of the squall, the preparations to meet it had been so well made that she righted again almost immediately, and now flew before the wind under bare poles with a velocity that was absolutely terrific. ailie had been nearly thrown out of her berth when the ship lay over, and now when she listened to the water hissing and gurgling past the little port that lighted her cabin, and felt the staggering of the vessel, as burst after burst of the hurricane almost tore the masts out of her, she lay trembling with anxiety and debating with herself whether or not she ought to rise and go on deck. captain dunning well knew that his child would be naturally filled with fear, for this was the first severe squall she had ever experienced, so, as he could not quit the deck himself, he called glynn proctor to him and sent him down with a message. "well, ailie," said glynn, cheerfully, as he opened the door and peeped in; "how d'ye get on, dear? the captain has sent me to say that the worst o' this blast is over, and you've nothing to fear." "i am glad to hear that, glynn," replied the child, holding out her hand, while a smile lighted up her face and smoothed out the lines of anxiety from her brow. "come and sit by me, glynn, and tell me what like it is. i wish so much that i had been on deck. was it grand, glynn?" "it was uncommonly grand; it was even terrible--but i cannot sit with you more than a minute, else my shipmates will say that i'm skulking." "skulking, glynn! what is that?" "why, it's--it's shirking work, you know," said glynn, somewhat puzzled. ailie laughed. "but you forget that i don't know what `shirking' means. you must explain that too." "how terribly green you are, ailie." "no! am i?" exclaimed the child in some surprise. "what _can_ have done it? i'm not sick." glynn laughed outright at this, and then proceeded to explain the meaning of the slang phraseology he had used. "green, you must know, means ignorant," he began. "how funny! i wonder why." "well, i don't know exactly. perhaps it's because when a fellow's asked to answer questions he don't understand, he's apt to turn either blue with rage or yellow with fear--or both; and that, you know, would make him green. i've heard it said that it implies a comparison of men to plants--very young ones, you know, that are just up, just born, as it were, and have not had much experience of life, are green of course--but i like my own definition best." it may perhaps be scarcely necessary to remark that our hero was by no means singular in this little preference of his own definition to that of any one else! "well, and what does skulking mean, and shirking work?" persisted ailie. "it means hiding so as to escape duty, my little catechist; but--" "hallo! glynn, glynn proctor," roared the first mate from the deck--"where's that fellow? skulking, i'll be bound. lay aloft there and shake out the foretopsail. look alive." "ay, ay, sir," was the ready response as the men sprang to obey. "there, you have it now, ailie, explained and illustrated," cried glynn, starting up. "here i am, at this minute in a snug, dry berth chatting to you, and in half a minute more i'll be out on the end o' the foreyard holding on for bare life, with the wind fit to tear off my jacket and blow my ducks into ribbons, and the rain and spray dashing all over me fit to blot me out altogether. there's a pretty little idea to turn over in your mind, ailie, while i'm away." glynn closed the door at the last word, and, as he had prophesied, was, within half a minute, in the unenviable position above referred to. the force of the squall was already broken, and the men were busy setting close-reefed topsails, but the rain that followed the squall bid fair to "blot them out," as glynn said, altogether. it came down, not in drops, but in masses, which were caught up by the fierce gale and mingled with the spray, and hurled about and on with such violent confusion, that it seemed as though the whole creation were converted into wind and water, and had engaged in a war of extermination, the central turmoil of which was the _red eric_. but the good ship held on nobly. although not a fast sailer she was an excellent sea-boat, and danced on the billows like a sea-mew. the squall, however, was not over. before the topsails had been set many minutes it burst on them again with redoubled fury, and the main-topsail was instantly blown into ribbons. glynn and his comrades were once more ordered aloft to furl the remaining sails, but before this could be done the foretopmast was carried away, and in falling it tore away the jib-boom also. at the same moment a tremendous sea came rolling on astern; in the uncertain light it looked like a dark moving mountain that was about to fall on them. "luff, luff a little--steady!" roared the captain, who saw the summit of the wave toppling over the stern, and who fully appreciated the danger of being "pooped," which means having a wave launched upon the quarterdeck. "steady it is," replied the steersman. "look out!" shouted the captain and several of the men, simultaneously. every one seized hold of whatever firm object chanced to be within reach; next moment the black billow fell like an avalanche on the poop, and rushing along the decks, swept the waist-boat and all the loose spars into the sea. the ship staggered under the shock, and it seemed to every one on deck that she must inevitably founder; but in a few seconds she recovered, the water gushed from the scuppers and sides in cataracts, and once more they drove swiftly before the gale. in about twenty minutes the wind moderated, and while some of the men went aloft to clear away the wreck of the topsails and make all snug, others went below to put on dry garments. "that was a narrow escape, mr millons," remarked the captain, as he stood by the starboard-rails. "it was, sir," replied the mate. "it's a good job too, sir, that none o' the 'ands were washed overboard." "it is, indeed, mr millons; we've reason to be thankful for that; but i'm sorry to see that we've lost our waist-boat." "we've lost our spare sticks, sir," said the mate, with a lugubrious face, while he wrung the brine out of his hair; "and i fear we've nothink left fit to make a noo foretopmast or a jib-boom." "true, mr millons; we shall have to run to the nearest port on the african coast to refit; luckily we are not very far from it. meanwhile, tell mr markham to try the well; it is possible that we may have sprung a leak in all this straining, and see that the wreck of the foretopmast is cleared away. i shall go below and consult the chart; if any change in the weather takes place, call me at once." "yes, sir," answered the mate, as he placed his hand to windward of his mouth, in order to give full force to the terrific tones in which he proceeded to issue his captain's commands. captain dunning went below, and looking into ailie's berth, nodded his wet head several times, and smiled with his damp visage benignly--which acts, however well meant and kindly they might be, were, under the circumstances, quite unnecessary, seeing that the child was sound asleep. the captain then dried his head and face with a towel about as rough as the mainsail of a seventy-four, and with a violence that would have rubbed the paint off the figurehead of the _red eric_. then he sat down to his chart, and having pondered over it for some minutes, he went to the foot of the companion-ladder and roared up--"lay the course nor'-nor'-east-and-by-nor'-half-nor', mr millons." to which mr millons replied in an ordinary tone, "ay, ay, sir," and then roared--"lay her head nor'-nor'-east-and-by-nor'-half-nor'," in an unnecessarily loud and terribly fierce tone of voice to the steersman, as if that individual were in the habit of neglecting to obey orders, and required to be perpetually threatened in what may be called a tone of implication. the steersman answered in what, to a landsman, would have sounded as a rather amiable and forgiving tone of voice--"nor'-nor'-east-and-by-nor'-half-nor' it is, sir;" and thereupon the direction of the ship's head was changed, and the _red eric_, according to tim rokens, "bowled along" with a stiff breeze on the quarter, at the rate of ten knots, for the west coast of africa. chapter nine. rambles on shore, and strange things and ceremonies witnessed there. variety is charming. no one laying claim to the smallest amount of that very uncommon attribute, common-sense, will venture to question the truth of that statement. variety is so charming that men and women, boys and girls, are always, all of them, hunting after it. to speak still more emphatically on this subject, we venture to affirm that it is an absolute necessity of animal nature. were any positive and short-sighted individual to deny this position, and sit down during the remainder of his life in a chair and look straight before him, in order to prove that he could live without variety, he would seek it in change of position. if he did not do that, he would seek it in change of thought. if he did not do _that_, he would die! fully appreciating this great principle of our nature, and desiring to be charmed with a little variety, tim rokens and phil briant presented themselves before captain dunning one morning about a week after the storm, and asked leave to go ashore. the reader may at first think the men were mad, but he will change his opinion when we tell him that four days after the storm in question the _red eric_ had anchored in the harbour formed by the mouth of one of the rivers on the african coast, where white men trade with the natives for bar-wood and ivory, and where they also carry on that horrible traffic in negroes, the existence of which is a foul disgrace to humanity. "go ashore!" echoed captain dunning. "why, if you all go on at this rate, we'll never get ready for sea. however, you may go, but don't wander too far into the interior, and look out for elephants and wild men o' the woods, boys--keep about the settlements." "ay, ay, sir, and thank'ee," replied the two men, touching their caps as they retired. "please, sir, i want to go too," said glynn proctor, approaching the captain. "what! more wanting to go ashore?" "yes, and so do i," cried ailie, running forward and clasping her father's rough hand; "i did enjoy myself _so_ much yesterday, that i must go on shore again to-day, and i must go with glynn. he'll take such famous care of me; now _won't_ you let me go, papa?" "upon my word, this looks like preconcerted mutiny. however, i don't mind if i do let you go, but have a care, glynn, that you don't lose sight of her for a moment, and keep to the shore and the settlements. i've no notion of allowing her to be swallowed by an alligator, or trampled on by an elephant, or run away with by a gorilla." "never fear, sir. you may trust me; i'll take good care of her." with a shout of delight the child ran down to the cabin to put on her bonnet, and quickly reappeared, carrying in her hand a basket which she purposed to fill with a valuable collection of plants, minerals and insects. these she meant to preserve and carry home as a surprise to aunts martha and jane, both of whom were passionately fond of mineralogy, delighted in botany, luxuriated in entomology, doted on conchology, and raved about geology--all of which sciences they studied superficially, and specimens of which they collected and labelled beautifully, and stowed away carefully in a little cabinet, which they termed (not jocularly, but seriously) their "bureau of omnology." it was a magnificent tropical morning when the boat left the side of the _red eric_ and landed glynn and ailie, tim rokens and phil briant on the wharf that ran out from the yellow beach of the harbour in which their vessel lay. the sun had just risen. the air was cool (comparatively) and motionless, so that the ocean lay spread out like a pure mirror, and revealed its treasures and mysteries to a depth of many fathoms. the sky was intensely blue and the sun intensely bright, while the atmosphere was laden with the delightful perfume of the woods--a perfume that is sweet and pleasant to those long used to it, how much more enchanting to nostrils rendered delicately sensitive by long exposure to the scentless gales of ocean? one of the sailors who had shown symptoms of weakness in the chest during the voyage, had begged to be discharged and left ashore at this place. he could ill be spared, but as he was fit for nothing, the captain agreed to his request, and resolved to procure a negro to act as cook's assistant in the place of phil briant, who was too useful a man to remain in so subordinate a capacity. the sick man was therefore sent on shore in charge of tim rokens. on landing they were met by a portuguese slave-dealer, an american trader, a dozen or two partially-clothed negroes, and a large concourse of utterly naked little negro children, who proved to demonstration that they were of the same nature and spirit with white children, despite the colour of their skins, by taking intense delight in all the amusements practised by the fair-skinned juveniles of more northern lands--namely scampering after each other, running and yelling, indulging in mischief, spluttering in the waters, rolling on the sand, staring at the strangers, making impudent remarks, and punching each other's heads. if the youth of america ever wish to prove that they are of a distinct race from the sable sons of africa, their only chance is to become paragons of perfection, and give up _all_ their wicked ways. "oh!" exclaimed ailie, half amused, half frightened, as glynn lifted her out of the boat; "oh! how funny! don't they look so _very_ like as if they were all painted black?" "good-day to you, gentlemen," cried the trader, as he approached the landing. "got your foretop damaged, i see. plenty of sticks here to mend it. be glad to assist you in any way i can. was away in the woods when you arrived, else i'd have come to offer sooner." the trader, who was a tall, sallow man in a blue cotton shirt, sailor's trousers, and a broad-brimmed straw hat, addressed himself to glynn, whose gentlemanly manner led him to believe he was in command of the party. "thank you," replied glynn, "we've got a little damage--lost a good boat, too; but we'll soon repair the mast. we have come ashore just now, however, mainly for a stroll." "ay," put in phil briant, who was amusing the black children--and greatly delighting himself by nodding and smiling ferociously at them, with a view to making a favourable impression on the natives of this new country. "ay, sir, an' sure we've comed to land a sick shipmate who wants to see the doctor uncommon. have ye sich an article in these parts?" "no, not exactly," replied the trader, "but i do a little in that way myself; perhaps i may manage to cure him if he comes up to my house." "we wants a nigger too," said rokens, who, while the others were talking, was extremely busy filling his pipe. at this remark the trader looked knowing. "oh!" he said, "that's your game, is it? there's your man there; i've nothing to do with such wares." he pointed to the portuguese slave-dealer as he spoke. seeing himself thus referred to, the slave-dealer came forward, hat in hand, and made a polite bow. he was a man of extremely forbidding aspect. a long dark visage, which terminated in a black peaked beard, and was surmounted by a tall-crowned broad-brimmed straw hat, stood on the top of a long, raw-boned, thin, sinewy, shrivelled, but powerful frame, that had battled with and defeated all the fevers and other diseases peculiar to the equatorial regions of africa. he wore a short light-coloured cotton jacket and pantaloons--the latter much too short for his limbs, but the deficiency was more than made up by a pair of wellington boots. his natural look was a scowl. his assumed smile of politeness was so unnatural, that tim rokens thought, as he gazed at him, he would have preferred greatly to have been frowned at by him. even ailie, who did not naturally think ill of any one, shrank back as he approached and grasped glynn's hand more firmly than usual. "goot morning, gentl'm'n. you was vish for git nigger, i suppose." "well, we wos," replied tim, with a faint touch of sarcasm in his tone. "can _you_ get un for us?" "yees, sare, as many you please," replied the slave-dealer, with a wink that an ogre might have envied. "have great many ob 'em stay vid me always." "ah! then, they must be fond o' bad company," remarked briant, in an undertone, "to live along wid such a alligator." "well, then," said tim rokens, who had completed the filling of his pipe, and was now in the full enjoyment of it; "let's see the feller, an' i'll strike a bargain with him, if he seems a likely chap." "you will have strike de bargin vid _me_," said the dealer. "i vill charge you ver' leetle, suppose you take full cargo." the whole party, who were ignorant of the man's profession, started at this remark, and looked at the dealer in surprise. "wot!" exclaimed tim rokens, withdrawing his pipe from his lips; "do you _sell_ niggers?" "yees, to be surely," replied the man, with a peculiarly saturnine smile. "a slave-dealer?" exclaimed briant, clenching his fists. "even so, sare." at this briant uttered a shout, and throwing forward his clenched fists in a defiant attitude, exclaimed between his set teeth-- "arrah! come on!" most men have peculiarities. phil briant had many; but his most striking peculiarity, and that which led him frequently into extremely awkward positions, was a firm belief that his special calling--in an amateur point of view--was the redressing of wrongs--not wrongs of a particular class, or wrongs of an excessively glaring and offensive nature, but _all_ wrongs whatsoever. it mattered not to phil whether the wrong had to be righted by force of argument or force of arms. he considered himself an accomplished practitioner in both lines of business--and in regard to the latter his estimate of his powers was not very much too high, for he was a broad-shouldered, deep-chested, long-armed fellow, and had acquired a scientific knowledge of boxing under a celebrated bruiser at the expense of a few hard-earned shillings, an occasional bottle of poteen, and many a severe thrashing. justice to phil's amiability of character requires, however, that we should state that he never sought to terminate an argument with his fists unless he was invited to do so, and even then he invariably gave his rash challenger fair warning, and offered to let him retreat if so disposed. but when injustice met his eye, or when he happened to see cruelty practised by the strong against the weak, his blood fired at once, and he only deigned the short emphatic remark--"come on," sometimes preceded by "arrah!" sometimes not. generally speaking, he accepted his own challenge, and _went_ on forthwith. of all the iniquities that draw forth the groans of humanity on this sad earth, slavery, in the opinion of phil briant, was the worst. he had never come in contact with it, not having been in the southern states of america. he knew from hearsay that the coast of africa was its fountain, but he had forgotten the fact, and in the novelty of the scene before him, it did not at first occur to him that he was actually face to face with a "live slave-dealer." "let me go!" roared the irishman, as he struggled in the iron grip of tim rokens; and the not less powerful grasp of glynn proctor. "och! let me go! _doo_, darlints. i'll only give him wan--jist _wan_! let me go, will ye?" "not if i can help it," said glynn, tightening his grasp. "wot a cross helephant it is," muttered rokens, as he thrust his hand into his comrade's neckcloth and quietly began to choke him as he dragged him away towards the residence of the trader, who was an amused as well as surprised spectator of this unexpected ebullition of passion. at length phil briant allowed himself to be forced away from the beach where the slave-dealer stood with his arms crossed on his breast, and a sarcastic smile playing on his thin lips. had that portuguese trafficker in human flesh known how quickly briant could have doubled the size of his long nose and shut up both his eyes, he would probably have modified the expression of his countenance; but he didn't know it, so he looked after the party until they had entered the dwelling of the trader, and then sauntered up towards the woods, which in this place came down to within a few yards of the beach. the settlement was a mere collection of rudely-constructed native huts, built of bamboos and roofed with a thatch of palm-leaves. in the midst of it stood a pretty white-painted cottage with green-edged windows and doors, and a verandah in front. this was the dwelling of the trader; and alongside of it, under the same roof, was the store, in which were kept the guns, beads, powder and shot, etcetera, etcetera, which he exchanged with the natives of the interior for elephants' tusks and bar-wood, from which latter a beautiful dye is obtained; also ebony, indiarubber, and other products of the country. here the trader entertained tim rokens and phil briant with stories of the slave-trade; and here we shall leave them while we follow glynn and ailie, who went off together to ramble along the shore of the calm sea. they had not gone far when specimens of the strange creatures that dwell in these lands presented themselves to their astonished gaze. there were birds innumerable on the shore, on the surface of the ocean, and in the woods. the air was alive with them; many being similar to the birds they had been familiar with from infancy, while others were new and strange. to her immense delight ailie saw many living specimens of the bird-of-paradise, the graceful plumes of which she had frequently beheld on very high and important festal occasions, nodding on the heads of aunt martha and aunt jane. but the prettiest of all the birds she saw there was a small creature with a breast so red and bright, that it seemed, as it flew about, like a little ball of fire. there were many of them flying about near a steep bank, in holes of which they built their nests. she observed that they fed upon flies which they caught while skimming through the air, and afterwards learned that they were called bee-eaters. "oh! look!" exclaimed ailie in that tone of voice which indicated that a surprising discovery had been made. ailie was impulsive, and the _tones_ in which she exclaimed "oh!" were so varied, emphatic, and distinct, that those who knew her well could tell exactly the state of her mind on hearing the exclamation. at present, her "oh!" indicated surprise mingled with alarm. "eh! what, where?" cried glynn, throwing forward his musket--for he had taken the precaution to carry one with him, not knowing what he might meet with on such a coast. "the snake! look--oh!" at that moment a huge black snake, about ten feet long, showed itself in the grass. glynn took aim at once, but the piece, being an old flint-lock, missed fire. before he could again take aim the loathsome-looking reptile had glided into the underwood, which in most places was so overgrown with the rank and gigantic vegetation of the tropics as to be quite impenetrable. "ha! he's gone, ailie!" cried glynn, in a tone of disappointment, as he put fresh priming into the pan of his piece. "we must be careful in walking here, it seems. this wretched old musket! lucky for us that our lives did not depend on it. i wonder if it was a poisonous serpent?" "perhaps it was," said ailie, with a look of deep solemnity, as she took her companion's left hand, and trotted along by his side. "are not all serpents poisonous?" "oh dear, no. why, there are some kinds that are quite harmless. but as i don't know which are and which are not, we must look upon all as enemies until we become more knowing." presently they came to the mouth of a river--one of those sluggish streams on the african coast, which suggest the idea of malaria and the whole family of low fevers. it glided through a mangrove swamp, where the tree seemed to be standing on their roots, which served the purpose of stilts to keep them out of the mud. the river was oily, and sluggish, and hot-looking, and its mud-banks were slimy and liquid, so that it was not easy to say whether the water of the river was mud, or the mud on the bank was water. it was a place that made one involuntarily think of creeping monsters, and crawling objects, and slimy things! "look! oh! oh! such a darling pet!" exclaimed ailie, as they stood near the banks of this river wondering what monster would first cleave the muddy waters, and raise its hideous head. she pointed to the bough of a dead tree near which they stood, and on which sat the "darling pet" referred to. it was a very small monkey with white whiskers; a dumpy little thing, that looked at them with an expression of surprise quite equal in intensity to their own. seeing that it was discovered, the "darling pet" opened its little mouth, and uttered a succession of "ohs!" that rendered ailie's exclamations quite insignificant by comparison. they were sharp and short, and rapidly uttered, while, at the same time, two rows of most formidable teeth were bared, along with the gums that held them. at this ailie and her companion burst into a fit of irrepressible laughter, whereupon the "darling pet" put itself into such a passion-- grinned, and coughed, and gasped, and shook the tree, and writhed, and glared, to such an extent that glynn said he thought it would burst, and ailie agreed that it was very likely. finding that this terrible display of fury had no effect on the strangers, the "darling pet" gave utterance to a farewell shriek of passion, and, bounding nimbly into the woods, disappeared. "oh, _what_ a funny beast," said ailie, sitting down on a stone, and drying her eyes, which had filled with tears from excessive laughter. "indeed it was," said glynn. "it's my opinion that a monkey is the funniest beast in the world." "no, glynn; a kitten's funnier," said ailie, with a degree of emphasis that showed she had considered the subject well, and had fully made up her mind in regard to it long ago. "i think a kitten's the _very_ funniest beast in all the whole world." "well, perhaps it is," said glynn thoughtfully. "did you ever see _three_ kittens together?" asked ailie. "no; i don't think i ever did. i doubt if i have seen even two together. why?" "oh! because they are so very, very funny. sit down beside me, and i'll tell you about three kittens i once had. they were very little--at least they were little before they got big." glynn laughed. "oh, you know what i mean. they were able to play when they were very little, you know." "yes, yes, i understand. go on." "well, two were grey, and one was white and grey, but most of it was white; and when they went to play, one always hid itself to watch, and then the other two began, and came up to each other with little jumps, and their backs up and tails curved, and hair all on end, glaring at each other, and pretending that they were so angry. do you know, glynn, i really believe they sometimes forgot it was pretence, and actually became angry. but the fun was, that, when the two were just going to fly at each other, the third one, who had been watching, used to dart out and give them _such_ a fright--a _real_ fright, you know--which made them jump, oh! three times their own height up into the air, and they came down again with a _fuff_ that put the third one in a fright too; so that they all scattered away from each other as if they had gone quite mad. what's that?" "it's a fish, i think," said glynn, rising and going towards the river, to look at the object that had attracted his companion's attention. "it's a shark, i do believe." in a few seconds the creature came so close that they could see it quite distinctly; and on a more careful inspection, they observed that the mouth of the river was full of these ravenous monsters. soon after they saw monsters of a still more ferocious aspect; for while they were watching the sharks, two crocodiles put up their snouts, and crawled sluggishly out of the water upon a mud-bank, where they lay down, apparently with the intention of taking a nap in the sunshine. they were too far off, however, to be well seen. "isn't it strange, glynn, that there are such ugly beasts in the world?" said ailie. "i wonder why god made them?" "so do i," said glynn, looking at the child's thoughtful face in some surprise. "i suppose they must be of some sort of use." "oh! yes, _of course_ they are," rejoined ailie quickly. "aunt martha and aunt jane used to tell me that every creature was made by god for some good purpose; and when i came to the crocodile in my book, they said it was certainly of use too, though they did not know what. i remember it very well, because i was _so_ surprised to hear that aunt martha and aunt jane did not know _everything_." "no doubt aunt martha and aunt jane were right," said glynn, with a smile. "i confess, however, that crocodiles seem to me to be of no other use than to kill and eat up everything that comes within the reach of their terrible jaws. but, indeed, now i think of it, the very same may be said of man, for _he_ kills and eats up at least everything that he _wants_ to put into his jaws." "so he does," said ailie; "isn't it funny?" "isn't what funny?" asked glynn. "that we should be no better than crocodiles--at least, i mean about eating." "you forget, ailie, we cook our food." "oh! so we do. i did not remember to think of that. that's a great difference, indeed." leaving glynn and his little charge to philosophise on the resemblance between men and crocodiles, we shall now return to tim rokens and phil briant, whom we left in the trader's cottage. the irate irishman had been calmed down by reason and expostulation, and had again been roused to great indignation several times since we left him, by the account of things connected with the slave-trade, given him by the trader, who, although he had no interest in it himself, did not feel very much aggrieved by the sufferings he witnessed around him. "you don't mane to tell me, now, that _whalers_ comes in here for slaves, do ye?" said briant, placing his two fists on his two knees, and thrusting his head towards the trader, who admitted that he meant to say that; and that he meant, moreover, to add, that the thing was by no means of rare occurrence--that whaling ships occasionally ran into that very port on their way south, shipped a cargo of negroes, sold them at the nearest slave-buying port they could make on the american coast, and then proceeded on their voyage, no one being a whit the wiser. "you don't mean it?" remarked tim rokens, crossing his legs and devoting himself to his pipe, with the air of a man who mourned the depravity of his species, but did not feel called upon to disturb his equanimity very much because of it. phil briant clenched his teeth, and glared. "indeed i do mean it," reiterated the trader. "would you believe it, there was one whaler put in here, and what does he do but go and invite a lot o' free blacks aboard to have a blow-out; and no sooner did he get them down into the hold then he shut down the hatches, sailed away, and sold 'em every one." "ah! morther, couldn't i burst?" groaned phil; "an' ov coorse they left a lot o' fatherless children and widders behind 'em." "they did; but all the widders are married again, and most of the children are grown up." briant looked as if he did not feel quite sure whether he ought to regard this as a comforting piece of information or the reverse, and wisely remained silent. "and now you must excuse me if i leave you to ramble about alone for some time, as i have business to transact; meanwhile i'll introduce you to a nigger who will show you about the place, and one who, if i mistake not, will gladly accompany you to sea as steward's assistant." the trader opened a door which led to the back part of his premises, and shouted to a stout negro who was sawing wood there, and who came forward with alacrity. "ho! neepeelootambo, go take these gentlemen round about the village, and let them see all that is to be seen." "yes, massa." "and they've got something to say to you about going to sea--would you like to go?" the negro grinned, and as his mouth was of the largest possible size, it is not exaggeration to say that the grin extended from ear to ear, but he made no other reply. "well, please yourself. you're a free man--you may do as you choose." neepeelootambo, who was almost naked, having only a small piece of cloth wrapped round his waist and loins, grinned again, displaying a double row of teeth worthy of a shark in so doing, and led his new friends from the house. "now," said tim rokens, turning to the negro, and pointing along the shore, "we'll go along this way and jaw the matter over. business first, and pleasure, if ye can get it, arterwards--them's my notions, nip--nip--nippi--what's your name?" "coo tumble, i think," suggested briant. "ay, nippiloo bumble--wot a jaw-breaker! so git along, old boy." the negro, who was by no means an "old boy," but a stalwart man in the prime of life, stepped out, and as they walked along, both rokens and briant did their best to persuade him to ship on board the _red eric_, but without success. they were somewhat surprised as well as chagrined, having been led to expect that the man would consent at once. but no alluring pictures of the delights of seafaring life, or the pleasures and excitements of the whale-fishery, had the least effect on their sable companion. even sundry shrewd hints, thrown out by phil briant, that "the steward had always command o' the wittles, and that his assistant would only have to help himself when convanient," failed to move him. "well, nippi-boo-tumble," cried tim rokens, who in his disappointment unceremoniously contracted his name, "it's my opinion--private opinion, mark'ee--that you're a ass, an' you'll come for to repent of it." "troth, nippi-bumble, he's about right," added briant coaxingly. "come now, avic, wot's the raisin ye won't go? sure we ain't blackguards enough to ax ye to come for to be sold; it's all fair and above board. why won't ye, now?" the negro stopped, and turning towards them, drew himself proudly up; then, as if a sudden thought had occurred to him, he advanced a step and held up his forefinger to impose silence. "you no tell what i go to say? at least, not for one, two day." "niver a word, honour bright," said phil, in a confidential tone, while rokens expressed the same sentiment by means of an emphatic wink and nod. "you mus' know," said the negro, earnestly, "me expec's to be made a king!" "a wot?" exclaimed both his companions in the same breath, and very much in the same tone. "a king." "wot?" said rokens; "d'ye mean, a ruler of this here country?" neepeelootambo nodded his head so violently that it was a marvel it remained on his shoulders. "yis. ho! ho! ho! 'xpec's to be a king." "and when are ye to be crowned, bumble?" inquired briant, rather sceptically, as they resumed their walk. "oh, me no say me _goin'_ to be king; me only _'xpec's_ dat." "werry good," returned rokens; "but wot makes ye for to expect it?" "aha! me berry clebber fellow--know most ebbery ting. me hab doo'd good service to dis here country. me can fight like one leopard, and me hab kill great few elephant and gorilla. not much mans here hab shoot de gorilla, him sich terriferick beast; 'bove five foot six tall, and bigger round de breast dan you or me--dat is a great true fact. also, me can spok englis'." "an' so you expec's they're goin' to make you a king for all that?" "yis, dat is fat me 'xpec's, for our old king be just dead; but dey nebber tell who dey going to make king till dey do it. i not more sure ob it dan the nigger dat walk dare before you." neepeelootambo pointed as he spoke to a negro who certainly had a more kingly aspect than any native they had yet seen. he was a perfect giant, considerably above six feet high, and broad in proportion. he wore no clothing on the upper part of his person, but his legs were encased in a pair of old canvas trousers, which had been made for a man of ordinary stature, so that his huge bony ankles were largely exposed to view. just as phil and rokens stopped to take a good look at him before passing on, a terrific yell issued from the bushes, and instantly after, a negro ran towards the black giant and administered to him a severe kick on the thigh, following it up with a cuff on the side of the head, at the same time howling something in the native tongue, which our friends of course did not understand. this man was immediately followed by three other blacks, one of whom pulled the giant's hair, the other pulled his nose, and the third spat in his face! it is needless to remark that the sailors witnessed this unprovoked assault with unutterable amazement. but the most remarkable part of it was, that the fellow, instead of knocking all his assailants down, as he might have done without much trouble, quietly submitted to the indignities heaped upon him; nay, he even smiled upon his tormentors, who increased in numbers every minute, running out from among the bushes and surrounding the unoffending man, and uttering wild shouts as they maltreated him. "wot's he bin doin'?" inquired rokens, turning to his black companion. but rokens received no answer, for neepeelootambo was looking on at the scene with an expression so utterly woe-begone and miserable that one would imagine he was himself suffering the rough usage he witnessed. "arrah! ye don't appear to be chairful," said briant, laughing, as he looked in the negro's face. "this is a quare counthrie, an' no mistake;--it seems to be always blowin' a gale o' surprises. wot's wrong wid ye, bumble?" the negro groaned. "sure that may be a civil answer, but it's not o' much use. hallo! what air they doin' wid the poor cratur now?" as he spoke the crowd seized the black giant by the arms and neck and hair, and dragged him away towards the village, leaving our friends in solitude. "a very purty little scene," remarked phil briant when they were out of sight; "very purty indade, av we only knowed wot it's all about." if the surprise of the two sailors was great at what they had just witnessed, it was increased tenfold by the subsequent behaviour of their negro companion. that eccentric individual suddenly checked his groans, gave vent to a long, deep sigh, and assuming a resigned expression of countenance, rose up and said--"ho! it all ober now, massa." "i do believe," remarked rokens, looking gravely at his shipmate, "that the feller's had an attack of the mollygrumbles, an's got better all of a suddint." "no, massa, dat not it. but me willin' to go wid you now to de sea." "eh? willin' to go? why, nippi-too-cumble, wot a rum customer you are, to be sure!" "yis, massa," rejoined the negro. "me not goin' to be king now, anyhow; so it ob no use stoppin' here. me go to sea." "not goin' to be king? how d'ye know that?" "'cause dat oder nigger, him be made king in a berry short time. you mus' know, dat w'en dey make wan king in dis here place, de peeple choose de man; but dey not let him know. he may guess if him please-- like me--but p'raps him guess wrong--like me! ho! ho! den arter dey fix on de man, dey run at him and kick him, as you hab seen dem do, and spit on him, and trow mud ober him, tellin' him all de time, `you no king yet, you black rascal; you soon be king, and den you may put your foots on our necks and do w'at you like, but not yit; take dat, you tief!' an' so dey 'buse him for a littel time. den dey take him straight away to de palace and crown him, an', oh! arter dat dey become very purlite to him. him know dat well 'nuff, and so him not be angry just now. ah! me did 'xpec, to hab bin kick and spitted on dis berry day!" poor neepeelootambo uttered the last words in such a deeply touching tone, and seemed to be so much cast down at the thought that his chance of being "kicked and spitted upon" had passed away for ever, that phil briant burst into a hearty fit of laughter, and tim rokens exhibited symptoms of internal risibility, though his outward physiognomy remained unchanged. "och! bumble, you'll be the death o' me," cried briant. "an' are they a-crownin' of him now?" "yis, massa. dat what dey go for to do jist now." "troth, then, i'll go an' inspict the coronation. come along, bumble, me darlint, and show us the way." in a few minutes neepeelootambo conducted his new friends into a large rudely-constructed hut, which was open on three sides and thatched with palm-leaves. this was the palace before referred to by him. here they found a large concourse of negroes, whose main object at that time seemed to be the creation of noise; for besides yelling and hooting, they beat a variety of native drums, some of which consisted of bits of board, and others of old tin and copper kettles. forcing their way through the noisy throng they reached the inside of the hut, into which they found that ailie dunning and glynn proctor had pushed their way before them. giving them a nod of recognition, they sat down on a mat by their side to watch the proceedings, which by this time were nearly concluded. the new king--who was about to fill the throne rendered vacant by the recent death of the old king of that region--was seated on an elevated stool looking very dignified, despite the rough ordeal through which he had just passed. when the noise above referred to had calmed down, an old grey-headed negro rose and made a speech in the language of the country, after which he advanced and crowned the new king, who had already been invested in a long scarlet coat covered with tarnished gold lace, and cut in the form peculiar to the last century. the crown consisted of an ordinary black silk hat, considerably the worse for wear. it looked familiar and commonplace enough in the eyes of their white visitors; but, being the only specimen of the article in the district, it was regarded by the negroes with peculiar admiration, and deemed worthy to decorate the brows of royalty. having had this novel crown placed on the top of his woolly pate, which was much too large for it, the new king hit it an emphatic blow on the top, partly with a view to force it on, and partly, no doubt, with the design of impressing his new subjects with the fact that he was now their rightful sovereign, and that he meant thenceforth to exercise all the authority, and avail himself of all the privileges that his high position conferred on him. he then rose and made a pretty long speech, which was frequently applauded, and which terminated amid a most uproarious demonstration of loyalty on the part of the people. if you wish to gladden the heart of a black man, reader, get him into the midst of an appalling noise. the negro's delight is to shout, and laugh, and yell, and beat tin kettles with iron spoons. the greater the noise, the more he enjoys himself. great guns and musketry, gongs and brass bands, kettledrums and smashing crockery, crashing railway-engines, blending their utmost whistles with the shrieks of a thousand pigs being killed, all going at once, full blast, and as near to him as possible, is a species of elysium to the sable son of africa. on their occasions of rejoicing, negroes procure and produce as much noise as is possible, so that the white visitors were soon glad to seek shelter, and find relief to their ears, on board ship. but even there the sounds of rejoicing reached them, and long after the curtain of night had enshrouded land and sea, the hideous din of royal festivities came swelling out with the soft warm breeze that fanned ailie's cheek as she stood on the quarterdeck of the _red eric_, watching the wild antics of the naked savages as they danced round their bright fires, and holding her father's hand tightly as she related the day's adventures, and told of the monkeys, crocodiles, and other strange creatures she had seen in the mangrove-swamps and on the mud-banks of the slimy river. chapter ten. an inland journey--sleeping in the woods--wild beasts everywhere--sad fate of a gazelle. the damage sustained by the _red eric_ during the storm was found to be more severe than was at first supposed. part of her false keel had been torn away by a sunken rock, over which the vessel had passed, and scraped so lightly that no one on board was aware of the fact, yet with sufficient force to cause the damage to which we have referred. a slight leak was also discovered, and the injury to the top of the foremast was neither so easily nor so quickly repaired as had been anticipated. it thus happened that the vessel was detained on this part of the african coast for nearly a couple of weeks, during which time ailie had frequent opportunities of going on shore, sometimes in charge of glynn, sometimes with tim rokens, and occasionally with her father. during these little excursions the child lived in a world of romance. not only were the animals, and plants, and objects of every kind with which she came in contact, entirely new to her, except in so far as she had made their acquaintance in pictures, but she invested everything in the roseate hue peculiar to her own romantic mind. true, she saw many things that caused her a good deal of pain, and she heard a few stories about the terrible cruelty of the negroes to each other, which made her shudder, but unpleasant thoughts did not dwell long on her mind; she soon forgot the little annoyances or frights she experienced, and revelled in the enjoyment of the beautiful sights and sweet perfumes which more than counterbalanced the bad odours and ugly things that came across her path. ailie's mind was a very inquiring one, and often and long did she ponder the things she saw, and wonder why god made some so very ugly and some so very pretty, and to what use he intended them to be put. of course, in such speculative inquiries, she was frequently very much puzzled, as also were the companions to whom she propounded the questions from time to time, but she had been trained to _believe_ that everything that was made by god was good, whether she understood it or not, and she noticed particularly, and made an involuntary memorandum of the fact in her own mind, that ugly things were very few in number, while beautiful objects were absolutely innumerable. the trader, who rendered good assistance to captain dunning in the repair of his ship, frequently overheard ailie wishing "so much" that she might be allowed to go far into the wild woods, and one day suggested to the captain that, as the ship would have to remain a week or more in port, he would be glad to take a party an excursion up the river in his canoe, and show them a little of forest life, saying at the same time that the little girl might go too, for they were not likely to encounter any danger which might not be easily guarded against. at first the captain shook his head, remembering the stories that were afloat regarding the wild beasts of those regions. but, on second thoughts, he agreed to allow a well-armed party to accompany the trader; the more so that he was urged thereto very strongly by dr hopley, who, being a naturalist, was anxious to procure specimens of the creatures and plants in the interior, and being a phrenologist, was desirous of examining what glynn termed the "bumpological developments of the negro skull." on still further considering the matter, captain dunning determined to leave the first mate in charge of the ship, head the exploring party himself, and take ailie along with him. to say that ailie was delighted, would be to understate the fact very much. she was wild with joy, and went about all the day, after her father's decision was announced, making every species of insane preparation for the canoe voyage, clasping her hands, and exclaiming, "oh! _what_ fun!" while her bright eyes sparkled to such an extent that the sailors fairly laughed in her face when they looked at her. preparations were soon made. the party consisted of the captain and his little child, glynn proctor (of course), dr hopley, tim rokens, phil briant, jim scroggles, the trader, and neepeelootambo, which last had been by that time regularly domesticated on board, and was now known by the name of king bumble, which name, being as good as his own, and more pronounceable, we shall adopt from this time forward. the very morning after the proposal was made, the above party embarked in the trader's canoe; and plying their paddles with the energy of men bent on what is vulgarly termed "going the whole hog," they quickly found themselves out of sight of their natural element, the ocean, and surrounded by the wild, rich, luxuriant vegetation of equatorial africa. "now," remarked tim rokens, as they ceased paddling, and ran the canoe under the shade of a broad palm-tree that overhung the river, in order to take a short rest and a smoke after a steady paddle of some miles--"now this is wot i calls glorious, so it is! ain't it? pass the 'baccy this way." this double remark was made to king bumble, who passed the tobacco-pouch to his friend, after helping himself, and admitted that it was "mugnifercent." "here have i bin a-sittin' in this here canoe," continued rokens, "for more nor two hours, an' to my sartin knowledge i've seed with my two eyes twelve sharks (for i counted 'em every one) at the mouth of the river, and two crocodiles, and the snout of a hopplepittimus; is that wot ye calls it?" rokens addressed his question to the captain, but phil briant, who had just succeeded in getting his pipe to draw beautifully, answered instead. "och! no," said he; "that's not the way to pronounce it at all, at all. it's a huppi-puppi-puttimus." "i dun know," said rokens, shaking his head gravely; "it appears to me there's too many huppi puppies in that word." this debate caused ailie infinite amusement, for she experienced considerable difficulty herself in pronouncing that name, and had a very truthful picture of the hippopotamus hanging at that moment in her room at home. "isn't tim rokens very funny, papa?" she remarked in a whisper, looking up in her father's face. "hush! my pet, and look yonder. there is something funnier, if i mistake not." he pointed, as he spoke, to a ripple in the water on the opposite side of the river, close under a bank which was clothed with rank, broad-leaved, and sedgy vegetation. in a few seconds a large crocodile put up its head, not farther off than twenty yards from the canoe, which apparently it did not see, and opening its tremendous jaws, afforded the travellers a splendid view of its teeth and throat. briant afterwards asserted that he could see down its throat, and could _almost_ tell what it had had for dinner! "plaze, sir, may i shoot him?" cried briant, seizing his loaded musket, and looking towards the captain for permission. "it's of no use while in that position," remarked the trader, who regarded the hideous-looking monster with the calm unconcern of a man accustomed to such sights. "you may try;" said the captain with a grin. almost before the words had left his lips, phil took a rapid aim and fired. at the same identical moment the crocodile shut his jaws with a snap, as if he had an intuitive perception that something uneatable was coming. the bullet consequently hit his forehead, off which it glanced as if it had struck a plate of cast-iron. the reptile gave a wabble, expressive of lazy surprise, and sank slowly back into the slimy water. the shot startled more than one huge creature, for immediately afterwards they heard several flops in the water near them, but the tall sedges prevented their seeing what animals they were. a whole troop of monkeys, too, went shrieking away into the woods, showing that those nimble creatures had been watching all their movements, although, until that moment, they had taken good care to keep themselves out of sight. "never fire at a crocodile's head," said the trader, as the party resumed their paddles, and continued their ascent of the stream; "you might as well fire at a stone wall. it's as hard as iron. the only place that's sure to kill it just behind the foreleg. the niggers always spear them there." "what do they spear them for?" asked dr hopley. "they eat 'em," replied the trader; "and the meat's not so bad after you get used to it." "ha!" exclaimed glynn proctor; "i should fancy the great difficulty is to get used to it." "if you ever chance to go for a week without tasting fresh meat," replied the trader quietly, "you'll not find it so difficult as you think." that night the travellers encamped in the woods, and a wild charmingly romantic scene their night bivouac was--so thought ailie, and so, too, would you have thought, reader, had you been there. king bumble managed to kindle three enormous fires, for the triple purpose of keeping the party warm--for it was cold at night--of scaring away wild beasts, and of cooking their supper. these fires he fed at intervals during the whole night with huge logs, and the way in which he made the sparks fly up in among the strange big leaves of the tropical trees and parasitical plants overhead, was quite equal, if not superior, to a display of regular fireworks. then bumble and glynn built a little platform of logs, on which they strewed leaves and grass, and over which they spread a curtain or canopy of broad leaves and boughs. this was ailie's couch. it stood in the full blaze of the centre fire, and commanded a view of all that was going on in every part of the little camp; and when ailie lay down on it after a good supper, and was covered up with a blanket, and further covered over with a sort of gauze netting to protect her from the mosquitoes, which were very numerous--when all this was done, we say, and when, in addition to this, she lay and witnessed the jovial laughter and enjoyment of his majesty king bumble, as he sat at the big fire smoking his pipe, and the supreme happiness of phil briant, and the placid joy of tim rokens, and the exuberant delight of glynn, and the semi-scientific enjoyment of dr hopley as he examined a collection of rare plants; and the quiet comfort of the trader, and the awkward, shambling, loose-jointed pleasure of long jim scroggles; and the beaming felicity of her own dear father; who sat not far from her, and turned occasionally in the midst of the conversation to give her a nod--she felt in her heart that then and there she had fairly reached the very happiest moment in all her life. ailie gazed in dreamy delight until she suddenly and unaccountably saw at least six fires, and fully half-a-dozen bumbles, and eight or nine glynns, and no end of fathers, and thousands of trees, and millions of sparks, all jumbled together in one vast complicated and magnificent pyrotechnic display; and then she fell asleep. it is a curious fact, and one for which it is not easy to account, that however happy you may be when you go to sleep out in the wild woods, you invariably awake in the morning in possession of a very small amount of happiness indeed. probably it is because one in such circumstances is usually called upon to turn out before he has had enough sleep; perhaps it may be that the fires have burnt low or gone out altogether, and the gloom of a forest before sunrise is not calculated to elevate the spirits. be this as it may, it is a fact that when ailie was awakened on the following morning about daybreak, and told to get up, she felt sulky--positively and unmistakably sulky. we do not say that she looked sulky or acted sulkily--far from it; but she felt sulky, and that was a very uncomfortable state of things. we dwell a little on this point because we do not wish to mislead our young readers into the belief that life in the wild woods is _all_ delightful together. there are shadows as well as lights there--some of them, alas! so deep that we would not like even to refer to them while writing in a sportive vein. but it is also a fact, that when ailie was fairly up and once more in the canoe, and when the sun began to flood the landscape with his golden light and turn the water into liquid fire, her temporary feelings of discomfort passed away, and her sensation of intense enjoyment returned. the scenery through which they passed on the second day was somewhat varied. they emerged early in the day upon the bosom of a large lake which looked almost like the ocean. here there were immense flocks of water-fowl, and among them that strange, ungainly bird, the pelican. here, too, there were actually hundreds of crocodiles. the lake was full of little mud islands, and on all of them these hideous and gigantic reptiles were seen basking lazily in the sun. several shots were fired at them, but although the balls hit, they did not penetrate their thick hides, until at last one took effect in the soft part close behind the foreleg. the shot was fired by the trader, and it killed the animal instantly. it could not have been less than twenty feet long, but before they could secure it the carcass sank in deep water. "what a pity!" remarked glynn, as the eddies circled round the spot where it had gone down. "ah, so it is!" replied the doctor; "but he would have been rather large to preserve and carry home as a specimen." "i ax yer parding, sir," said tim rokens, addressing dr hopley; "but i'm curious to know if crocodiles has got phrenoligy?" "no doubt of it," replied the doctor, laughing. "crocodiles have brains, and brains when exercised must be enlarged and developed, especially in the organs that are most used, hence corresponding development must take place in the skull." "i should think, doctor," remarked the captain, who was somewhat sceptical, "that their bumps of combativeness must be very large." "probably they are," continued the doctor; "something like my friend phil briant here. i would venture to guess, now, that his organ of combativeness is well-developed--let me see." the doctor, who sat close beside the irishman, caused him to pull in his paddle and submit his head for inspection. "ah! then, don't operate on me, doctor dear! i've a mortial fear o' operations iver since me owld grandmother's pig got its foreleg took off at the hip-jint." "hold your tongue, paddy. now the bump lies here--just under--eh! why, you haven't got so much as--what!" "plaize, i think it's lost in fat, sur," remarked briant, in a plaintive tone, as if he expected to be reprimanded for not having brought his bump of combativeness along with him. "well," resumed the doctor, passing his fingers through briant's matted locks, "i suppose you're not so combative as we had fancied--" "thrue for you," interrupted phil. "but, strange enough, i find your organ of veneration is very large, _very_ large indeed; singularly so for a man of your character; but i cannot feel it easily, you have such a quantity of hair." "which is it, doctor dear?" inquired phil. "this one i am pressing now." "arrah! don't press so hard, plaze, it's hurtin' me ye are. shure that's the place where i run me head slap up agin the spanker-boom four days ago. av _that's_ me bump o' vineration, it wos three times as big an' twice as hard yisterday--it wos, indade." interruptions in this world of uncertainty are not uncommon, and in the african wilds they are peculiarly frequent. the interruption which occurred on the present occasion to dr hopley's reply was, we need scarcely remark, exceedingly opportune. it came in the form of a hippopotamus, which rose so close to the boat that ailie got a severe start, and tim rokens made a blow at its head with his paddle. it did not seem to notice the boat, but after blowing a quantity of water from its nostrils, and opening its horrible mouth as if it were yawning, it slowly sank again into the flood. "wot an 'orrible crittur!" exclaimed jim scroggles, in amazement at the sight. "the howdacious willain!" remarked rokens. "is that another on ahead?" said glynn, pointing to an object floating on the water about a hundred yards up the river: for they had passed the lake, and were now ascending another stream. "d'ye see it, ailie? look!" the object sank as he spoke, and ailie looked round just in time to see the tail of a crocodile flop the water and follow its owner to the depths below. "oh! oh!" exclaimed ailie, with one of those peculiar intonations that told glynn she saw something very beautiful, and that induced the remainder of the crew to rest on their paddles, and turn their eyes in the direction indicated. they did not require to ask what she saw, for the child's finger directed their eyes to a spot on the bank of the river, where, under the shadow of a spreading bush with gigantic leaves, stood a lovely little gazelle. the graceful creature had trotted down to the stream to drink, and did not observe the canoe, which had been on the point of rounding a bank that jutted out into the river where its progress was checked. the gazelle paused a moment, looked round to satisfy itself that no enemy was near, and then put its lips to the water. alas! for the timid little thing! there were enemies near it and round it in all directions. there were leopards and serpents of the largest size in the woods, and man upon the river--although on this occasion it chanced that most of the men who gazed in admiration at its pretty form were friends. but its worst enemy, a crocodile, was lurking close under the mud-bank at its feet. scarcely had its parched lips reached the stream when a black snout darted from the water, and the next instant the gazelle was struggling in the crocodile's jaws. a cry of horror burst from the men in the boat, and every man seized a musket; but before an aim could be taken the struggle was over; the monster had dived with its prey, and nothing but a few streaks of red foam floated on the troubled water. ailie did not move. she stood with her hands tightly clasped and her eyes starting almost out of their sockets. at last her feelings found vent. she threw her arms round her father's neck, and burying her face in his bosom, burst into a passionate flood of tears. chapter eleven. native doings, and a cruel murder--jim scroggles sees wonders, and has a terrible adventure. it took two whole days and nights to restore ailie to her wonted cheerful state of mind, after she had witnessed the death of the gazelle. but although she sang and laughed, and enjoyed herself as much as ever, she experienced the presence of a new and strange feeling, that ever after that day, tinged her thoughts and influenced her words and actions. the child had for the first time in her life experienced one of those rude shocks--one of those rough contacts with the stern realities of life which tend to deepen and intensify our feelings. the mind does not always grow by slow, imperceptible degrees, although it usually does so. there are periods in the career of every one when the mind takes, as it were, a sharp run and makes a sudden and stupendous jump out of one region of thought into another in which there are things new as well as old. the present was such an occasion to little ailie dunning. she had indeed seen bloody work before, in the cutting-up of a whale. but although she had been told it often enough, she did not _realise_ that whales have feelings and affections like other creatures. besides, she had not witnessed the actual killing of the whale; and if she had, it would probably have made little impression on her beyond that of temporary excitement--not even that, perhaps, had her father been by her side. but she _sympathised_ with the gazelle. it was small, and beautiful, and lovable. her heart had swelled the moment she saw it, and she had felt a longing desire to run up to it and throw her arms round its soft neck, so that, when she saw it suddenly struggling and crushed in the tremendous jaws of the horrible crocodile, every tender feeling in her breast was lacerated; every fibre of her heart trembled with a conflicting gush of the tenderest pity and the fiercest rage. from that day forward new thoughts began to occupy her mind, and old ideas presented themselves in different aspects. we would not have the reader suppose, for a moment, that ailie became an utterly changed creature. to an unobservant eye--such as that of jim scroggles, for instance--she was the same in all respects a few days after as she had been a few hours before the event. but new elements had been implanted in her breast, or rather, seeds which had hitherto lain dormant were now caused to burst forth into plants by the all-wise author of her being. she now _felt_ for the first time--she could not tell why--that enjoyment was _not_ the chief good in life. of course she did not argue or think out all this clearly and methodically to herself. her mind, on most things, material as well as immaterial, was very much what may be termed a jumble; but undoubtedly the above processes of reasoning and feeling, or something like them, were the result to ailie of the violent death of that little gazelle. the very next day after this sad event the travellers came to a native village, at which they stayed a night, in order to rest and procure fresh provisions. the trader was well-known at this village, but the natives, all of whom were black, of course, and nearly naked, had never seen a little white girl before, so that their interest in and wonder at ailie were quite amusing to witness. they crowded round her, laughing and exclaiming and gesticulating in a most remarkable manner, and taking special notice of her light-brown glossy hair, which seemed to fill them with unbounded astonishment and admiration; as well it might, for they had never before seen any other hair except the coarse curly wool on their own pates, and the long lank hair of the trader, which happened to be coarse and black. the child was at first annoyed by the attentions paid her, but at last she became interested in the sooty little naked children that thronged round her, and allowed them to handle her as much as they pleased, until her father led her to the residence of the chief or king of the tribe. here she was well treated, and she began quite to like the people who were so kind to her and her friends. but she chanced to overhear a conversation between the doctor and tim rokens, which caused her afterwards to shrink from the negroes with horror. she was sitting on a bank picking wild-flowers some hours after the arrival of her party, and teaching several black children how to make necklaces of them, when the doctor and rokens happened to sit down together at the other side of a bush which concealed her from their view. tim was evidently excited, for the tones of his voice were loud and emphatic. "yes," he said, in reply to some questions put to him by the doctor; "yes, i seed 'em do it, not ten minutes agone, with my own two eyes. oh! but i would like to have 'em up in a row--every black villain in the place--an' a cutlass in my hand, an'--an' wouldn't i whip off their heads? no, i wouldn't; oh, no, by no means wotiver." there was something unusually fierce in rokens' voice that alarmed ailie. "i was jist takin' a turn," continued the sailor, "down by the creek yonder, when i heerd a great yellin' goin' on, and saw the trader in the middle of a crowd o' black fellows, a-shakin' his fists; so i made sail, of course, to lend a hand if he'd got into trouble. he was scoldin' away in the native lingo, as if he'd bin a born nigger. "`wot's all to do?' says i. "`they're goin' to kill a little boy,' says he, quite fierce like, `'cause they took it into their heads he's bewitched.' "an' sayin' that, he sot to agin in the other lingo, but the king came up an' told him that the boy had to be killed 'cause he had a devil in him, and had gone and betwitched a number o' other people; an' before he had done speakin', up comes two fellers, draggin' the poor little boy between them. the king axed him if he wos betwitched, and the little chap--from sheer fright, i do believe--said he wos. of coorse i couldn't understand 'em, but the trader explained it all arter. well, no sooner had he said that, than they all gave a yell, and rushed upon the poor boy with their knives, and cut him to pieces. it's as sure as i'm sittin' here," cried rokens, savagely, as his wrath rose again at the bare recital of the terrible deed he had witnessed. "i would ha' knocked out the king's brains there and then, but the trader caught my hand, and said, in a great fright, that if i did, it would not only cost me my life, but likely the whole party; so that cooled me, and i come away; an' i'm goin' to ax the captin wot we shud do." "we can do nothing," said the doctor sadly. "even suppose we were strong enough to punish them, what good would it do? we can't change their natures. they are superstitious, and are firmly persuaded they did right in killing that poor boy." the doctor pondered for a few seconds, and then added, in a low voice, as if he were weighing the meaning of what he said: "clergymen would tell us that nothing can deliver them from this bondage save a knowledge of the true god and of his son jesus christ; that the bible might be the means of curing them, if bibles were only sent, and ministers to preach the gospel." "then why ain't bibles sent to 'em at once?" asked rokens, in a tone of great indignation, supposing that the doctor was expressing his own opinion on the subject. "is there nobody to look arter these matters in christian lands?" "oh, yes, there are many bible societies, and both bibles and missionaries have been sent to this country; but it's a large one, and the societies tell us their funds are limited." "then why don't they git more funds?" continued rokens, in the same indignant tone, as his mind still dwelt upon the miseries and wickedness that he had seen, and that _might_ be prevented; "why don't they git more funds, and send out heaps o' bibles, an' no end o' missionaries?" "tim rokens," said the doctor, looking earnestly into his companion's face, "if i were one of the missionaries, i might ask you how much money _you_ ever gave to enable societies to send bibles and missionaries to foreign lands?" tim rokens was for once in his life completely taken aback. he was by nature a stolid man, and not easily put out. he was a shrewd man, too, and did not often commit himself. when he did, he was wont to laugh at himself, and so neutralise the laugh raised against him. but here was a question that was too serious for laughter, and yet one which he could not answer without being self-condemned. he looked gravely in the doctor's face for two minutes without speaking; then he heaved a deep sigh, and said slowly, and with a pause between each word-- "doctor hopley--i--never--gave--a--rap--in--all--my--life." "so then, my man," said the doctor, smiling, "you're scarcely entitled to be indignant with others." "wot you remark, doctor, is true; i--am--not." having thus fully and emphatically condemned himself, and along with himself all mankind who are in a similar category, tim rokens relapsed into silence, deliberately drew forth his pipe, filled it, lit it, and began to smoke. none of the party of travellers slept well that night, except perhaps the trader, who was accustomed to the ways of the negroes, and king bumble, who had been born and bred in the midst of cruelties. most of them dreamed of savage orgies, and massacres of innocent children, so that when daybreak summoned them to resume their journey, they arose and embarked with alacrity, glad to get away from the spot. during that day and the next they saw a great number of crocodiles and hippopotami, besides strange birds and plants innumerable. the doctor filled his botanical-box to bursting. ailie filled her flower-basket to overflowing. glynn hit a crocodile on the back with a bullet, and received a lazy stare from the ugly creature in return, as it waddled slowly down the bank on which it had been lying, and plumped into the river. the captain assisted ailie to pluck flowers when they landed, which they did from time to time, and helped to arrange and pack them when they returned to the canoe. tim rokens did nothing particularly worthy of record; but he gave utterance to an immense number of sententious and wise remarks, which were listened to by bumble with deep respect, for that sable gentleman had taken a great fancy for the bold harpooner, and treasured up all his sayings in his heart. phil briant distinguished himself by shooting an immense serpent, which the doctor, who cut off and retained its head, pronounced to be an anaconda. it was full twenty feet long; and part of the body was cut up, roasted, and eaten by bumble and the trader, though the others turned from it with loathing. "it be more cleaner dan one pig, anyhow," remarked bumble, on observing the disgust of his white friends; "an' you no objic' to eat dat." "clainer than a pig, ye spalpeen!" cried phil briant; "that only shows yer benighted haithen ignerance. sure i lived in the same cabin wid a pig for many a year--not not to mintion a large family o' cocks and hens--an' a clainer baste than that pig didn't stop in that cabin." "that doesn't say much for your own cleanliness, or that of your family," remarked glynn. "och! ye've bin to school, no doubt, haven't ye?" retorted phil. "i have," replied glynn. "shure i thought so. it's there ye must have larned to be so oncommon cliver. don't you iver be persuaded for to go to school, bumble, if ye iver git the chance. it's a mighty lot o' taichin' they'd give ye, but niver a taste o' edication. tin to wan, they'd cram ye till ye turned white i' the face, an' that wouldn't suit yer complexion, ye know, king bumble, be no manes." as for the trader, he acted interpreter when the party fell in with negroes, and explained everything that puzzled them, and told them anecdotes without end about the natives and the wild creatures, and the traffic of the regions through which they passed. in short, he made himself generally useful and agreeable. but the man who distinguished himself most on that trip was jim scroggles. that lanky individual one day took it into his wise head to go off on a short ramble into the woods alone. he had been warned by the trader, along with the rest of the party, not to venture on such a dangerous thing; but being an absent man the warning had not reached his intellect although it had fallen on his ear. the party were on shore cooking dinner when he went off, without arms of any kind, and without telling whither he was bound. indeed, he had no defined intentions in his own mind. he merely felt inclined for a ramble, and so went away, intending to be back in half-an-hour or less. but jim scroggles had long legs and loved locomotion. moreover, the woods were exceedingly beautiful and fragrant, and comparatively cool: for it happened to be the coolest season of the year in that sultry region, else the party of europeans could not have ventured to travel there at all. wandering along beneath the shade of palm-trees and large-leaved shrubs and other tropical productions, with his hands in his breeches pockets, and whistling a variety of popular airs, which must have not a little astonished the monkeys and birds and other creatures--such of them, at least, as had any taste for or knowledge of music--jim scroggles penetrated much farther into the wilds than he had any intention of doing. there is no saying how far, in his absence of mind, he might have wandered, had he not been caught and very uncomfortably entangled in a mesh-work of wild vines and thorny plants that barred his further progress. jim had encountered several such before in his walk, but had forced his way through without more serious damage than a rent or two in his shirt and pantaloons, and several severe scratches to his hands and face; but scroggles had lived a hard life from infancy, and did not mind scratches. now, however, he could not advance a step, and it was only by much patient labour and by the free use of his clasp-knife, that he succeeded at length in releasing himself. he left a large portion of one of the legs of his trousers and several bits of skin on the bushes, as a memorial of his visit to that spot. jim's mind was awoken to the perception of three facts--namely, that he had made himself late for dinner; that he would be the means of detaining his party; and that he had lost himself. here was a pretty business! being a man of slow thought and much deliberation, he sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and looking up, as men usually do when soliloquising, exclaimed-- "my eye, here's a go! wot is to be done?" a very small monkey, with an uncommonly wrinkled and melancholy cast of visage, which chanced to be seated on a branch hard by, peering down at the lost mariner, replied-- "o! o-o-o, o! o-o!" as much as to say, "ah, my boy, that's just the question." jim scroggles shook his head, partly as a rebuke to the impertinent little monkey and partly as an indication of the hopelessness of his being able to return a satisfactory answer to his own question. at last he started up, exclaiming, "wotever comes on it, there's no use o' sitting here," and walked straight forward at a brisk pace. then he suddenly stopped, shook his head again, and said, "if i goes on like this, an' it shud turn out to be the wrong course arter all--wot'll come on't?" being as unable to answer this question as the former, he thrust both hands into his pockets, looked at the ground and began to whistle. when he looked up again he ceased whistling very abruptly, and turned deadly pale--perhaps we should say yellow. and no wonder, for there, straight before him, not more than twenty yards off, stood a creature which, to his ignorant eyes, appeared to be a fiend incarnate, but which was in reality a large-sized and very ancient sheego monkey. it stood in an upright position like a man, and was above four feet high. it had a bald head, grey whiskers, and an intensely black wrinkled face, and, at the moment jim scroggles' eyes encountered it, that face was working itself into such a variety of remarkable and hideous contortions that no description, however graphic, could convey a correct notion of it to the reader's mind. seen behind the bars of an iron cage it might, perhaps, have been laughable; but witnessed as it was, in the depths of a lonely forest, it was appalling. jim scroggles' knees began to shake. he was fascinated with horror. the huge ape was equally fascinated with terror. it worked its wrinkled visage more violently than ever. jim trembled all over. in another second the sheego displayed not only all its teeth--and they were tremendous--but all its gums, and they were fearful to behold, besides being scarlet. roused to the utmost pitch of fear, the sheego uttered a shriek that rang through the forest like a death-yell. this was the culminating point. jim scroggles turned and fled as fast as his long and trembling legs could carry him. the sheego, at the same instant, was smitten with an identically similar impulse. it turned, uttered another yell, and fled in the opposite direction; and thus the two ran until they were both out of breath. what became of the monkey we cannot tell; but jim scroggles ran at headlong speed straight before him, crashing through brake and bush, in the full belief that the sheego was in hot pursuit, until he came to a mangrove swamp; here his speed was checked somewhat, for the trees grew in a curious fashion that merits special notice. instead of rising out of the ground, the mangroves rose out of a sea of mud, and the roots stood up in a somewhat arched form, supporting their stem, as it were, on the top of a bridge. thus, had the ground beneath been solid, a man might have walked _under_ the roots. in order to cross the swamp, jim scroggles had to leap from root to root--a feat which, although difficult, he would have attempted without hesitation. but jim was agitated at that particular moment. his step was uncertain at a time when the utmost coolness was necessary. at one point the leap from one root to the next was too great for him. he turned his eye quickly to one side to seek a nearer stem; in doing so he encountered the gaze of a serpent. it was not a large one, probably about ten feet long, but he knew it to be one whose bite was deadly. in the surprise and fear of the moment he took the long leap, came short of the root by about six inches, and alighted up to the waist in the soft mud. almost involuntarily he cast his eyes behind him, and saw neither sheego nor serpent. he breathed more freely, and essayed to extricate himself from his unpleasant position. stretching out his hands to the root above his head, he found that it was beyond his reach. the sudden fear that this produced caused him to make a violent struggle, and in his next effort he succeeded in catching a twig; it supported him, for a moment, then broke, and he fell back again into the mud. each successive struggle only sank him deeper. as the thick adhesive semi-liquid clung to his lower limbs and rose slowly on his chest, the wretched man uttered a loud cry of despair. he felt that he was brought suddenly face to face with death in its most awful form. the mud was soon up to his arm-pits. as the hopelessness of his condition forced itself upon him, he began to shout for help until the dark woods resounded with his cries; but no help came, and the cold drops of sweat stood upon his brow as he shrieked aloud in agony, and prayed for mercy. chapter twelve. jim scroggles rescued, and glynn and ailie lost--a capture, upset, chase, escape, and happy return. the merciful manner in which god sends deliverance at the eleventh hour has been so often experienced and recognised, that it has originated the well-known proverb, "man's extremity is god's opportunity;" and this proverb is true not only in reference to man's soul, but often, also, in regard to his temporal affairs. while the wretched sailor was uttering cries for help, which grew feebler every moment as he sank deeper and deeper into what now he believed should be his grave, his comrades were hastening forward to his rescue. alarmed at his prolonged absence, they had armed themselves, and set out in search of him, headed by the trader and led by the negro, who tracked his steps with that unerring certainty which seems peculiar to all savages. the shrieks uttered by their poor comrade soon reached their ears, and after some little difficulty, owing to the cries becoming faint, and at last inaudible, they discovered the swamp where he lay, and revived his hope and energy by their shouts. they found him nearly up to the neck in mud, and the little of him that still remained above ground was scarcely recognisable. it cost them nearly an hour, with the aid of poles, and ropes extemporised out of their garments, to drag jim from his perilous position and place him on solid ground; and after they had accomplished this, it took more than an hour longer to clean him and get him recruited sufficiently to accompany them to the spot where they had left the canoe. the poor man was deeply moved; and when he fully realised the fact that he was saved, he wept like a child, and then thanked god fervently for his deliverance. as the night was approaching, and the canoe, with ailie in it, had been left in charge only of glynn proctor, jim's recovery was expedited as much as possible, and as soon as he could walk they turned to retrace their steps. man knows not what a day or an hour will bring forth. for many years one may be permitted to move on "the even tenor of his way," without anything of momentous import occurring to mark the passage of his little span of time as it sweeps him onward to eternity. at another period of life, events, it may be of the most startling and abidingly impressive nature, are crowded into a few months or weeks, or even days. so it was now with our travellers on the african river. when they reached the spot where they had dined, no one replied to their shouts. the canoe, glynn, and the child were gone. on making this terrible discovery the whole party were filled with indescribable consternation, and ran wildly hither and thither, up and down the banks of the river, shouting the names of glynn proctor and ailie, until the woods rang again. captain dunning was almost mad with anxiety and horror. his imagination pictured his child in every conceivable danger. he thought of her as drowned in the river and devoured by crocodiles; as carried away by the natives into hopeless captivity; or, perhaps, killed by wild beasts in the forest. when several hours had elapsed, and still no sign of the missing ones could be discovered, he fell down exhausted on the river's bank, and groaned aloud in his despair. but ailie was not lost. the heavenly father in whom she trusted still watched over and cared for her, and glynn proctor's stout right arm was still by her side to protect her. about half-an-hour after the party had gone off in search of their lost companion, a large canoe, full of negroes, came sweeping down the river. glynn and ailie hid themselves in the bushes, and lay perfectly still, hoping they might be passed by. but they forgot that the blue smoke of their fire curled up through the foliage and revealed their presence at once. on observing the smoke, the savages gave a shout, and, running their canoe close in to the bank, leaped ashore and began to scamper through the wood like baboons. only a few minutes passed before they discovered the two hiders, whom they surrounded and gazed upon in the utmost possible amazement, shouting the while with delight, as if they had discovered a couple of new species of monkey. glynn was by nature a reckless and hasty youth. he felt the power of a young giant within him, and his first impulse was to leap upon the newcomers, and knock them down right and left. fortunately, for ailie's sake as well as his own, he had wisdom enough to know that though he had possessed the power of ten giants, he could not hope, singly, to overcome twenty negroes, all of whom were strong, active, and lithe as panthers. he therefore assumed a good-humoured free-and-easy air, and allowed himself and ailie to be looked at and handled without ceremony. the savages were evidently not ill-disposed towards the wanderers. they laughed a great deal, and spoke to each other rapidly in what, to glynn, was of course an unknown tongue. one who appeared to be the chief of the party passed his long black fingers through ailie's glossy curls with evident surprise and delight. he then advanced to glynn, and said something like-- "holli--boobo--gaddle--bump--um--peepi--daddle--dumps." to which glynn replied very naturally, "i don't understand you." of course he did not. and he might have known well enough that the negro could not understand _him_. but he deemed it wiser to make a reply of some kind, however unintelligible, than to stand like a post and say nothing. again the negro spoke, and again glynn made the same reply; whereupon the black fellow turned round to his comrades and looked at them, and they, in reply to the look, burst again into an immoderate fit of laughter, and cut a variety of capers, the very simplest of which would have made the fortune of any merry-andrew in the civilised world, had he been able to execute it. this was all very well, no doubt, and exceedingly amusing, not to say surprising; but it became quite a different matter when, after satisfying their curiosity, these dark gentlemen coolly collected the property of the white men, stowed it away in the small canoe, and made signs to glynn and ailie to enter. glynn showed a decided objection to obey, on which two stout fellows seized him by the shoulders, and pointed sternly to the canoe, as much as to say, "hobbi-doddle-hoogum-toly-whack," which, being interpreted (no doubt) meant, "if you don't go quietly, we'll force you." again the young sailor's spirit leaped up. he clenched his fists, his brow flushed crimson, and, in another instant, whatever might have been the consequence, the two negroes would certainly have lain recumbent on the sward, had it not suddenly occurred to glynn that he might, by appearing to submit, win the confidence of his captors, and, at the first night-encampment, quietly make his escape with ailie in his arms! glynn was at that romantic age when young men have a tendency to think themselves capable of doing almost anything, with or without ordinary facilities, and in the face of any amount of adverse circumstance. he therefore stepped willingly and even cheerfully into the canoe, in which his and his comrades' baggage had been already stowed, and, seating himself in the stern, took up the steering-paddle. he was ordered to quit that post, however, in favour of a powerful negro, and made to sit in the bow and paddle there. ailie was placed with great care in the centre of the canoe among a heap of soft leopard-skins; for the savages evidently regarded her as something worth preserving--a rare and beautiful specimen, perhaps, of the white monkey! this done, they leaped into their large canoe, and, attaching the smaller one to it by means of a rope, paddled out from the bank, and descended the stream. "oh! glynn," exclaimed ailie, in a whisper--for she felt that things were beginning to look serious--"what _are_ we to do?" "indeed, my pet, i don't know," replied glynn, looking round and encountering the gaze of the negro in the stern, at whom he frowned darkly, and received a savage grin by way of reply. "i would like _so_ much to say something to you," continued ailie, "but i'm afraid _he_ will know what i say." "never fear, ailie; he's as deaf as a post to our language. out with it." "could you not," she said, in a half-whisper, "cut the rope, and then paddle away back while _they_ are paddling down the river?" glynn laughed in spite of himself at this proposal. "and what, my pretty one," he said, "what should we do with the fellow in the stern? besides, the rascals in front might take it into their heads to paddle after us, you know, and what then?" "i'm sure i don't know," said ailie, beginning to cry. "now, don't cry, my darling," said glynn, looking over his shoulder with much concern. "i'll manage to get you out of this scrape somehow--now see if i don't." the youth spoke so confidently, that the child felt somehow comforted, so drying her eyes she lay back among the leopard-skins, where, giving vent to an occasional sob, she speedily fell fast asleep. they continued to advance thus in silence for nearly an hour, crossed a small lake, and again entered the river. after descending this some time, the attention of the whole party was attracted to a group of hippopotami, gambolling in the mud-banks and in the river a short distance ahead. at any other time glynn would have been interested in the sight of these uncouth monsters, but he had seen so many within the last few days that he was becoming comparatively indifferent to them, and at that moment he was too much filled with anxiety to take any notice of them. the creatures themselves, however, did not seem to be so utterly indifferent to the strangers. they continued their gambols until the canoes were quite near, and then they dived. now, hippopotami, as we have before hinted, are clumsy and stupid creatures, so much so that they occasionally run against and upset boats and canoes, quite unintentionally. knowing this, the natives in the large canoe kept a sharp look-out in order to steer clear of them. they had almost succeeded in passing the place, when a huge fellow, like a sugar-punchean, rose close to the small canoe, and grazed it with his tail. apparently he considered this an attack made upon him by the boat, for he wheeled round in a rage, and swam violently towards it. the negro and glynn sprang to their feet on the instant, and the former raised his paddle to deal the creature a blow on the head. before he could do so, glynn leaped lightly over ailie, who had just awakened, caught the savage by the ankles, and tossed him overboard. he fell with a heavy splash just in front of the cavernous jaws of the hippopotamus! in fact, he had narrowly escaped falling head-first into the creature's open throat. the nearness of the animal at the time was probably the means of saving the negro's life, for it did not observe where he had vanished to, as he sank under its chin, and was pushed by its forelegs right under its body. in its effort to lay hold of the negro, the hippopotamus made a partial dive, and thus passed the small canoe. when it again rose to the surface the large canoe met its eye. at this it rushed, drove its hammer-like skull through the light material of which it was made, and then seizing the broken ends in its strong jaws upset the canoe, and began to rend it to pieces in its fury. before this occurred, the crew had leaped into the water, and were now swimming madly to the shore. at the same moment glynn cut the line that fastened the two canoes together, and seizing his paddle, urged his craft up the river as fast as possible. but his single arm could not drive it with much speed against the stream, and before he had advanced a dozen yards, one of the natives overtook him and several more followed close behind. glynn allowed the first one to come near, and then gave him a tremendous blow on the head with the edge of the paddle. the young sailor was not in a gentle frame of mind at that time, by any means. the blow was given with a will, and would probably have fractured the skull of a white man; but that of a negro is proverbially thick. the fellow was only stunned, and fell back among his comrades, who judiciously considering that such treatment was not agreeable and ought not to be courted, put about, and made for the shore. glynn now kept his canoe well over to the left side of the stream while the savages ran along the right bank, yelling ferociously and occasionally attempting to swim towards him, but without success. he was somewhat relieved, and sent them a shout of defiance, which was returned, of course with interest. still he felt that his chance of escape was poor. he was becoming exhausted by the constant and violent exertion that was necessary in order to make head against the stream. the savages knew this, and bided their time. as he continued to labour slowly up, glynn came to the mouth of a small stream which joined the river. he knew not where it might lead to, but feeling that he could not hold out much longer, he turned into it, without any very definite idea as to what he would attempt next. the stream was sluggish. he advanced more easily, and after a few strokes of the paddle doubled round a point and was hid from the eyes of the negroes, who immediately set up a yell and plunged into the river, intending to swim over; but fortunately it was much too rapid in the middle, and they were compelled to return. we say fortunately, because, had they succeeded in crossing, they would have found glynn in the bushes of the point behind which he had disappeared, in a very exhausted state, though prepared to fight to the last with all the energy of despair. as it was, he had the extreme satisfaction of seeing his enemies, after regaining the right bank, set off at a quick run down the river. he now remembered having seen a place about two miles further down that looked like a ford, and he at once concluded his pursuers had set off to that point, and would speedily return and easily recapture him in the narrow little stream into which he had pushed. to cross the large river was impossible--the canoe would have been swamped in the rapid. but what was to hinder him from paddling close in along the side, and perhaps reach the lake while the negroes were looking for him up the small stream? he put this plan into execution at once; and ailie took a paddle in her small hands and did her utmost to help him. it wasn't much, poor thing; but to hear the way in which glynn encouraged her and spoke of her efforts, one would have supposed she had been as useful as a full-grown man! after a couple of hours' hard work, they emerged upon the lake, and here glynn felt that he was pretty safe, because, in the still water, no man could swim nearly as fast as he could paddle. besides, it was now getting dark, so he pushed out towards a rocky islet on which there were only a few small bushes, resolved to take a short rest there, and then continue his flight under cover of the darkness. while glynn carried ashore some biscuit, which was the only thing in the boat they could eat without cooking, ailie broke off some branches from the low bushes that covered the little rocky islet, and spread them out on a flat rock for a couch; this done, she stood on the top of a large stone and gazed round upon the calm surface of the beautiful lake, in the dark depths of which the stars twinkled as if there were another sky down there. "now, ailie," said glynn, "come along and have supper. it's not a very tempting one, but we must content ourselves with hard fare and a hard bed to-night, as i dare not light a fire lest the negroes should observe it and catch us." "i'm sorry for that," replied the child; "for a fire is _so_ nice and cheery; and it helps to keep off the wild beasts, too, doesn't it?" "well, it does; but there are no wild beasts on such a small rock as this, and the sides are luckily too steep for crocodiles to crawl up." "shall we sleep here till morning?" asked ailie, munching her hard biscuit and drinking her tin pannikinful of cold water with great relish, for she was very hungry. "oh, no!" replied glynn. "we must be up and away in an hour at farthest. so, as i see you're about done with your luxurious supper, i propose that you lie down to rest." ailie was only too glad to accede to this proposal. she lay down on the branches, and after glynn had covered her with a blanket, he stretched himself on a leopard-skin beside her, and both of them fell asleep in five minutes. the mosquitoes were very savage that night, but the sleepers were too much fatigued to mind their vicious attacks. glynn slept two hours, and then he wakened with a start, as most persons do when they have arranged, before going to sleep, to rise at a certain hour. he rose softly, carried the provisions back to the canoe, and in his sleepy condition almost stepped upon the head of a huge crocodile, which, ignorant of their presence, had landed its head on the islet in order to have a snooze. then he roused ailie, and led her, more than half asleep, down to the beach, and lifted her into the canoe, after which he pushed off, and paddled briskly over the still waters of the star-lit lake. ailie merely yawned during all these proceedings; said, "dear me! is it time to--yeaow! oh, i'm _so_ sleepy;" mumbled something about papa wondering what had become of jim scroggles, and about her being convinced that--"yeaow!--the ship must have lost itself among the whales and monkeys;" and then, dropping her head on the leopard-skins with a deep sigh of comfort, she returned to the land of nod. glynn proctor worked so well that it was still early in the morning and quite dark when he arrived at the encampment where they had been made prisoners. his heart beat audibly as he approached the dark landing-place, and observed no sign of his comrades. the moment the bow of the canoe touched the shore, he sprang over the side, and, without disturbing the little sleeper, drew it gently up the bank, and fastened the bow-rope to a tree; then he hurried to the spot where they had slept and found all the fires out except one, of which a few dull embers still remained; but no comrade was visible. it is a felicitous arrangement of our organs of sense, that where one organ fails to convey to our inward man information regarding the outward world, another often steps in to supply its place, and perform the needful duty. we have said that glynn proctor saw nothing of his comrades,--although he gazed earnestly all round the camp--for the very good reason that it was almost pitch-dark; but although his eyes were useless, his ears were uncommonly acute, and through their instrumentality he became cognisant of a sound. it might have been distant thunder, but was too continuous and regular for that. it might have been the distant rumbling of heavy wagons or artillery over a paved road; but there were neither wagons nor roads in those african wilds. it might have been the prolonged choking of an alligator--it might, in fact, have been _anything_ in a region like that, where _everything_, almost, was curious, and new, and strange, and wild, and unaccountable; and the listener was beginning to entertain the most uncomfortable ideas of what it probably was, when a gasp and a peculiar snort apprised him that it was a human snore!--at least, if not a human snore, it was that of some living creature which indulged to a very extravagant degree in that curious and altogether objectionable practice. stepping cautiously forward on tip-toe, glynn searched among the leaves all round the fire, following the direction of the sounds, but nothing was to be found; and he experienced a slight feeling of supernatural dread creeping over him, when a peculiarly loud metallic snore sounded clear above his head. looking up, he beheld by the dull red light of the almost extinct fire, the form of phil briant, half-seated, half-reclining, on the branch of a tree not ten feet from the ground, and clasping another branch tightly with both arms. at that moment, ailie, who had awakened, ran up, and caught glynn by the hand. "hallo! briant!" exclaimed glynn. a very loud snore was the reply. "briant! phil briant, i say; hallo! phil!" shouted glynn. "arrah! howld yer noise will ye," muttered the still sleeping man--"sno--o--o--o--re!" "a fall! a fall!--all hands ahoy! tumble up there, tumble up!" shouted glynn, in the nautical tones which he well knew would have their effect upon his comrade. he was right. they had more than their usual effect on him. the instant he heard them, phil briant shouted--"ay, ay, sir!" and, throwing his legs over the side of what he supposed to be his hammock, he came down bodily on what he supposed to be the deck with a whack that caused him to utter an involuntary but tremendous howl. "oh! och! oh! murther! oh whirra!" he cried, as he lay half-stunned. "oh, it's kilt i am entirely--dead as mutton at last, an' no mistake. sure i might have knowd it--och! worse luck! didn't yer poor owld mother tell ye, phil, that ye'd come to a bad end--she did--" "are ye badly hurt?" said glynn, stooping over his friend in real alarm. at the sound of his voice briant ceased his wails, rose into a sitting posture, shaded his eyes with his hand (a most unnecessary proceeding under the circumstances), and stared at him. "it's me, phil; all right, and ailie. we've escaped, and got safe back again." "it's jokin' ye are," said briant, with the imbecile smile of a man who only half believes what he actually sees. "i'm draimin', that's it. go away, avic, an' don't be botherin' me." "it's quite true, though, i assure you, my boy. i've managed to give the niggers the slip; and here's ailie, too, all safe, and ready to convince you of the fact." phil briant looked at one and then at the other in unbounded amazement for a few seconds, after which he gave a short laugh as if of pity for his own weakness, and his face assumed a mild aspect as he said softly, "it's all a draim, av coorse it is!" he even turned away his eyes for a moment in order to give the vision time to dissipate. but on looking round again, there it was, as palpable as ever. faith in the fidelity of his own eyesight returned in a moment, and phil briant, forgetting his bodily pains, sprang to his feet with a roar of joy, seized ailie in his arms and kissed her, embraced glynn proctor with a squeeze like that of a loving bear, and then began to dance an irish jig, quite regardless of the fact that the greater part of it was performed in the fire, the embers of which he sent flying in all directions like a display of fireworks. he cheered, too, now and then like a maniac--"oh, happy day! i've found ye, have i? after all me trouble, too! hooray! an' wan chair more for luck. av me sowl only don't lape clane out o' me body, it's meself'll be thankful! but, sure--i'm forgittin'--" briant paused suddenly in the midst of his uproarious dance, and seized a burning stick, which he attempted to blow into a flame with intense vehemence of action. having succeeded, he darted towards an open space a few yards off, in the centre of which lay a large pile of dry sticks. to these he applied the lighted brand, and the next instant a glare of ruddy flame leaped upwards, and sent a shower of sparks high above the forest trees into the sky. he then returned, panting a good deal, but much composed, and said--"now, darlints, come an' help me to gather the bits o' stick; somebody's bin scatterin' them all over the place, they have, bad luck to them! an' then ye'll sit down and talk a bit, an' tell me all about it." "but what's the fire for?" asked ailie. "ay, ye may say that," added glynn; "we don't need such a huge bonfire as that to cook our supper with." "och! be aisy, do. it'll do its work; small doubt o' that. the cap'n, poor man, ye know, is a'most deranged, an' they're every one o' them off at this good minute scourin' the woods lookin' for ye. o, then, it's sore hearts we've had this day! an' wan was sent wan way, an' wan another, an' the cap'n his-self he wint up the river, and, before he goes, he says to me, says he, `briant, you'll stop here and watch the camp, for maybe they'll come wanderin' back to it, av they've bin and lost theirselves; an' mind ye don't lave it or go to slape. an' if they do come, or ye hear any news o' them, jist you light up a great fire, an' i'll be on the look-out, an' we'll all on us come back as fast as we can.' now, that's the truth, an' the whole truth, an' nothin' but the truth, as the judge said to the witness when he swore at him." this was a comforting piece of information to glynn and ailie, so, without further delay, they assisted their overjoyed comrade to collect the scattered embers of the fire and boil the kettle. in this work they were all the more energetic that the pangs of hunger were beginning to remind them of the frugal and scanty nature of their last meal. the bonfire did its work effectually. from all parts of the forest to which they had wandered, the party came, dropping in one by one to congratulate the lost and found pair. last of all came captain dunning and tim rokens, for the harpooner had vowed he would "stick to the cap'n through thick and thin." tim kept his word faithfully. through thick tangled brakes and thin mud-swamps did he follow his wretched commander that night until he could scarcely stand for fatigue, or keep his eyes open for sleep; and when the captain rushed into the camp at last, and clasped his sobbing child to his heart, tim rokens rushed in along with him, halted beside him, thrust his hands into his pockets, and looked on, while his eyes blinked with irresistible drowsiness, and his mud-bespattered visage beamed with excessive joy. chapter thirteen. philosophical remarks on "life"--a monkey shot and a monkey found--jacko described. "such is life!" there is deep meaning in that expression, though it is generally applied in a bantering manner to life in all its phases, under all its peculiar and diversified circumstances. taking a particular view of things in general, we may say of life that it is composed of diverse and miscellaneous materials--the grave and the gay; the sad and the comic; the extraordinary and the commonplace; the flat and the piquant; the heavy and the light; the religious and the profane; the bright and the dark; the shadow and the sunshine. all these, and a great deal more, similar as well as dissimilar, enter into the composition of what we familiarly term life. these elements, too, are not arranged according to order, at least, order that is perceptible to our feeble human understandings. that there does exist both order and harmony is undeniable; but we cannot see it. the elements appear to be miscellaneously intermingled--to be accidentally thrown together; yet, while looking at them in detail there seems to us a good deal of unreasonable and chaotic jumble, in regarding them as a whole, or as a series of wholes, it becomes apparent that there is a certain harmony of arrangement that may be termed kaleidoscopically beautiful; and when, in the course of events, we are called to the contemplation of something grand or lovely, followed rather abruptly by something curiously contemptible or absurd, we are tempted to give utterance to the thoughts that are too complicated and deep for rapid analysis, in the curt expression "such is life." the physician invites his friends to a social _reunion_. he chats and laughs at the passing jest, or takes part in the music--the glee, or the comic song. a servant whispers in his ear. ten minutes elapse, and he is standing by the bed of death. he watches the flickering flame; he endeavours to relieve the agonised frame; he wipes the cold sweat from the pale brow, and moistens the dry lips, or pours words of true, earnest, tender comfort into the ears of the bereaved. the contrast here is very violent and sudden. we have chosen, perhaps, the most striking instance of the kind that is afforded in the experience of men; yet such, in a greater or less degree, is life, in the case of every one born into this wonderful world of ours, and such, undoubtedly, it was intended to be. "there is a time for all things." we were made capable of laughing and crying; therefore, these being sinless indulgences in the abstract, we _ought_ to laugh and cry. and one of our great aims in life should be to get our hearts and affections so trained that we shall laugh and cry at the right time. it may be well to remark, in passing, that we should avoid, if possible, doing both at once. now, such being life, we consider that we shall be doing no violence to the harmonies of life if we suddenly, and without further preface, transport the reader into the middle of next day, and a considerable distance down the river up which we have for some time been travelling. here he (or she) will find ailie and her father, and the whole party in fact, floating calmly and pleasantly down the stream in their canoe. "now, this is wot i do enjoy," said rokens, laying down his paddle and wiping the perspiration from his brow; "it's the pleasantest sort o' thing i've known since i went to sea." to judge from the profuse perspiration that flowed from his brow, and from the excessive redness of his face, one would suppose that rokens' experience of "pleasant sort o' things" had not hitherto been either extensive or deep. but the man meant what he said, and a well-known proverb clears up the mystery--"what's one man's meat is another's poison!" hard work, violent physical exertion, and excessive heat were rokens' delight, and, whatever may be the opinion of flabby-muscled, flat individuals, there can be no reasonable doubt that rokens meant it, when he added, emphatically, "it's fuss-rate; tip-top; a on lloyd's, that's a fact!" phil briant, on hearing this, laid down his paddle, also wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his coat, and exclaimed--"ditto, says i." whereupon glynn laughed, and jim scroggles grunted (this being _his_ method of laughing), and the captain shook his head, and said-- "p'r'aps it is, my lads, a pleasant sort o' thing, but the sooner we're out of it the better. i've no notion of a country where the natives murder poor little boys in cold blood, and carry off your goods and chattels at a moment's notice." the captain looked at ailie as he spoke, thereby implying that she was part of the "goods and chattels" referred to. "shure it's a fact; an' without sayin' by yer lave, too," added briant, who had a happy facility of changing his opinion on the shortest notice to accommodate himself to circumstances. "oh, the monkey!" screamed ailie. now as ailie screamed this just as briant ceased to speak, and, moreover, pointed, or appeared to point, straight into that individual's face, it was natural to suppose that the child was becoming somewhat personal--the more so that briant's visage, when wrinkled up and tanned by the glare of a tropical sun, was not unlike to that of a large baboon. but every one knew that ailie was a gentle, well-behaved creature--except, perhaps, when she was seized with one of her gleeful fits that bordered sometimes upon mischief--so that instead of supposing that she had made a personal attack on the unoffending irishman, the boat's crew instantly directed their eyes close past briant's face and into the recesses of the wood beyond, where they saw a sight that filled them with surprise. a large-leaved tree of the palm species overhung the banks of the river and formed a support to a wild vine and several bright-flowering parasitical plants that drooped in graceful luxuriance from its branches and swept the stream, which at that place was dark, smooth, and deep. on the top of this tree, in among the branches, sat a monkey--at least so ailie called it; but the term ape or baboon would have been more appropriate, for the creature was a very large one, and, if the expression of its countenance indicated in any degree the feelings of its heart, also a very fierce one--an exceedingly ferocious one indeed. this monkey's face was as black as coal, and its two deep-seated eyes were, if possible, blacker than coal. its head was bald, but the rest of its body was plentifully covered with hair. now this monkey was evidently caught--taken by surprise--for instead of trying to escape as the canoe approached, it sat there chattering and exhibiting its teeth to a degree that was quite fiendish, not to say-- under the circumstances--unnecessary. as the canoe dropped slowly down the river, it became obvious that this monkey had a baby, for a very small and delicate creature was seen clinging round the big one's waist with its little hands grasping tightly the long hair on the mother's sides, its arms being much too short to encircle her body. ailie's heart leapt with an emotion of tender delight as she observed that the baby monkey's face was white and sweet-looking; yes, we might even go the length of saying that, for a monkey, it was actually pretty. but it had a subdued, sorrowful look that was really touching to behold. it seemed as though that infantine monkey had, in the course of its brief career, been subjected to every species of affliction, to every imaginable kind of heart-crushing sorrow, and had remained deeply meek and humble under it all. only for one brief instant did a different expression cross its melancholy face. that was when it first caught sight of the canoe. then it exposed its very small teeth and gums after the fashion of its mother; but repentance seemed to follow instantly, for the sad look, mixed with a dash of timidity, resumed its place, and it buried its face in its mother's bosom. at that moment there was a loud report. a bullet whistled through the air and struck the old monkey in the breast. we are glad to say, for the credit of our sailors, that a howl of indignation immediately followed, and more than one fist was raised to smite the trader who had fired the shot. but captain dunning called the men to order in a peremptory voice, while every eye was turned towards the tree to observe the effect of the shot. as for ailie, she sat breathless with horror at the cruelty of the act. the old monkey gave vent to a loud yell, clutched her breast with her hands, sprang wildly into the air, and fell to the ground. her leap was so violent that the young one was shaken off and fell some distance from its poor mother, which groaned once or twice and then died. the baby seemed unhurt. gathering itself nimbly up, it ran away from the men who had now landed, but who stood still, by the captain's orders, to watch its motions. looking round, it observed its mother's form lying on the ground, and at once ran towards it and buried its little face in her breast, at which sight ailie began to cry quietly. in a few seconds the little monkey got up and gently pawed the old one; then, on receiving no sign of recognition, it uttered a faint wail, something like "wee-wee-wee-wee-oo!" and again hid its face in the breast of its dead parent. "ah! the poor cratur," said briant, in a tone of voice that betrayed his emotion. "o, why did ye kill her?" "me ketch 'im?" said bumble, looking inquiringly at the captain. "oh, do!" answered ailie, with a sob. the negro deemed this permission sufficient, for he instantly sprang forward, and throwing a piece of net over the little monkey, secured it. now the way in which that baby monkey struggled and kicked and shrieked, when it found itself a prisoner, was perfectly wonderful to see! it seemed as if the strength of fifty little monkeys had been compressed into its diminutive body, and king bumble had to exert all his strength in order to hold the creature while he carried it into the canoe. once safely there and in the middle of the stream, it was let loose. the first thing it did on being set free was to give a shriek of triumph, for monkeys, like men, when at last _allowed_ to do that which they have long struggled in vain to accomplish, usually take credit for the achievement of their own success. its next impulse was to look round at the faces of the men in search of its mother; but the poor mother was now lying dead covered with a cloth in the bottom of the canoe, so the little monkey turned from one to another with disappointment in its glance and then uttered a low wail of sorrow. glynn proctor affirmed positively that it looked twice at phil briant and even made a motion towards him; but we rather suspect that glynn was jesting. certain it is, however, that it looked long and earnestly at ailie, and there is little doubt that, young though it was, it was able to distinguish something in her tender gaze of affection and pity that proved attractive. it did not, however, accept her invitation to go to her, although given in the most persuasive tones of her silver voice, and when any of the men tried to pat its head, it displayed such a row of sharp little teeth and made such a fierce demonstration of its intention to bite, that they felt constrained to leave it alone. at last ailie held her hand towards it and said-- "won't it come to me, dear, sweet pet? _do_ come; i'll be as kind to you almost as your poor mother." the monkey looked at the child, but said nothing. "come, monkey, dear puggy, _do_ come," repeated ailie, in a still more insinuating voice. the monkey still declined to "come," but it looked very earnestly at the child, and trembled a good deal, and said, "oo-oo-wee; oo-oo-wee!" as ailie did not quite understand this, she said, "poor thing!" and again held out her hand. "try it with a small taste o' mate," suggested briant. "right," said the captain. "hand me the biscuit-bag, glynn. there, now, ailie, try it with that." ailie took the piece of biscuit offered to her by her father, and held it out to the monkey, who advanced with nervous caution, and very slowly, scratching its side the while. putting out its very small hand, it touched the biscuit, then drew back the hand suddenly, and made a variety of sounds, accompanied by several peculiar contortions of visage, all of which seemed to say, "don't hurt me, now; _don't_ deceive me, pray." again it put forth its hand, and took the biscuit, and ate it in a very great hurry indeed; that is to say, it stuffed it into the bags in its cheeks. ailie gave it a bit more biscuit, which it received graciously, and devoured voraciously; whereupon she put forth her hand, and sought to pat the little creature on the head. the attempt was successful. with many slight grins, as though to say, "take care, now, else i'll bite," the small monkey allowed ailie to pat its head and stroke its back. then it permitted her to take hold of its hand, and draw it towards her. in a few minutes it showed evident symptoms of a desire to be patted again, and at length it drew timidly towards the child, and took hold of her hand in both of its delicate pink paws. ailie felt quite tenderly towards the creature, and stroked its head again, whereupon it seemed suddenly to cast aside all fear. it leaped upon her knee, put its slender arms as far round her neck as possible, said "oo-oo-wee!" several times in a very sad tone of voice, and laid its head upon her bosom. this was too much for poor ailie; she thought of the dead mother of this infant monkey, and wept as she stroked its hairy little head and shoulders. from that time forward the monkey adopted ailie as its mother, and ailie adopted the monkey as her child. now the behaviour of that monkey during the remainder of that voyage was wonderful. oh, you know, it was altogether preposterous, to say the very least of it. affection, which displayed itself in a desire to conciliate the favour of every one, was ingrained in its bones; while deception, which was evinced in a constant effort to appear to be intent upon one thing, when it was really bent upon another, was incorporated with its marrow! at first it was at war with every one, excepting, of course, ailie, its adopted mother; but soon it became accustomed to the men, and in the course of a few days would go to any one who called it. phil briant was a particular favourite; so was rokens, with whose black beard it played in evident delight, running its slender fingers through it, disentangling the knots and the matted portions which the owner of the beard had never yet been able to disentangle in a satisfactory way for himself; and otherwise acting the part of a barber and hairdresser to that bold mariner, much to his amusement, and greatly to the delight and admiration of the whole party. to say that that small monkey had a face, would be to assert what was unquestionably true, but what, also, was very far short of the whole truth. no one ever could make up his mind exactly as to how many faces it had. if you looked at it at any particular time, and then shut your eyes and opened them a moment after, that monkey, as far as expression went, had another and a totally different face. repeat the operation, and it had a third face; continue the process, and it had a fourth face; and so on, until you lost count altogether of its multitudinous faces. now it was grave and pensive; anon it was blazing with amazement; again it bristled with indignation; then it glared with anger, and presently it was all serene--blended love and wrinkles. of all these varied expressions, that of commingled surprise and indignation was the most amusing, because these emotions had the effect of not only opening its eyes and its mouth to the form of three excessively round o's, but also raised a small tuft of hair just above its forehead into a bristling position, and threw its brow into an innumerable series of wrinkles. this complex expression was of frequent occurrence, for its feelings were tender and sensitive, so that it lived in the firm belief that its new friends (always excepting ailie) constantly wished to insult it; and was afflicted with a chronic state of surprise at the cruelty, and of indignation at the injustice, of men who could wantonly injure the feelings of so young, and especially so small a monkey. when the men called it, it used to walk up to them with calm, deliberate condescension in its air; when ailie held out her hand, it ran on its two legs, and being eager in its affections, it held out its arms in order to be caught up. as to food, that monkey was not particular. it seemed to be omnivorous. certain it is that it never refused anything, but more than once it was observed quietly to throw away things that it did not relish. once, in an unguarded moment, it accepted and chewed a small piece of tobacco; after which it made a variety of entirely new faces, and became very sick indeed--so sick that its adopted mother began to fear she was about to lose her child; but after vomiting a good deal, and moaning piteously for several days, it gradually recovered, and from that time entertained an unquenchable hatred for tobacco, and for the man who had given it to him, who happened to be jim scroggles. ailie, being of a romantic temperament, named her monkey albertino, but the sailors called him jacko, and their name ultimately became the well-known one of the little foundling, for ailie was not obstinate; so, seeing that the sailors did not or could not remember albertino, she soon gave in, and styled her pet jacko to the end of the chapter, with which piece of information we shall conclude _this_ chapter. chapter fourteen. rencontre with slave-traders--on board again--a start, a misfortune, a ghost story, a mistake, and an invitation to dinner. on the evening of the second day after the capture of jacko, as the canoe was descending the river and drawing near to the sea-coast, much to the delight of everyone--for the heat of the interior had begun to grow unbearable--a ship's boat was observed moored to the wharf near the slave-station which they had passed on the way up. at first it was supposed to be one of the boats of the _red eric_, but on a nearer approach this proved to be an erroneous opinion. "wot can it be a-doin' of here?" inquired tim rokens, in an abstracted tone of voice, as if he put the question to himself, and therefore did not expect an answer. "no doubt it's a slaver's boat," replied the trader; "they often come up here for cargoes of niggers." "och! the blackguards!" exclaimed phil briant, all his blood rising at the mere mention of the horrible traffic; "couldn't we land, capting, and give them a lickin'? i'll engage meself to put six at laste o' the spalpeens on their beam-ends." "no, phil, we shan't land for that purpose; but we'll land for some gunpowder an' a barrel or two of plantains; so give way, lads." in another moment the bow of the canoe slid upon the mud-bank of the river close to the slaver's boat, which was watched by a couple of the most villainous-looking men that ever took part in that disgraceful traffic. they were evidently portuguese sailors, and the scowl of their bronzed faces, when they saw the canoe approach the landing-place, showed that they had no desire to enter into amicable converse with the strangers. at this moment the attention of the travellers was drawn to a gang of slaves who approached the wharf, chained together by the neck, and guarded by the crew of the portuguese boat. ailie looked on with a feeling of dread that induced her to cling to her father's hand, while the men stood with folded arms, compressed lips, and knitted brows. on the voyage up they had landed at this station, and had seen the slaves in their places of confinement. the poor creatures were apparently happy at that time, and seemed totally indifferent to their sad fate; but their aspect was very different now. they were being hurried away, they knew not whither, by strangers whom they had been taught to believe were monsters of cruelty besides being cannibals, and who had purchased them for the purpose of killing them and eating their bodies. the wild, terrified looks of the men, and the subdued looks and trembling gait of the women showed that they expected no mercy at the hands of their captors. they hung back a little as they drew near to the boat, whereupon one of their conductors, who seemed to be in command of the party, uttered a fierce exclamation in portuguese, and struck several of the men and women indiscriminately severe blows with his fists. in a few minutes they were all placed in the boat, and the crew had partly embarked, when phil briant, unable to restrain himself, muttered between his teeth to the portuguese commander as he passed-- "ye imp o' darkness, av i only had ye in the ring for tshwo minits--jist tshwo--ah thin, wouldn't i polish ye off." "fat you say, sare?" cried the man, turning fiercely towards briant, and swearing at him in bad english. "say, is it? oh, then _there's_ a translation for ye, that's understood in all lingos." phil shook his clenched fist as close as possible to the nose of the portuguese commander without actually coming into contact with that hooked and prominent organ. the man started back and drew his knife, at the same time calling to several of his men, who advanced with their drawn knives. "ho!" cried briant, and a jovial smile overspread his rough countenance as he sprang to a clear spot of ground and rolled up both sleeves of his shirt to the shoulders, thereby displaying a pair of arms that might, at a rapid glance, have been mistaken for a pair of legs--"that's yer game, is it? won't i stave in yer planks! won't i shiver yer timbers, and knock out yer daylights, bless yer purty faces! i didn't think ye had it in ye; come on darlints--toothpicks and all--as many as ye like; the more the better--wan at a time, or all at wance, it don't matter, not the laste, be no manes!" while briant gave utterance to these liberal invitations, he performed a species of revolving dance, and flourished his enormous fists in so ludicrous a manner, that despite the serious nature of the fray the two parties were likely to be speedily engaged in, his comrades could not restrain their laughter. "go it, pat!" cried one. "true blue!" shouted another. "silence!" cried captain dunning, in a voice that enforced obedience. "get into the canoe, briant." "och! capting," exclaimed the wrathful irishman, reproachfully, "sure ye wouldn't spile the fun?" "go to the canoe, sir." "ah! capting dear, jist wan round!" "go to the canoe, i say." "i'll do it all in four minits an' wan quarter, av ye'll only shut yer eyes," pleaded phil. "obey orders, will you?" cried the captain, in a voice there was no mistaking. briant indignantly thrust his fists into his breeches pockets, and rolled slowly down towards the canoe, as--to use one of his own favourite expressions--sulky as a bear with a broken head. meanwhile the captain stepped up to the portuguese sailors and told them to mind their own business, and let _honest_ men alone; adding, that if they did not take his advice, he would first give them a licking and then pitch them all into the river. this last remark caused briant to prick up his ears and withdraw his fists from their inglorious retirement, in the fond hope that there might still be work for them to do; but on observing that the portuguese, acting on the principle that discretion is the better part of valour, had taken the advice and were returning to their own boat, he relapsed into the sulks, and seated himself doggedly in his place in the canoe. during all this little scene, which was enacted much more rapidly than it had been described, master jacko, having escaped from the canoe, had been seated near the edge of the wharf, looking on, apparently, with deep interest. just as the portuguese turned away to embark in their boat, ailie's eye alighted on her pet; at the same moment the foot of the portuguese commander alighted on her pet's tail. now the tails of all animals seem to be peculiarly sensitive. jacko's certainly was so, for he instantly uttered a shriek of agony, which was as quickly responded to by its adopted mother in a scream of alarm as she sprang forward to the rescue. when one unintentionally treads on the tail of any animal and thereby evokes a yell, he is apt to start and trip--in nine cases out of ten he does trip. the portuguese commander tripped upon this occasion. in staggering out of the monkey's way he well-nigh tumbled over ailie, and in seeking to avoid her, he tumbled over the edge of the wharf into the river. the difference between the appearance of this redoubtable slave-buying hero before and after his involuntary immersion was so remarkable and great that his most intimate friend would have failed to recognise him. he went down into the slimy liquid an ill-favoured portuguese, clad in white duck; he came up a worse-favoured monstrosity, clothed in mud! even his own rascally comrades grinned at him for a moment, but their grins changed into a scowl of anger when they heard the peals of laughter that burst from the throats of their enemies. as for briant, he absolutely hugged himself with delight. "och! ye've got it, ye have," he exclaimed, at intervals. "happy day! who'd ha' thought it? to see him tumbled in the mud after all by purty little ailie and jacko. come here to me jacko, owld coon. oh, ye swate cratur!" briant seized the monkey, and squeezed it to his breast, and kissed it-- yes, he actually kissed its nose in the height of his glee, and continued to utter incoherent exclamations, and to perpetrate incongruous absurdities, until long after they had descended the river and left the muddy portuguese and his comrades far behind them. towards evening the party were once more safe and sound on board the _red eric_, where they found everything repaired, and the ship in a fit state to proceed to sea immediately. his majesty king bumble was introduced to the steward, then to the cook, and then to the caboose. master jacko was introduced to the ship's crew and to his quarters, which consisted of a small box filled with straw, and was lashed near the foot of the mizzen-mast. these introductions having been made, the men who had accompanied their commander on his late excursion into the interior, went forward and regaled their messmates for hours with anecdotes of their travels in the wilds of africa. it is well-known, and generally acknowledged, that all sublunary things, pleasant as well as unpleasant, must come to an end. in the course of two days more the sojourn of the crew of the _red eric_ on the coast of africa came to a termination. having taken in supplies of fresh provisions, the anchor was weighed, and the ship stood out to sea with the first of the ebb tide. it was near sunset when the sails were hoisted and filled by a gentle land breeze, and the captain had just promised ailie that he would show her blue water again by breakfast-time next morning, when a slight tremor passed through the vessel's hull, causing the captain to shout, with a degree of vigour that startled everyone on board, "all hands ahoy! lower away the boats, mr millons, we're hard and fast aground on a mud-bank!" the boats were lowered away with all speed, and the sails dewed up instantly, but the _red eric_ remained as immovable as the bank on which she had run aground; there was, therefore, no recourse but to wait patiently for the rising tide to float her off again. fortunately the bank was soft and the wind light, else it might have gone ill with the good ship. there is scarcely any conceivable condition so favourable to quiet confidential conversation and story-telling as the one in which the men of the whale-ship now found themselves. the night was calm and dark, but beautiful, for a host of stars sparkled in the sable sky, and twinkled up from the depths of the dark ocean. the land breeze had fallen, and there was scarcely any sound to break the surrounding stillness except the lipping water as it kissed the black hull of the ship. a dim, scarce perceptible light rendered every object on board mysterious and unaccountably large. "wot a night for a ghost story," observed jim scroggles, who stood with a group of the men, who were seated on and around the windlass. "i don't b'lieve in ghosts," said dick barnes stoutly, in a tone of voice that rendered the veracity of his assertion, to say the least of it, doubtful. "nother do i," remarked nikel sling, who had just concluded his culinary operations for the day, and sought to employ his brief interval of relaxation in social intercourse with his fellows. being engaged in ministering to the animal wants of his comrades all day, he felt himself entitled to enjoy a little of the "feast of reason and the flow of soul" at night: "no more duv i," added phil briant firmly, at the same time hitting his thigh a slap with his open hand that caused all round him to start. "you don't, don't you?" said tim rokens, addressing the company generally, and looking round gravely, while he pushed the glowing tobacco into his pipe with the point of a marline-spike. to this there was a chorus of "noes," but a close observer would have noticed that nearly the whole conversation was carried on in low tones, and that many a glance was cast behind, as if these bold sceptics more than half expected all the ghosts that did happen to exist to seize them then and there and carry them off as a punishment for their unbelief. tim rokens drew a few whiffs of his pipe, and looked round gravely before he again spoke; then he put the following momentous question, with the air of a man who knew he could overturn his adversary whatever his reply should be-- "an' why don't ye b'lieve in 'em?" we cannot say positively that tim rokens put the question to jim scroggles, but it is certain that jim scroggles accepted the question as addressed to him, and answered in reply-- "'cause why? i never seed a ghost, an' nobody never seed a ghost, an' i don't b'lieve in what i can't see." jim said this as if he thought the position incontestable. tim regarded him with a prolonged stare, but for some time said nothing. at last he emitted several strong puffs of smoke, and said-- "young man, did you ever _see_ your own mind?" "no, in course not." "did anybody else ever see it?" "cer'nly not." "then of course you don't believe in it!" added rokens, while a slight smile curled his upper lip. the men chuckled a good deal at jim's confusion, while he in vain attempted to explain that the two ideas were not parallel by any means. at this juncture, phil briant came to the rescue. "ah now, git out," said he. "i agree with jim intirely; an' tim rokens isn't quite so cliver as he thinks. now look here, lads, here's how it stands, 'xactly. jim says he never seed his own mind--very good; and he says as how nobody else niver seed it nother; well, and wot then? don't you observe it's 'cause he han't got none at all to see? he han't got even the ghost of one, so how could ye expect anybody to see it?" "oh, hold yer noise, paddy," exclaimed dick barnes, "an' let's have a ghost story from tim rokens. he b'lieves in ghosts, anyhow, an' could give us a yarn about 'em, i knows, if he likes. come along now, tim, like a good fellow." "ay, that's it," cried briant; "give us a stiff 'un now. don't be afeard to skear us, old boy." "oh, i can give ye a yarn about ghosts, cer'nly," said tim rokens, looking into the bowl of his pipe in order to make sure that it was sufficiently charged to last out the story. "i'll tell ye of a ghost i once seed and knocked down." "knocked down!" cried nikel sling in surprise; "why, i allers thought as how ghosts was spirits, an' couldn't be knocked down or cotched neither." "not at all," replied rokens; "ghosts is made of all sorts o' things-- brass, and iron, and linen, and buntin', and timber; it wos a brass ghost the feller that i'm goin' to tell ye about--" "i say, sling," interrupted briant, "av ghosts wos spirits, as you thought they wos, would they be allowed into the state of maine?" "oh, phil, shut up, do! now then, tim, fire away." "well, then," began rokens, with great deliberation, "it was on a vednesday night as it happened. i had bin out at supper with a friend that night, and we'd had a glass or two o' grog; for ye see, lads, it was some years ago, afore i tuk to temp'rance. i had a long way to go over a great dark moor afore i could git to the place where i lodged, so i clapped on all sail to git over the moor, seein' the moon would go down soon; but it wouldn't do: the moon set when i wos in the very middle of the moor, and as the road wasn't over good, i wos in a state o' confumble lest i should lose it altogether. i looks round in all directions, but i couldn't see nothin'--cause why? there wasn't nothin' to be seen. it was 'orrid dark, i can tell ye. jist one or two stars a-shinin', like half-a-dozen farden dips in a great church; they only made darkness wisible. i began to feel all over a cur'ous sort o' peculiar unaccountableness, which it ain't easy to explain, but is most oncommon disagreeable to feel. it wos very still, too--desperate still. the beatin' o' my own heart sounded quite loud, and i heer'd the tickin' o' my watch goin' like the click of a church clock. oh, it was awful!" at this point in the story the men crept closer together, and listened with intense earnestness. "suddently," continued rokens--"for things in sich circumstances always comes suddently--suddently i seed somethin' black jump up right ahead o' me." here rokens paused. "wot was it?" inquired gurney, in a solemn whisper. "it was," resumed rokens slowly, "the stump of a old tree." "oh, i thought it had been the ghost," said gurney, somewhat relieved, for that fat little jack-tar fully believed in apparitions, and always listened to a ghost story in fear and trembling. "no it wasn't the ghost; it was the stump of a tree. well, i set sail again, an' presently i sees a great white thing risin' up ahead o' me." "hah! _that_ was it," whispered gurney. "no, that wasn't it," retorted rokens; "that was a hinn, a white-painted hinn, as stood by the roadside, and right glad wos i to see it, i can tell ye, shipmates, for i wos gittin' tired as well as frightened. i soon roused the landlord by kickin' at the door till it nearly comed off its hinges; and arter gettin' another glass o' grog, i axed the landlord to show me my bunk, as i wanted to turn in. "it was a queer old house that hinn wos. a great ramblin' place, with no end o' staircases and passages. a dreadful gloomy sort o' place. no one lived in it except the landlord, a dark-faced surly fellow as one would like to kick out of his own door, and his wife, who wos little better than his-self. they also had a hostler, but he slept with the cattle in a hout-house. "`ye won't be fear'd,' says the landlord, as he hove ahead through the long passages holdin' the candle high above his head to show the way, `to sleep in the far end o' the house. it's the old bit; the new bit's undergoin' repairs. you'll find it comfortable enough, though it's raither gusty, bein' old, ye see; but the weather ain't cold, so ye won't mind it.' "`oh! niver a bit,' says i, quite bold like; `i don't care a rap for nothin'. there ain't no ghosts, is there?' "`well, i'm not sure; many travellers wot has stayed here has said to me they've seed 'em, particklerly in the old part o' the buildin', but they seems to be quite harmless, and never hurts any one as lets 'em alone. i never seed 'em myself, an' there's cer'nly not more nor half-a-dozen on 'em--hallo!--' "at that moment, shipmates, a strong gust o' cold air came rushin' down the passage we was in, and blow'd out the candle. `ah! it's gone out,' said the landlord; `just wait here a moment, and i'll light it;' and with that he shuffled off, and left me in the blackest and most thickest darkness i ever wos in in all my life. i didn't dare to move, for i didn't know the channels, d'ye see, and might ha' run myself aground or against the rocks in no time. the wind came moanin' down the passage; as if all the six ghosts the landlord mentioned, and a dozen or two o' their friends besides, was a-dyin' of stommick-complaint. i'm not easy frightened, lads, but my knees did feel as if the bones in 'em had turned to water, and my hair began to git up on end, for i felt it risin'. suddenly i saw somethin' comin' along the passage towards me--" "that's the ghost, _now_," interrupted gurney, in a tremulous whisper. rokens paused, and regarded his fat shipmate with a look of contemptuous pity; then turning to the others, he said-- "it wos _the landlord_, a-comin' back with the candle. he begged pardon for leavin' me in the dark so long, and led the way to a room at the far end o' the passage. it was a big, old-fashioned room, with a treemendius high ceiling, and no furniture, 'cept one chair, one small table, and a low camp-bed in a corner. `here's your room,' says the landlord; `it's well-aired. i may as well mention that the latch of the door ain't just the thing. it sometimes blows open with a bang, but when you know it may happen, you can be on the look-out for it, you know, and so you'll not be taken by surprise. good-night.' with that the fellow set the candle down on the small table at the bedside, and left me to my cogitations. i heerd his footsteps echoin' as he went clankin' along the passages; then they died away, an' i was alone. "now, i tell ye wot it is, shipmates; i've bin in miny a fix, but i niver wos in sich a fix as that. the room was empty and big; so big that the candle could only light up about a quarter of it, leavin' the rest in gloom. there was one or two old picturs on the walls; one on 'em a portrait of a old admiral, with a blue coat and brass buttons and white veskit. it hung just opposite the fut o' my bunk, an' i could hardly make it out, but i saw that the admiral kep his eye on me wheriver i turned or moved about the room, an' twice or thrice, if not more, i saw him wink with his weather eye. yes, he winked as plain as i do myself. says i to myself, says i, `tim rokens, you're a british tar, an' a whaler, an' a harpooner; so, tim, my boy, don't you go for to be a babby.' "with that i smoked a pipe, and took off my clo's, and tumbled in, and feeling a little bolder by this time, i blew out the candle. in gittin' into bed i knocked over the snuffers, w'ich fell with an awful clatter, and my heart lep' into my mouth as i lep' under the blankets, and kivered up my head. howsever, i was uncommon tired, so before my head was well on the pillow, i went off to sleep. "how long i slep' i can't go for to say, but w'en i wakened it wos pitch-dark. i could only just make out the winder by the pale starlight that shone through it, but the moment i set my two eyes on it, wot does i see? i seed a sight that made the hair on my head stand on end, and my flesh creep up like a muffin. it was a--" "a ghost!" whispered gurney, while his eyes almost started out of his head. before tim rokens could reply, something fell with a heavy flop from the yard over their heads right in among the men, and vanished with a shriek. it was jacko, who, in his nocturnal rambles in the rigging, had been shaken off the yard on which he was perched, by a sudden lurch of the vessel as the tide began to move her about. at any time such an event would have been startling, but at such a time as this it was horrifying. the men recoiled with sharp cries of terror, and then burst into laughter as they observed what it was that had fallen amongst them. but the laughter was subdued, and by no means hearty. "i'll be the death o' that brute yet," said gurney, wiping the perspiration from his forehead; "but go on, rokens; what was it you saw?" "it _was_ the ghost," replied rokens, as the men gathered round him again--"a long, thin ghost, standin' at my bedside. the light was so dim that i couldn't well make it out, but i saw that it was white, or pale-like, and that it had on a pointed cap, like the cap o' an old witch. i thought i should ha' died outright, and i lay for full five minits tremblin' like a leaf and starin' full in its face. at last i started up in despair, not knowin' well wot to do; and the moment i did so the ghost disappeared. "i thought this was very odd, but you may be sure i didn't find fault with it; so after lookin' all round very careful to make quite sure that it was gone, i lay down again on my back. well, would ye b'lieve it, shipmates, at that same moment up starts the ghost again as bold as iver? and up starts i in a fright; but the moment i was up the ghost was gone. `now, tim rokens,' says i to myself, always keepin' my eye on the spot where i'd last seed the ghost, `this _is_ queer; this is quite remarkable. you're dreamin', my lad, an' the sooner ye put a stop to that 'ere sort o' dreamin' the better.' "havin' said this, i tried to feel reckless, and lay down again, and up started the ghost again with its long thin white body, an' the pointed cap on its head. i noticed, too, that it wore its cap a little on one side quite jaunty like. so, wheniver i sot up that 'ere ghost disappeared, and wheniver i lay down it bolted up again close beside me. at last i lost my temper, and i shouts out quite loud, `shiver my timbers,' says i, `ghost or no ghost, i'll knock in your daylights if ye carry on like that any longer;' and with that i up fist and let drive straight out at the spot where its bread-basket should ha' bin. down it went, that ghost did, with a clatter that made the old room echo like an empty church. i guv it a rap, i did, sich as it hadn't had since it was born--if ghosts be born at all--an' my knuckles paid for it, too, for they was skinned all up; then i lay down tremblin', and then, i dun know how it was, i went to sleep. "next mornin' i got up to look for the ghost, and, sure enough, i found his _remains_! his pale body lay in a far corner o' the room doubled up and smashed to bits, and his pointed cap lay in another corner almost flat. that ghost," concluded rokens, with slow emphasis--"that ghost was the _candle_, it wos!" "the candle!" exclaimed several of the men in surprise. "yes, the candle, and brass candlestick with the stinguisher a-top o't. ye see, lads, the candle stood close to the side o' my bed on the table, an' when i woke up and i saw it there, it seemed to me like a big thing in the middle o' the room, instead o' a little thing close to my nose; an' when i sot up in my bed, of coorse i looked right over the top of it and saw nothin'; an' when i lay down, of coorse it rose up in the very same place. an', let me tell you, shipmates," added tim, in conclusion, with the air of a philosopher, "_all_ ghosts is o' the same sort. they're most of 'em made o' wood or brass, or some sich stuff, as i've good cause to remimber, for i had to pay the price o' that 'ere ghost before i left that there hinn on the lonesome moor, and for the washin' of the blankets, too, as wos all kivered with blood nixt mornin' from my smashed knuckles. there's a morial contained in most things, lads, if ye only try for to find it out; an' the morial of my story is this-- don't ye go for to b'lieve that everything ye don't 'xactly understand is a ghost until ye've got to know more about it." while tim rokens was thus recounting his ghostly experiences, and moralising thereon, for the benefit of his comrades, the silent tide was stealthily creeping up the sides of the _red eric_, and placing her gradually on an even keel. at the same time a british man-of-war was creeping down upon that innocent vessel with the murderous intention of blowing her out of the water, if possible. in order to explain this latter fact, we must remind the reader of the boat and crew of the portuguese slaver which was encountered by the party of excursionists on their trip down the river. the vessel to which that boat belonged had been for several weeks previous creeping about off the coast, watching her opportunity to ship a cargo of slaves, and at the same time to avoid falling into the hands of a british cruiser which was stationed on the african coast to prevent the villainous traffic. the portuguese ship, which was very similar in size and shape to the _red eric_, had hitherto managed to elude the cruiser, and had succeeded in taking a number of slaves on board ere she was discovered. the cruiser gave chase to her on the same afternoon as that on which the _red eric_ grounded on the mud-bank off the mouth of the river. darkness, however, favoured the slaver, and when the land breeze failed, she was lost sight of in the intricacies of the navigation at that part of the coast. towards morning, while it was yet dark, the _red eric_ floated, and captain dunning, who had paced the deck all night with a somewhat impatient tread, called to the mate--"now, mr millons, man the boats, and let some of the hands stand-by to trim the sails to the first puff of wind." "ay, ay, sir," answered the mate, as he sprang to obey. now it is a curious fact, that at that identical moment the captain of the cruiser addressed his first lieutenant in precisely the same words, for he had caught a glimpse of the whaler's topmasts against the dark sky, and mistook them, very naturally, for those of the slaver. in a few seconds the man-of-war was in full pursuit. "i say, dr hopley," remarked captain dunning, as he gazed intently into the gloom astern, "did you not hear voices? and, as i live, there's a large ship bearing right down on us!" "it must be a slaver," replied the doctor; "probably the one that owned the boat we saw up the river." "ship on the larboard bow!" shouted the look-out on the forecastle. "hallo! ships ahead and astern!" remarked the captain, in surprise. "there seems to be a `school' of 'em in these waters." at this moment the oars of the boats belonging to the ship astern were heard distinctly, and a light puff of wind at the same time bulged out the sails of the _red eric_, which instantly forged ahead. "ship ahoy!" shouted a voice from the boats astern in a tone of authority; "heave-to, you rascal, or i'll sink you!" captain dunning turned to the doctor with a look of intense surprise. "why, doctor, that's the usual hail of a pirate, or something like it. what it can be doing here is past my comprehension. i would as soon expect to find a whale in a wash-tub as a black flag in these waters! port, port a little" (turning to the steersman)--"steady--so. we must run for it, anyhow, for we're in no fightin' trim. the best answer to give to such a hail is silence." contrary to expectation the boats did not again hail, but in a few minutes the dark hull of the british cruiser became indistinctly visible as it slipped swiftly through the water before the freshening breeze, and neared the comparatively slow-going whaler rapidly. soon it came within easy range, and while captain dunning looked over the taffrail with a troubled countenance, trying to make her out, the same voice came hoarsely down on the night breeze issuing the same peremptory command. "turn up the hands, mr millons, and serve out pistols and cutlasses. get the carronades on the forecastle and quarterdeck loaded, mr markham, and look alive; we must show the enemy a bold front, whoever he is." as the captain issued these orders, the darkness was for an instant illuminated by a bright flash; the roar of a cannon reverberated over the sea; a round-shot whistled through the rigging of the _red eric_, and the next instant the foretopsail-yard came rattling down upon the deck. immediately after, the cruiser ranged up alongside, and the order to heave-to was repeated with a threat that was calculated to cause the hair of a man of peace to stand on end. the effect on captain dunning was to induce him to give the order-- "point the guns there, lads, and aim high; i don't like to draw first blood--even of a pirate." "ship ahoy! who are you, and where from?" inquired captain dunning, through the speaking-trumpet. "her british majesty's frigate _firebrand_. if you don't heave-to, sir, instantly, i'll give you a broadside. who are you, and where bound?" "whew!" whistled captain dunning, to vent his feelings of surprise ere he replied, "the _red eric_, south sea whaler, outward bound." having given this piece of information, he ordered the topsails to be backed, and the ship was hove-to. meanwhile a boat was lowered from the cruiser, and the captain thereof speedily leaped upon the whaler's quarterdeck. the explanation that followed was not by any means calculated to allay the irritation of the british captain. he had made quite sure that the _red eric_ was the slaver of which he was in search, and the discovery of his mistake induced him to make several rather severe remarks in reference to the crew of the _red eric_ generally and her commander in particular. "why didn't you heave-to when i ordered you," he said, "and so save all this trouble and worry?" "because," replied captain dunning drily, "i'm not in the habit of obeying orders until i know that he who gives 'em has a right to do so. but 'tis a pity to waste time talking about such trifles when the craft you are in search of is not very far away at this moment." "what mean you, sir?" inquired the captain of the cruiser quickly. "i mean that yonder vessel, scarcely visible now on the lee bow, is the slaver, in all likelihood." the captain gave but one hasty glance in the direction pointed to by captain dunning, and next moment he was over the side of the ship, and the boat was flying swiftly towards his vessel. the rapid orders given on board the cruiser soon after, showed that her commander was eagerly in pursuit of the strange vessel ahead, and the flash and report of a couple of guns proved that he was again giving orders in his somewhat peremptory style. when daylight appeared, captain dunning was still on deck, and glynn proctor stood by the wheel. the post of the latter, however, was a sinecure, as the wind had again fallen. when the sun rose it revealed the three vessels lying becalmed within a short distance of each other and several miles off shore. "so, so," exclaimed the captain, taking the glass and examining the other vessels. "i see it's all up with the slaver. serves him right; don't it, glynn?" "it does," replied glynn emphatically. "i hope they will all be hanged. isn't that the usual way of serving these fellows out?" "well, not exactly, lad. they don't go quite that length--more's the pity; if they did, there would be less slave-trading; but the rascals will lose both ship and cargo." "i wonder," said glynn, "how they can afford to carry on the trade when they lose so many ships as i am told they do every year." "you wouldn't wonder, boy, if you knew the enormous prices got for slaves. why, the profits on one cargo, safely delivered, will more than cover the loss of several vessels and cargoes. you may depend on't they would not carry it on if it did not pay." "humph!" ejaculated glynn, giving the wheel a savage turn, as if to express his thorough disapprobation of the slave-trade, and his extreme disgust at not being able, by the strength of his own right arm, at once to repress it. "and who's to pay for our foretopsail-yard?" he inquired, abruptly, as if desirous of changing the subject. "ourselves, i fear," replied the captain. "we must take it philosophically, and comfort ourselves with the fact that it _is_ the foretopsail-yard, and not the bowsprit or the mainmast, that was carried away. it's not likely the captain of the cruiser will pay for it, at any rate." captain dunning was wrong. that same morning he received a polite note from the commander of the said cruiser, requesting the pleasure of his company to dinner, in the event of the calm continuing, and assuring him that the carpenter and the sail-maker of the man-of-war should be sent on board his ship after breakfast to repair damages. captain dunning, therefore, like an honest, straightforward man as he was, admitted that he had been hasty in his judgment, and stated to glynn proctor, emphatically, that the commander of the _firebrand_ was "a trump." chapter fifteen. new scenes--a fight prevented by a whale--a storm--blown off the yardarm--wreck of the "red eric". five weeks passed away, and really, when one comes to consider the matter, it is surprising what a variety of events may be compressed into five weeks; what an amount of space may be passed over, what an immense change of scene and circumstance may be experienced in that comparatively short period of time. men and women who remain quietly at home do not, perhaps, fully realise this fact. five weeks to them does not usually seem either very long or very short. but let those quiet ones travel; let them rush away headlong, by the aid of wind and steam, to the distant and wonderful parts of this wonderful world of ours, and, ten to one, they will afterwards tell you that the most wonderful discovery they had made during their travels, is the fact that a miniature lifetime (apparently) can be compressed into five weeks. five weeks passed away, and in the course of that time the foretopsail-yard of the _red eric_ had been repaired; the _red eric_ herself had passed from equatorial into southern seas; alice dunning had become very sea-sick, which caused her to look uncommonly green in the face, and had got well again, which caused her to become fresh and rosy as the early morning; jacko had thoroughly established his reputation as the most arrant and accomplished thief that ever went to sea: king bumble had been maligned and abused again and again, and over again, despite his protestations of innocence, by grim-faced tarquin, the steward, for having done the deeds which were afterwards discovered to have been committed by jacko; fat little gurney had sung innumerable songs of his own composing, in which he was ably supported by glynn proctor; dr hopley had examined, phrenologically, all the heads on board, with the exception of that of tarquin, who would not submit to the operation on any account, and had shot, and skinned, and stuffed a variety of curious sea-birds, and caught a number of remarkable sea-fish, and had microscopically examined--to the immense interest of ailie, and consequently of the captain--a great many surprising animalcules, called _medusae_, which possessed the most watery and the thinnest possible bodies, yet which had the power of emitting a beautiful phosphoric light at night, so as to cause the whole ocean sometimes to glow as if with liquid fire; phil briant had cracked more jokes, good, bad, and indifferent, than would serve to fill a whole volume of closely-printed pages, and had told more stories than would be believed by most people; tim rokens and the other harpooners had, with the assistance of the various boats' crews, slain and captured several large whales, and nikel sling had prepared, and assisted to consume, as many breakfasts, dinners, and suppers as there are days in the period of time above referred to;--in short, those five weeks, which we thus dismiss in five minutes, might, if enlarged upon, be expanded into material to fill five volumes such as this, which would probably take about five years to write--another reason for cutting this matter short. all this shows how much may be compressed into little space, how much may be done and seen in little time, and, therefore, how much value men ought to attach to little things. five weeks passed away, as we have already remarked, and at the end of that time the _red eric_ found herself, one beautiful sunny afternoon, becalmed on the breast of the wide ocean with a strange vessel, also a whaler, a few miles distant from her, and a couple of sperm-whales sporting playfully about midway between the two ships. jim scroggles on that particular afternoon found himself in the crow's-nest at the masthead, roaring "thar she blows!" with a degree of energy so appalling that one was almost tempted to believe that that long-legged individual had made up his mind to compress his life into one grand but brief minute, and totally exhaust his powers of soul and body in the reiterated vociferation of that one faculty of the sperm-whale. allowance must be made for jim, seeing that this was the first time he had been fortunate enough to "raise the oil" since he became a whaler. the usual scene of bustle and excitement immediately ensued. the men sprang to their appointed places in a moment; the tubs, harpoons, etcetera, were got ready, and in a few minutes the three boats were leaping over the smooth swell towards the fish. while this was taking place on board the _red eric_, a precisely similar scene occurred on board the other whale-ship, and a race now ensued between the boats of the two ships, for each knew well that the first boat that harpooned either of the whales claimed it. "give way, my lads," whispered captain dunning eagerly, as he watched the other boats; "we shall be first--we shall be first; only bend your backs." the men needed not to be urged; they were quite as anxious as their commander to win the races and bent their backs, as he expressed it, until the oars seemed about to break. glynn sat on the after thwart, and did good service on this occasion. it soon became evident that the affair would be decided by the boats of the two captains, both of which took the lead of the others, but as they were advancing in opposite directions it was difficult to tell which was the fleeter of the two. when the excitement of the race was at its height the whales went down, and the men lay on their oars to wait until they should rise again. they lay in anxious suspense for about a minute, when the crew of captain dunning's boat was startled by the sudden apparition of a waterspout close to them, by which they were completely drenched. it was immediately followed by the appearance of the huge blunt head of one of the whales, which rose like an enormous rock out of the sea close to the starboard-quarter. the sight was received with a loud shout, and tim rokens leaped up and grasped a harpoon, but the whale sheered off. a spare harpoon lay on the stern-sheets close to glynn, who dropped his oar and seized it. almost without knowing what he was about, he hurled it with tremendous force at the monster's neck, into which it penetrated deeply. the harpoon fortunately happened to be attached to a large buoy, called by whalers a drogue, which was jerked out of the boat like a cannon-shot as the whale went down, carrying harpoon and drogue along with it. "well done, lad," cried the captain, in great delight, "you've made a noble beginning! now, lads, pull gently ahead, she won't go far with such an ornament as that dangling at her neck. a capital dart! couldn't have done it half so well myself, even in my young days!" glynn felt somewhat elated at this unexpected piece of success; to do him justice, however, he took it modestly. in a few minutes the whale rose, but it had changed its course while under water, and now appeared close to the leading boat of the other ship. by the laws of the whale-fishery, no boat of one vessel has a right to touch a whale that has been struck by the boat of another vessel, so long as the harpoon holds fast and the rope remains unbroken, or so long as the float to which the harpoon is connected remains attached. nevertheless, in defiance of this well-known law, the boat belonging to the captain of the strange ship gave chase, and succeeded in making fast to the whale. to describe the indignation of captain dunning and his men on witnessing this act is impossible. the former roared rather than shouted, "give way, lads!" and the latter bent their backs as if they meant to pull the boat bodily out of the water, and up into the atmosphere. meanwhile all the other boats were in hot pursuit of the second whale, which had led them a considerable distance away from the first. "what do you mean by striking that fish?" shouted captain dunning, when, after a hard pull, he came up with the boat, the crew of which had just succeeded in thrusting a lance deep into a mortal part of the huge animal, which soon after rolled over, and lay extended on the waves. "what right have you to ask?" replied the captain of the strange ship, an ill-favoured, powerful man, whose countenance was sufficient to condemn him in any society, save that of ruffians. "don't you see your drogue has broke loose?" "i see nothing of the sort. it's fast at this moment; so you'll be good enough to cut loose and take yourself off as fast as you please." to this the other made no reply, but, turning to his men, said: "make fast there, lads; signal the other boats, and pull away for the ship; look sharp, you lubbers." "och! captain dear," muttered phil briant, baring both arms up to the shoulders, "only give the word; _do_, now!" captain dunning, who was already boiling with rage, needed no encouragement to make an immediate attack on the stranger, neither did his men require an order; they plunged their oars into the water, ran right into the other boat, sprang to their feet, seized lances, harpoons, and knives, and in another moment would have been engaged in a deadly struggle had not an unforeseen event occurred to prevent the fray. this was the partial recovery of the whale, which, apparently resolved to make one final struggle for life, turned over and over, lashed the sea into foam, and churned it up with the blood which spouted in thick streams from its numerous wounds. both boats were in imminent danger, and the men sprang to their oars in order to pull out of the range of the monster's dying struggles. in this effort the strange boat was successful, but that of captain dunning fared ill. a heavy blow from the whale's tail broke it in two, and hurled it into the air, whence the crew descended, amid a mass of harpoons, lances, oars, and cordage, into the blood-stained water. the fish sheered away for some distance, dragging the other boat along with it, and then rolled over quite dead. fortunately not one of the crew of the capsized boat was hurt. all of them succeeded in reaching and clinging to the shattered hull of their boat; but there they were destined to remain a considerable time, as the boat of the stranger, having secured the dead fish, proceeded leisurely to tow it towards their ship, without paying the slightest attention to the shouts of their late enemies. a change had now come over the face of the sky. clouds began to gather on the horizon, and a few light puffs of air swept over the sea, which enabled the strange vessel to bear down on her boat, and take the whale in tow. it also enabled the _red eric_ to beat up, but more slowly, towards the spot where their disabled boat lay, and rescue their comrades from their awkward position. it was some time before the boats were all gathered together. when this was accomplished the night had set in and the stranger had made off with her ill-gotten prize, the other whale having sounded, and the chase being abandoned. "now, of all the disgustin' things that ever happened to me, this is the worst," remarked captain dunning, in a very sulky tone of voice, as he descended to the cabin to change his garments, ailie having preceded him in order to lay out dry clothes. "oh! my darling papa, what a fright i got," she exclaimed, running up and hugging him, wet as he was, for the seventh time, despite his efforts to keep her off. "i was looking through the spy-glass at the time it happened, and when i saw you all thrown into the air i cried-- oh! i can't tell you how i cried." "you don't need to tell me, ailie, my pet, for your red, swelled-up eyes speak for themselves. but go, you puss, and change your own frock. you've made it as wet as my coat, nearly; besides, i can't undress, you know, while you stand there." ailie said, "i'm so very, very thankful," and then giving her father one concluding hug, which completely saturated the frock, went to her own cabin. meanwhile the crew of the captain's boat were busy in the forecastle stripping off their wet garments, and relating their adventures to the men of the other boats, who, until they reached the ship, had been utterly ignorant of what had passed. it is curious that tim rokens should open the conversation with much the same sentiment, if not exactly the same phrase, as that expressed by the captain. "now boys," said he, slapping his wet limbs, "i'll tell ye wot it is, of all the aggrawations as has happened to me in my life, this is out o' sight the wust. to think o' losin' that there whale, the very biggest i ever saw--" "ah! rokens, man," interrupted glynn, as he pulled off his jacket, "the loss is greater to me than to you, for that was my _first_ whale!" "true, boy," replied the harpooner, in a tone of evidently genuine sympathy; "i feel for ye. i knows how i should ha' taken on if it had happened to me. but cheer up, lad; you know the old proverb, `there's as good fish in the sea as ever came out o't.' you'll be the death o' many sich yet, i'll bet my best iron." "sure, the wust of it all is, that we don't know who was the big thief as got that fish away with him," said phil briant, with a rueful countenance. "don't we, though!" cried gurney, who had been in the mate's boat; "i axed one o' the men o' the stranger's boats--for we run up close alongside durin' the chase--and he told me as how she was the _termagant_ of new york; so we can be down on 'em yet, if we live long enough." "humph!" observed rokens; "and d'ye suppose he'd give ye the right name?" "he'd no reason to do otherwise. he didn't know of the dispute between the other boats." "there's truth in that," remarked glynn, as he prepared to go on deck; "but it may be a year or more before we foregather. no, i give up all claim to my first fish from this date." "all hands ahoy!" shouted the mate; "tumble up there! reef topsails! look alive!" the men ran hastily on deck, completing their buttoning and belting as they went, and found that something very like a storm was brewing. as yet the breeze was moderate, and the sea not very high, but the night was pitchy dark, and a hot oppressive atmosphere boded no improvement in the weather. "lay out there, some of you, and close reef the topsails," cried the mate, as the men ran to their several posts. the ship was running at the time under a comparatively small amount of canvas; for, as their object was merely to cruise about in those seas in search of whales, and they had no particular course to steer, it was usual to run at night under easy sail, and sometimes to lay-to. it was fortunate that such was the case on the present occasion; for it happened that the storm which was about to burst on them came with appalling suddenness and fury. the wind tore up the sea as if it had been a mass of white feathers, and scattered it high in air. the mizzen-topsail was blown to ribbons, and it seemed as if the other sails were about to share the same fate. the ship flew from billow to billow, after recovering from the first rude shock, as if she were but a dark cloud on the sea, and the spray flew high over her masts, drenching the men on the topsail-yards while they laboured to reef the sails. "we shall have to take down these t'gallant-masts, mr millons," said the captain, as he stood by the weather-bulwarks holding on to a belaying-pin to prevent his being washed away. "shall i give the order, sir?" inquired the first mate. "you may," replied the captain. just as the mate turned to obey, a shriek was heard high above the whistling of the fierce wind. "did you hear that?" said the captain anxiously. "i did," replied the mate. "i fear--i trust--" the remainder of the sentence was either suppressed, or the howling of the wind prevented its being heard. just then a flash of lightning lit up the scene, and a terrific crash of thunder seemed to rend the sky. the flash was momentary, but it served to reveal the men on the yards distinctly. they had succeeded in close-reefing the topsails, and were hurrying down the rigging. the mate came close to the captain's side and said, "did you see, sir, the way them men on the mainyard were scramblin' down?" the captain had not time to reply ere a shout, "man overboard!" was heard faintly in the midst of the storm, and in another instant some of the men rushed aft with frantic haste, shouting that one of their number had been blown off the yard into the sea. "down your helm," roared the captain; "stand-by to lower away the boats." the usual prompt "ay, ay, sir," was given, but before the men could reach their places a heavy sea struck the vessel amidships, poured several tons of water on the decks, and washed all the loose gear overboard. "let her away," cried the captain quickly. the steersman obeyed; the ship fell off, and again bounded on her mad course like a wild horse set free. "it's of no use, sir," said the mate, as the captain leaped towards the wheel, which the other had already gained; "no boat could live in that sea for a moment. the poor fellow's gone by this time. he must be more than half-a-mile astern already." "i know it," returned the captain, in a deep sad voice. "get these masts down, mr millons, and see that everything is made fast. who is it, did you say?" "the men can't tell, sir; one of 'em told me 'e thinks it was young boswell. it was too dark to see 'is face, but 'is figure was that of a stout young fellow." "a stout young fellow," muttered the captain, as the mate hurried forward. "can it have been glynn?" his heart sank within him at the thought, and he would have given worlds at that moment, had he possessed them, to have heard the voice of our hero, whom, almost unwittingly, he had begun to love with all the affection of a father. while he stood gazing up at the rigging, attempting to pierce the thick darkness, he felt his sleeve plucked, and, looking down, observed ailie at his side. "my child," he cried, grasping her by the arm convulsively, "_you_ here! how came you to leave your cabin, dear? go down, go down; you don't know the danger you run. stay--i will help you. if one of those seas comes on board it would carry you overboard like a fleck of foam." "i didn't know there was much danger, papa. glynn told me there wasn't," she replied, as her father sprang with her to the companion-ladder. "how? when? where, child? did glynn speak to you within the last ten minutes?" "yes; he looked down the hatch just as i was coming up, and told me not to be afraid, and said i must go below, and not think of coming on deck; but i heard a shriek, papa, and feared something had happened, so i came to ask what it was. i hope no one is hurt." "my darling ailie," replied the captain, in an agitated voice, "go down to your berth, and pray for us just now. there is not _much_ danger; but in all times of danger, whether great or slight, we should pray to our father in heaven, for we never know what a day or an hour may bring forth. i will speak to you about everything to-morrow; to-night i must be on deck." he kissed her forehead, pushed her gently into the cabin, shut the door, and, coming on deck, fastened the companion-hatch firmly down. in a short time the ship was prepared to face the worst. the topsails were close-reefed; the topgallant-masts sent down on deck; the spanker and jib were furled, and, soon after, the mainsail and foresail were also furled. the boats were taken in and secured on deck, and the ship went a little more easily through the raging sea; but as the violence of the gale increased, sail had to be further reduced, and at last everything was taken in except the main spencer and foretopmast-staysail. "i wouldn't mind this much," said the captain, as he and the first mate stood close to the binnacle, "if i only knew our exact position. but we've not had an observation for several days, and i don't feel sure of our whereabouts. there are some nasty coral reefs in these seas. did you find out who the poor fellow is yet?" "it's young boswell, i fear, mr markham is mustering the men just now, sir." as he spoke, the second mate came aft and confirmed their fears. the man who had thus been summoned in a moment, without warning, into the presence of his maker, had been a quiet, modest youth, and a favourite with every one on board. at any other time his death would have been deeply felt; but in the midst of that terrible storm the men had no time to think. indeed, they could not realise the fact that their shipmate was really gone. "mr markham," said the captain, as the second mate turned away, "send a hand in to the chains to heave the lead. i don't feel at all easy in my mind, so near these shoals as we must be just now." while the order was being obeyed the storm became fiercer and more furious. bright gleams of lightning flashed repeatedly across the sky, lighting up the scene as if with brightest moonlight, and revealing the horrid turmoil of the raging sea in which the ship now laboured heavily. the rapidity with which the thunder followed the lightning showed how near to them was the dangerous and subtle fluid; and the crashing, bursting reports that shook the ship from stem to stern gave the impression that mountains were being dashed to atoms against each other in the air. all the sails still exposed to the fury of the gale were blown to shreds; the foretopmast and the jib-boom were carried away along with them and the _red eric_ was driven at last before the wind under bare poles. the crew remained firm in the midst of this awful scene; each man stood at his post, holding on by any fixed object that chanced to be within his reach, and held himself ready to spring to obey every order. no voice could be heard in the midst of the howling winds, the lashing sea, and the rending sky. commands were given by signs as well as possible, during the flashes of lightning; but little or nothing remained to be done. captain dunning had done all that a man thoroughly acquainted with his duties could accomplish to put his ship in the best condition to do battle with the storm, and he now felt that the issue remained in the hands of him who formed the warring elements, and whose will alone could check their angry strife. during one of the vivid flashes of lightning the captain observed glynn proctor standing near the starboard gangway, and, waiting for the next flash, he made a signal to him to come to the spot where he stood. glynn understood it, and in a few seconds was at his commander's side. "glynn," my boy, said the latter, "you won't be wanted on deck for some time. there's little to be done now. go down and see what ailie's about, poor thing. she'll need a little comfort. say i sent you." without other reply than a nod of the head, glynn sprang to the companion-hatch, followed by the captain, who undid the fastenings to let him down and refastened them immediately, for the sea was washing over the stern continually. glynn found the child on her knees in the cabin with her face buried in the cushions of one of the sofas. he sat down beside her and waited until she should have finished her prayer; but as she did not move for some time he laid his hand gently on her shoulder. she looked up with a happy smile on her face. "oh, glynn, is that you? i'm so glad," she said, rising, and sitting down beside him. "your father sent me down to comfort you, my pet," said glynn, taking her hand in his and drawing her towards him. "i have got comfort already," replied the child; "i'm so very happy, now." "how so, ailie? who has been with you?" "god has been with me. you told me, glynn, that there wasn't much danger, but i felt sure that there was. oh! i never heard such terrible noises, and this dreadful tossing is worse than ever i felt it--a great deal. so i went down on my knees and prayed that god, for christ's sake would save us. i felt very frightened, glynn. you can't think how my heart beat every time the thunder burst over us. but suddenly--i don't know how it was--the words i used to read at home so often with my dear aunts came into my mind; you know them, glynn, `call upon me in the time of trouble, and i will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' i don't know where i read them. i forget the place in the bible now; but when i thought of them i felt much less frightened. do you think it was the holy spirit who put them into my mind? my aunts used to tell me that all my _good_ thoughts were given to me by the holy spirit. then i remembered the words of jesus, `i will never leave thee nor forsake thee,' and i felt so happy after that. it was just before you came down. i _think_ we shall not be lost. god would not make me feel so happy if we were going to be lost, would he?" "i think not, ailie," replied glynn, whose conscience reproached him for his ignorance of the passages in god's word referred to by his companion, and who felt that he was receiving rather than administering comfort. "when i came down i did not very well know how i should comfort you, for this is certainly the most tremendous gale i ever saw, but somehow i feel as if we were in less danger now. i wish i knew more of the bible, ailie. i'm ashamed to say i seldom look at it." "oh, that's a pity, isn't it, glynn?" said ailie, with earnest concern expressed in her countenance, for she regarded her companion's ignorance as a great misfortune; it never occurred to her that it was a sin. "but it's very easy to learn it," she added with an eager look. "if you come to me here every day we can read it together. i would like to have you hear me say it off, and then i would hear you." before he could reply the vessel received a tremendous shock which caused her to quiver from stem to stern. "she must have been struck by lightning," cried glynn, starting up and hurrying towards the door. ailie's frightened look returned for a few minutes, but she did not tremble as she had done before. just as glynn reached the top of the ladder the hatch was opened and the captain thrust in his head. "glynn, my boy," said he, in a quick, firm tone, "we are ashore. perhaps we shall go to pieces in a few minutes. god knows. may he in his mercy spare us. you cannot do much on deck. ailie must be looked after till i come down for her. glynn, _i depend upon you_." these words were uttered hurriedly, and the hatch was shut immediately after. it is impossible to describe accurately the conflicting feelings that agitated the breast of the young sailor as he descended again to the cabin. he felt gratified at the trust placed in him by the captain, and his love for the little girl would at any time have made the post of protector to her an agreeable one; but the idea that the ship had struck the rocks, and that his shipmates on deck were struggling perhaps for their lives while he was sitting idly in the cabin, was most trying and distressing to one of his ardent and energetic temperament. he was not, however, kept long in suspense. scarcely had he regained the cabin when the ship again struck with terrific violence, and he knew by the rending crash overhead that one or more of the masts had gone over the side. the ship at the same moment slewed round and was thrown on her beam-ends. so quickly did this occur that glynn had barely time to seize ailie in his arms and save her from being dashed against the bulkhead. the vessel rose again on the next wave, and was hurled on the rocks with such violence that every one on board expected her to go to pieces immediately. at the same time the cabin windows were dashed in, and the cabin itself was flooded with water. glynn was washed twice across the cabin and thrown violently against the ship's sides, but he succeeded in keeping a firm hold of his little charge and in protecting her from injury. "hallo, glynn!" shouted the captain, as he opened the companion-hatch, "come on deck, quick! bring her with you!" glynn hurried up and placed the child in her father's arms. the scene that presented itself to him on gaining the deck was indeed appalling. the first grey streak of dawn faintly lighted up the sky, just affording sufficient light to exhibit the complete wreck of everything on deck, and the black froth-capped tumult of the surrounding billows. the rocks on which they had struck could not be discerned in the gloom, but the white breakers ahead showed too clearly where they were. the three masts had gone over the side one after another, leaving only the stumps of each standing. everything above board--boats, binnacle, and part of the bulwarks--had been washed away. the crew were clinging to the belaying-pins and to such parts of the wreck as seemed likely to hold together longest. it seemed to poor ailie, as she clung to her father's neck that she had been transported to some far-distant and dreadful scene, for scarcely a single familiar object remained by which her ocean home, the _red eric_, could be recognised. but ailie had neither desire nor opportunity to remark on this tremendous change. every successive billow raised the doomed vessel, and let her fall with heavy violence on the rocks. her stout frame trembled under each shock, as if she were endued with life, and shrank affrighted from her impending fate; and it was as much as the captain could do to maintain his hold of the weather-bulwarks and of ailie at the same time. indeed, he could not have done it at all had not glynn stood by and assisted him to the best of his ability. "it won't last long, lad," said the captain, as a larger wave than usual lifted the shattered hull and dashed it down on the rocks, washing the deck from stern to stem, and for a few seconds burying the whole crew under water. "may the almighty have mercy on us; no ship can stand this long." "perhaps the tide is falling," suggested glynn, in an encouraging voice, "and i think i see something like a shore ahead. it will be daylight in half-an-hour or less." the captain shook his head. "there's little or no tide here to rise or fall, i fear. before half-an-hour we shall--" he did not finish the sentence, but looking at ailie with a gaze of agony, he pressed her more closely to his breast. "i think we shall be saved," whispered the child, twining her arms more closely round her father's neck, and laying her wet cheek against his. just then tim rokens crept aft, and said that he saw a low sandy island ahead, and a rocky point jutting out from it close to the bows of the ship. he suggested that a rope might be got ashore when it became a little lighter. phil briant came aft to make the same suggestion, not knowing that rokens had preceded him. in fact, the men had been consulting as to the possibility of accomplishing this object, but when they looked at the fearful breakers that boiled in white foam between the ship's bow and the rocky point, their hearts failed them, and no one was found to volunteer for the dangerous service. "is any one inclined to try it?" inquired the captain. "there's niver a wan of us but 'ud try it, cap'en, _if you gives the order_," answered briant. the captain hesitated. he felt disinclined to order any man to expose himself to such imminent danger; yet the safety of the whole crew might depend on a rope being connected with the shore. before he could make up his mind, glynn, who saw what was passing in his mind, exclaimed--"i'll do it, captain;" and instantly quitting his position, hurried forward as fast as circumstances would permit. the task which glynn had undertaken to perform turned out to be more dangerous and difficult than at first he had anticipated. when he stood at the lee bow, fastening a small cord round his waist, and looking at the turmoil of water into which he was about to plunge, his heart well-nigh failed him, and he felt a sensation of regret that he had undertaken what seemed now an impossibility. he did not wonder that the men had one and all shrunk from the attempt. but he had made up his mind to do it. moreover, he had _said_ he would do it, and feeling that he imperilled his life in a good cause, he set his face as a flint to the accomplishment of his purpose. well was it for glynn proctor that day that in early boyhood he had learned to swim, and had become so expert in the water as to be able to beat all his young companions! he noticed, on looking narrowly at the foaming surge through which he must pass in order to gain the rocky point, that many of the submerged rocks showed their tops above the flood, like black spots, when each wave retired. to escape these seemed impossible--to strike one of them he knew would be almost certain death. "don't try it, boy," said several of the men, as they saw glynn hesitate when about to spring, and turn an anxious gaze in all directions; "it's into death ye'll jump, if ye do." glynn did not reply; indeed, he did not hear the remark, for at that moment his whole attention was riveted on a ledge of submerged rock, which ever and anon showed itself, like the edge of a knife, extending between the ship and the point. along the edge of this the retiring waves broke in such a manner as to form what appeared to be dead water-tossed, indeed, and foam-clad, but not apparently in progressive motion. glynn made up his mind in an instant, and just as the first mate came forward with an order from the captain that he was on no account to make the rash attempt, he sprang with his utmost force off the ship's side and sank in the raging sea. words cannot describe the intense feeling of suspense with which the men on the lee bow gazed at the noble-hearted boy as he rose and buffeted with the angry billows. every man held his breath, and those who had charge of the line stood nervously ready to haul him back at a moment's notice. on first rising to the surface he beat the waves as if bewildered, and while some of the men cried, "he's struck a rock," others shouted to haul him in; but in another second he got his eyes cleared of spray, and seeing the ship's hull towering above his head, he turned his back on it and made for the shore. at first he went rapidly through the surge, for his arm was strong and his young heart was brave; but a receding wave caught him and hurled him some distance out of his course--tossing him over and over as if he had been a cork. again he recovered himself, and gaining the water beside the ledge, he made several powerful and rapid strokes, which carried him within a few yards of the point. "he's safe," said rokens eagerly. "no; he's missed it!" cried the second mate, who, with gurney and dick barnes, payed out the rope. glynn had indeed almost caught hold of the farthest-out ledge of the point when he was drawn back into the surge, and this time dashed against a rock and partially stunned. the men had already begun to haul in on the rope when he recovered, and making a last effort, gained the rocks, up which he clambered slowly. when beyond the reach of the waves he fell down as if he had fainted. this, however, was not the case; he was merely exhausted, as well as confused, by the blows he had received on the rocks, and lay for a few seconds quite still in order to recover strength, during which period of inaction he thanked god earnestly for his deliverance, and prayed fervently that he might be made the means of saving his companions in danger. after a minute or two he rose, unfastened the line from his waist, and began to haul it ashore. to the other end of the small line the men in the ship attached a thick cable, the end of which was soon pulled up, and made fast to a large rock. tim rokens was now ordered to proceed to the shore by means of the rope in order to test it. after this a sort of swing was constructed, with a noose which was passed round the cable. to this a small line was fastened, and passed to the shore. on this swinging-seat ailie was seated, and hauled to the rocks, tim rokens "shinning" along the cable at the same time to guard her from accident. then the men began to land, and thus, one by one, the crew of the _red eric_ reached the shore in safety; and when all had landed, captain dunning, standing in the midst of his men, lifted up his voice in thanksgiving to god for their deliverance. but when daylight came the full extent of their forlorn situation was revealed. the ship was a complete wreck; the boats were all gone, and they found that the island on which they had been cast was only a few square yards in extent--a mere sandbank, utterly destitute of shrub or tree, and raised only a few feet above the level of the ocean. chapter sixteen. the sandbank--the wrecked crew make the best of bad circumstances. it will scarcely surprise the reader to be told that, after the first emotions of thankfulness for deliverance from what had appeared to the shipwrecked mariners to be inevitable death, a feeling amounting almost to despair took possession of the whole party for a time. the sandbank was so low that in stormy weather it was almost submerged. it was a solitary coral reef in the midst of the boundless sea. not a tree or bush grew upon it, and except at the point where the ship had struck, there was scarcely a rock large enough to afford shelter to a single man. without provisions, without sufficient shelter, without the means of escape, and _almost_ without the hope of deliverance, it seemed to them that nothing awaited them but the slow, lingering pains and horrors of death by starvation. as those facts forced themselves more and more powerfully home to the apprehension of the crew,--while they cowered for shelter from the storm under the lee of the rocky point, they gave expression to their feelings in different ways. some sat down in dogged silence to await their fate; others fell on their knees and cried aloud to god for mercy; while a few kept up their own spirits and those of their companions by affecting a cheerfulness which, however, in some cages, was a little forced. ailie lay shivering in her father's arms, for she was drenched with salt water and very cold. her eyes were closed, and she was very pale from exposure and exhaustion, but her lips moved as if in prayer. captain dunning looked anxiously at dr hopley, who crouched beside them, and gazed earnestly in the child's face while he felt her pulse. "it's almost too much for her, i fear," said the captain, in a hesitating, husky voice. the doctor did not answer for a minute or two, then he said, as if muttering to himself rather than replying to the captain's remark, "if we could only get her into dry clothes, or had a fire, or even a little brandy, but--" he did not finish the sentence, and the captain's heart sank within him, and his weather-beaten face grew pale as he thought of the possibility of losing his darling child. glynn had been watching the doctor with intense eagerness, and with a terrible feeling of dread fluttering about his heart. when he heard the last remark he leaped up and cried--"if brandy is all you want you shall soon have it." and running down to the edge of the water, he plunged in and grasped the cable, intending to clamber into the ship, which had by this time been driven higher on the rocks, and did not suffer so much from the violence of the breakers. at the same instant phil briant sprang to his feet, rushed down after him, and before he had got a yard from the shore, seized him by the collar, and dragged him out of the sea high and dry on the land. glynn was so exasperated at this unceremonious and at the moment unaccountable treatment, that he leaped up, and in the heat of the moment prepared to deal the irishman a blow that would very probably have brought the experiences of the "ring" to his remembrance; but briant effectually checked him by putting both his own hands into his pockets, thrusting forward his face as if to invite the blow, and exclaiming-- "och! now, hit fair, glynn, darlint; put it right in betwane me two eyes!" glynn laughed hysterically, in spite of himself. "what mean you by stopping me?" he asked somewhat sternly. "shure, i mane that i'll go for the grog meself. ye've done more nor yer share o' the work this mornin', an' it's but fair to give a poor fellow a chance. more be token, ye mustn't think that nobody can't do nothin' but yeself. it's phil briant that'll shin up a rope with any white man in the world, or out of it." "you're right, phil," said rokens, who had come to separate the combatants. "go aboord, my lad, an' i'll engage to hold this here young alligator fast till ye come back." "you don't need to hold me, tim," retorted glynn, with a smile; "but don't be long about it, phil. you know where the brandy is kept--look alive." briant accomplished his mission successfully, and, despite the furious waves, brought the brandy on shore in safety. as he emerged like a caricature of old neptune dripping from the sea, it was observed that he held a bundle in his powerful grasp. it was also strapped to his shoulders. "why, what have you got there?" inquired the doctor, as he staggered under the shelter of the rocks. "arrah! give a dhrop to the child, an' don't be wastin' yer breath," replied briant, as he undid the bundle. "sure i've brought a few trifles for her outside as well as her in." and he revealed to the glad father a bundle of warm habiliments which he had collected in ailie's cabin, and kept dry by wrapping them in several layers of tarpaulin. "god bless you, my man," said the captain, grasping the thoughtful irishman by the hand. "now, ailie, my darling pet, look up, and swallow a drop o' this. here's a capital rig-out o' dry clothes too." a few sips of brandy soon restored the circulation which had well-nigh been arrested, and when she had been clothed in the dry garments, ailie felt comparatively comfortable, and expressed her thanks to phil briant with tears in her eyes. a calm often succeeds a storm somewhat suddenly, especially in southern latitudes. soon after daybreak the wind moderated, and before noon it ceased entirely, though the sea kept breaking in huge rolling billows on the sandbank for many hours afterwards. the sun, too, came out hot and brilliant, shedding a warm radiance over the little sea-girt spot as well as over the hearts of the crew. human nature exhibits wonderful and sudden changes. men spring from the depths of despair to the very summit, of light-hearted hope, and very frequently, too, without a very obvious cause to account for the violent change. before the day after the storm was far advanced, every one on the sandbank seemed to be as joyous as though there was no danger of starvation whatever. there was, however, sufficient to produce the change in the altered aspect of affairs. for one thing, the warm sun began to make them feel comfortable--and really it is wonderful how ready men are to shut their eyes to the actual state of existing things if they can only enjoy a little present comfort. then the ship was driven so high up on the rocks as to be almost beyond the reach of the waves, and she had not been dashed to pieces, as had at first been deemed inevitable, so that the stores and provisions in her might be secured, and the party be thus enabled to subsist on their ocean prison until set free by some passing ship. under the happy influence of these improved circumstances every one went about the work of rendering their island home more comfortable, in good, almost in gleeful spirits. phil briant indulged in jests which a few hours ago would have been deemed profane, and gurney actually volunteered the song of the "man wot got his nose froze;" but every one declined to listen to it, on the plea that it reminded them too forcibly of the cold of the early morning. even the saturnine steward, tarquin, looked less ferocious than usual, and king bumble became so loquacious that he was ordered more than once to hold his tongue and to "shut up." the work they had to do was indeed of no light nature. they had to travel to and fro between the ship and the rocks on the rope-cable, a somewhat laborious achievement, in order to bring ashore such things as they absolutely required. a quantity of biscuit, tea, coffee, and sugar were landed without receiving much damage, then a line was fastened to a cask of salt beef, and this, with a few more provisions, was drawn ashore the first day, and placed under the shelter of the largest rock on the point. on the following day it was resolved that a raft should be constructed, and everything that could in any way prove useful be brought to the sandbank and secured. for captain dunning well knew that another storm might arise as quickly as the former had done, and although the ship at present lay in comparatively quiet water, the huge billows that would be dashed against her in such circumstances would be certain to break her up and scatter her cargo on the breast of the all-devouring sea. in the midst of all this activity and bustle there sat one useless and silent, but exceedingly grave and uncommonly attentive spectator, namely, jacko the monkey. that sly and sagacious individual, seeing that no one intended to look after him, had during the whole of the recent storm wisely looked after himself. he had ensconced himself in a snug and comparatively sheltered corner under the afterpart of the weather-bulwarks. but when he saw the men one by one leaving the ship, and proceeding to the shore by means of the rope, he began to evince an anxiety as to his own fate which had in it something absolutely human. jacko was the last man, so to speak, to leave the _red eric_. captain dunning, resolving, with the true spirit of a brave commander; to reserve that honour to himself, had seen the last man, he thought, out of the ship, and was two-thirds of the distance along the rope on his way to land, when jim scroggles, who was _always_ either in or out of the way at the most inopportune moments, came rushing up from below, whither he had gone to secure a favourite brass _finger-ring_, and scrambled over the side. it would be difficult to say whether jim's head, or feet, or legs, or knees, or arms went over the side first,--they all got over somehow, nobody knew how--and in the getting over his hat flew off and was lost for ever. seeing this, and feeling, no doubt, the momentous truth of that well-known adage "now or never," master jacko uttered a shriek, bounded from his position of fancied security, and seized jim scroggles firmly by the hair, resolved apparently to live or perish along with him. as to simply clambering along that cable to the shore. jacko would have thought no more of it than of eating his dinner. had he felt so disposed he could have walked along it, or hopped along it, or thrown somersaults along it. but to proceed along it while it was at one moment thirty feet above the sea, rigid as a bar of iron, and the next moment several feet under the mad turmoil of the raging billows--this it was that filled his little bosom with inexpressible horror, and induced him to cling with a tight embrace to the hair of the head of his bitterest enemy! having gained the shore, jacko immediately took up his abode in the warmest spot on that desolate sandbank, which was the centre of the mass of cowering and shivering men who sought shelter under the lee of the rocks, where he was all but squeezed to death, but where he felt comparatively warm, nevertheless. when the sun came out he perched himself in a warm nook of the rock near to ailie, and dried himself, after which, as we have already hinted, he superintended the discharging of the cargo and the arrangements made for a prolonged residence on the sandbank. "och! but yer a queer cratur," remarked briant, as he passed, chucking the monkey under the chin. "oo-oo-oo-ee-o!" replied jacko. "very thrue, no doubt--but i haven't time to spake to ye jist yet, lad," replied briant, with a laugh, as he ran down to the beach and seized a barrel which had just been hauled to the water's edge. "what are you going to do with the wood, papa?" asked ailie. the captain had seized an axe at the moment, and began vigorously to cut up a rough plank which had been driven ashore by the waves. "i'm going to make a fire, my pet, to warm your cold toes." "but my toes are not cold, papa; you've no idea how comfortable i am." ailie did indeed look comfortable at that moment, for she was lying on a bed of dry sand, with a thick blanket spread over her. "well, then, it will do to warm jacko's toes, if yours don't want it; and besides, we all want a cup of tea after our exertions. the first step towards that end, you know, is to make a fire." so saying, the captain piled up dry wood in front of the place where ailie lay, and in a short time had a capital fire blazing, and a large tin kettle full of fresh water boiling thereon. it may be as well to remark here that the water had been brought in a small keg from the ship, for not a single drop of fresh water was found on the sandbank after the most careful search. fortunately, however, the water-tanks of the _red eric_ still contained a large supply. during the course of that evening _a_ sort of shed or tent was constructed out of canvas and a few boards placed against the rock. this formed a comparatively comfortable shelter, and one end of it was partitioned off for ailie's special use. no one was permitted to pass the curtain that hung before the entrance to this little boudoir, except the captain, who claimed a right to do what he pleased, and glynn, who was frequently invited to enter in order to assist its fair occupant in her multifarious arrangements, and jacko, who could not be kept out by any means that had yet been hit upon, except by killing him; but as ailie objected to this, he was suffered to take up his abode there, and, to do him justice, he behaved very well while domiciled in that place. it is curious to note how speedily little children, and men too, sometimes, contrive to forget the unpleasant or the sad, or, it may be, the dangerous circumstances in which they may chance to be placed, while engaged in the minute details incident to their peculiar position. ailie went about arranging her little nest under the rock with as much zeal and cheerful interest as if she were "playing at houses" in her own room at home. she decided that one corner was peculiarly suited for her bed, because there was a small rounded rock in it which looked like a pillow; so glynn was directed to spread the tarpaulin and the blankets there. another corner exhibited a crevice in the rock, which seemed so suitable for a kennel for jacko that the arrangement was agreed to on the spot. we say agreed to, because ailie suggested everything to glynn, and glynn always agreed to everything that ailie suggested, and stood by with a hammer and nails and a few pieces of plank in his hands ready to fulfil her bidding, no matter what it should be. so jacko was sent for to be introduced to his new abode, but jacko was not to be found, for the very good reason that he had taken possession of the identical crevice some time before, and at that moment was enjoying a comfortable nap in its inmost recess. then ailie caused glynn to put up a little shelf just over her head, which he did with considerable difficulty, because it turned out that nails could not easily be driven into the solid rock. after that a small cave at the foot of the apartment was cleaned out and ailie's box placed there. all this and sundry other pieces of work were executed by the young sailor and his little friend with an amount of cheerful pleasantry that showed they had, in the engrossing interest of their pursuit, totally forgotten the fact that they were cast away on a sandbank on which were neither food nor water, nor wood, except what was to be found in the wrecked ship, and around which for thousands of miles rolled the great billows of the restless sea. chapter seventeen. life on the sandbank--ailie takes possession of fairyland--glynn and bumble astonish the little fishes. in order that the reader may form a just conception of the sandbank on which the crew of the _red eric_ had been wrecked, we shall describe it somewhat carefully. it lay in the southern ocean, a little to the west of the longitude of the cape of good hope, and somewhere between and miles to the south of it. as has been already remarked, the bank at its highest point was little more than a few feet above the level of the ocean, the waves of which in stormy weather almost, and the spray of which altogether, swept over it. in length it was barely fifty yards, and in breadth about forty. being part of a coral reef, the surface of it was composed of the beautiful white sand that is formed from coral by the dashing waves. at one end of the bank--that on which the ship had struck--the reef rose into a ridge of rock, which stood a few feet higher than the level of the sand, and stretched out into the sea about twenty yards, with its points projecting here and there above water. on the centre of the bank at its highest point one or two very small blades of green substance were afterwards discovered. so few were they, however, and so delicate, that we feel justified in describing the spot as being utterly destitute of verdure. ailie counted those green blades many a time after they were discovered. there were exactly thirty-five of them; twenty-six were, comparatively speaking, large; seven were of medium size, and two were extremely small--so small and thin that ailie wondered they did not die of sheer delicacy of constitution on such a barren spot. the greater part of the surface of the bank was covered with the fine sand already referred to, but there were one or two spots which were covered with variously-sized pebbles, and an immense number of beautiful small shells. on such a small and barren spot one would think there was little or nothing to admire. but this was not the case. those persons whose thoughts are seldom allowed to fix attentively on any subject, are apt to fall into the mistake of supposing that in this world there are a great many absolutely uninteresting things. many things are, indeed, uninteresting to individuals, but there does not exist a single thing which has not a certain amount of interest to one or another cast of mind, and which will not afford food for contemplation, and matter fitted to call forth our admiration for its great and good creator. we know a valley so beautiful that it has been for generations past, and will probably be for generations to come, the annual resort of hundreds of admiring travellers. the valley cannot be seen until you are almost in it. the country immediately around it is no way remarkable; it is even tame. many people would exclaim at first sight in reference to it, "how uninteresting." it requires a close view, a minute inspection, to discover the beauties that lie hidden there. so was it with our sandbank. ailie's first thoughts were, "oh! how dreary; how desolate!" and in some respects she was right; but she dwelt there long enough to discover things that charmed her eye and her imagination, and caused her sometimes to feel as if she had been transported to the realms of fairyland. we do not say, observe, that the crew of the _red eric_ were ever blessed with such dreams. jim scroggles, for instance, had no eye for the minute beauties or wonders of creation. jim, according to his own assertion, could see about as far through a millstone as most men. he could apostrophise his eye, on certain occasions, and tell it--as though its own power of vision were an insufficient medium of information--that "that _wos_ a stunnin' iceberg;" or that "that _wos_ a gale and a half, fit to tear the masts out o' the ship a'most." but for any less majestic object in nature, jim scroggles had nothing to say either to his eye, or his nose, or his shipmates. as was jim scroggles, so were most of the other men. hence they grumbled a good deal at their luckless condition. but upon the whole they were pretty cheerful--especially at meal-times--and, considering their circumstances, they behaved very well. glynn proctor was a notable exception to the prevailing rule of indifference to small things. by nature he was of a superior stamp of mind to his comrades; besides, he had been better educated; and more than all, he was at that time under the influence of ailie dunning. she admired what she admired; he liked what she liked; he looked with interest at the things which she examined. had ailie sat down beside the stock of an old anchor and looked attentively at it, glynn would have sat down and stared at it too, in the firm belief that there was something there worth looking at! glynn laughed aloud sometimes at himself, to think how deeply interested he had become in the child, for up to that time he had rather avoided than courted the society of children; and he used to say to ailie that the sailors would begin to call her his little sweetheart, if he spent so much of his time with her; to which ailie would reply by asking what a sweetheart was; whereat glynn would laugh immoderately; whereupon ailie would tell him not to be stupid, but to come and play with her! all the sailors, even including the taciturn tarquin, had a tender feeling of regard for the little girl who shared their fortunes at that time, but with the exception of glynn, none were capable of sympathising with her in her pursuits. tim rokens, her father, and dr hopley did to some extent, but these three had their minds too deeply filled with anxiety about their critical position to pay her much attention, beyond the kindest concern for her physical wants. king bumble, too, we beg his pardon, showed considerable interest in her. the sable assistant of nikel sling shone conspicuous at this trying time, for his activity, good-humour, and endurance, and in connection with phil briant, gurney, and jacko, kept up the spirits of the shipwrecked men wonderfully. close under the rocks, on the side farthest removed from the spot where the rude tent was pitched, there was a little bay or creek, not more than twenty yards in diameter, which ailie appropriated and called fairyland! it was an uncommonly small spot, but it was exceedingly beautiful and interesting. the rocks, although small, were so broken and fantastically formed, that when ailie crept close in amongst them, and so placed herself that the view of the sandbank was entirely shut out, and nothing was to be seen but little pools of crystal water and rocklets, with their margin of dazzling white sand, and the wreck of the ship in the distance, with the deep blue sea beyond, she quite forgot where she actually was, and began to wander in the most enchanting daydreams. but when, as often happened, there came towering thick masses of snowy clouds, like mountain peaks and battlements in the bright blue sky, her delight was so great that she could find no words to express it. at such times--sometimes with glynn by her side, sometimes alone--she would sit in a sunny nook, or in a shady nook if she felt too warm, and invite innumerable hosts of fairies to come and conduct her through interminable tracts of pure-white cloud region, and order such unheard-of wild creatures (each usually wanting a tail, or a leg, or an ear) to come out of the dark caves, that had they been all collected in one garden for exhibition to the public, that zoological garden would have been deemed, out of sight, the greatest of all the wonders of the world! when a little wearied with those aerial journeys she would return to "fairyland," and, leaning over the brinks of the pools, peer down into their beautiful depths for hours at a time. ailie's property of fairyland had gardens, too, of the richest possible kind, full of flowers of the most lovely and brilliant hues. but the flowers were scentless, and, alas! she could not pluck them, for those gardens were all under water; they grew at the bottom of the sea! yes, reader, if the land was barren on that ocean islet, the pools there made up for it by presenting to view the most luxuriant marine vegetation. there were forests of branching coral of varied hues; there were masses of fan-shaped sponges; there were groves of green and red sea-weeds; and beds of red, and white, and orange, and striped creatures that stuck to the rocks, besides little fish with bright coloured backs that played there as if they really enjoyed living always under water-- which is not easy for us, you know, to realise! and above all, the medium of water between ailie and these things was so pure and pellucid when no breeze fanned the surface, that it was difficult to believe, unless you touched it, there was any water there at all. while ailie thus spent her time, or at least her leisure time, for she was by no means an idler in that busy little isle, the men were actively engaged each day in transporting provisions from the _red eric_ to the sandbank, and in making them as secure as circumstances would admit of. for this purpose a raft had been constructed, and several trips a day were made to and from the wreck, so that in the course of a few days a considerable stock of provisions was accumulated on the bank. this was covered with tarpaulin, and heavy casks of salt junk were placed on the corners and edges to keep it down. "i'll tell ye wot it is, messmates," remarked gurney, one day, as they sat down round their wood fire to dine in front of their tent, "we're purvisioned for six months at least, an' if the weather only keeps fine i've no objection to remain wotiver." "maybe," said briant, "ye'll have to remain that time whether ye object or not." "by no means, paddy," retorted gurney; "i could swum off to sea and be drownded if i liked." "no ye couldn't, avic," said briant. "why not?" demanded gurney. "'cause ye haven't the pluck," replied phil. "i'll pluck the nose off yer face," said gurney, in affected anger. "no ye won't," cried phil, "'cause av ye do i'll spile the soup by heavin' it all over ye." "oh!" exclaimed gurney, with a look of horror, "listen to him, messmates, he calls it `_soup_'--the nasty kettle o' dirty water! well, well, it's lucky we hain't got nothin' better to compare it with." "but, i say, lads," interposed jim scroggles, seriously, "wot'll we do if it comes on to blow a gale and blows away all our purvisions?" "ay, boys," cried dick barnes, "that 'ere's the question, as hamlet remarked to his grandfather's ghost; wot is to come on us supposin' it comes on to blow sich a snorin' gale as'll blow the whole sandbank away, carryin' us and our prog overboard along with it?" "wot's that there soup made of?" demanded tim rokens. "salt junk and peas," replied nikel sling. "ah! i thought there was somethin' else in it," said tim, carelessly, "for it seems to perdooce oncommon bad jokes in them wot eats of it." "now, tim, don't you go for to be sorcostic, but tell us a story." "me tell a story? no, no, lads; there's glynn proctor, he's the boy for you. where is he?" "he's aboard the wreck just now. the cap'n sent him for charts and quadrants, and suchlike cooriosities. come, gurney, tell you one if tim won't. how wos it, now, that you so mistook yer trade as to come for to go to sea?" "i can't very well tell ye," answered gurney, who, having finished dinner, had lit his pipe, and was now extended at full length on the sand, leaning on one arm. "ye see, lads, i've had more or less to do with the sea, i have, since ever i comed into this remarkable world--not that i ever, to my knowledge, knew one less coorous, for i never was up in the stars; no more, i s'pose, was ever any o' you. i was born at sea, d'ye see? i don't 'xactly know how i comed for to be born there, but i wos told that i wos, and if them as told me spoke truth, i s'pose i wos. i was washed overboard in gales three times before i comed for to know myself at all. when i first came alive, so to speak, to my own certain knowledge, i wos a-sitting on the top of a hen-coop aboard an east indiaman, roarin' like a mad bull as had lost his senses; 'cause why? the hens wos puttin' their heads through the bars o' the coops, and pickin' at the calves o' my legs as fierce as if they'd suddenly turned cannibals, and rather liked it. from that time i began a life o' misery. my life before that had bin pretty much the same, it seems, but i didn't know it, so it didn't matter. d'ye know, lads, when ye don't know a thing it's all the same as if it didn't exist, an' so, in coorse, it don't matter." "oh!" exclaimed the first mate, who came up at the moment, "'ave hany o' you fellows got a note-book in which we may record that horacular and truly valuable hobserwation?" no one happening to possess a note-book, gurney was allowed to proceed with his account of himself. "ships has bin my houses all along up to this here date. i don't believe, lads as ever i wos above two months ashore at a time all the coorse of my life, an' mostly not as long as that. the smell o' tar and the taste o' salt water wos the fust things i iver comed across--'xcept the line, i comed across that jist about the time i wos born, so i'm told--and the smell o' tar and taste o' salt water's wot i've bin used to most o' my life, and moreover, wot i likes best. one old gentleman as took a fancy to me w'en i wos a boy, said to me, one fine day, w'en i chanced to be ashore visitin' my mother--says he, `my boy, would ye like to go with me and live in the country, and be a gardner?' `wot,' says i, `keep a garding, and plant taters, and hoe flowers an' cabidges?' `yes,' says he, `at least, somethin' o' that sort.' `no, thankee,' says i; `i b'long to the sea, i do; i wouldn't leave that 'ere no more nor i would quit my first love if i had one. i'm a sailor, i am, out and out, through and through--true blue, and no mistake, an' no one need go for to try to cause me for to forsake my purfession, and live on shore like a turnip'--that's wot i says to that old gen'lemen. yes, lads, i've roamed the wide ocean, as the song says, far an' near. i've bin tattooed by the new zealanders, and i've danced with the hottentots, and ate puppy dogs with the chinese, and fished whales in the north seas, and run among the ice near the south pole, and fowt with pirates, and done service on boord of men-o'-war and merchantmen, and junks, and bumboats; but i never," concluded gurney, looking round with a sigh, "i never came for to be located on a sandbank in the middle of the ocean." "no more did any on us," added rokens, "moreover, if we're not picked up soon by a ship o' some sort, we're not likely to be located here long, for we can't live on salt junk for ever; we shall all die o' the scurvy." there was just enough of possible and probable truth in the last remark to induce a feeling of sadness among the men for a few minutes, but this was quickly put to flight by the extraordinary movements of phil briant. that worthy had left the group round the fire, and had wandered out to the extreme end of the rocky point, where he sat down to indulge, possibly in sad, or mayhap hopeful reflections. he was observed to start suddenly up, and gaze into the sea eagerly for a few seconds; then he cut a caper, slapped his thigh, and ran hastily towards the tent. "what now? where away, phil?" cried one of the men. briant answered not, but speedily reappeared at the opening of the tent door with a fishing-line and hook. hastening to the point of rock, he opened a small species of shell-fish that he found there, wherewith he baited his hook, and then cast it into the sea. in a few minutes he felt a twitch, which caused him to return a remarkably vigorous twitch, as it were in reply. the fish and the sailor for some minutes acted somewhat the part of electricians in a telegraph office; when the fish twitched, briant twitched; when the fish pulled and paused, briant pulled and paused, and when the fish held on hard, briant pulled hard, and finally pulled him ashore, and a very nice plump rock-codling he was. there were plenty of them, so in a short time there was no lack of fresh fish, and rokens' fear that they would have to live on salt junk was not realised. fishing for rock-codlings now became one of the chief recreations of the men while not engaged in bringing various necessaries from the wreck. but for many days at first they found their hands fully occupied in making their new abode habitable, in enlarging and improving the tent, which soon by degrees came to merit the name of a hut, and in inventing various ingenious contrivances for the improvement of their condition. it was not until a couple of weeks had passed that time began to hang heavy on their hands and fishing became a general amusement. they all fished, except jacko. even ailie tried it once or twice, but she did not like it and soon gave it up. as for jacko, he contented himself with fishing with his hands, in a sly way, among the provision casks, at which occupation he was quite an adept; and many a nice tit-bit did he fish up and secrete in his private apartment for future use. like many a human thief, jacko was at last compelled to leave the greater part of his ill-gotten and hoarded gains behind him. one day glynn and ailie sat by the margin of a deep pool in fairyland, gazing down into its clear depths. the sun's rays penetrated to the very bottom, revealing a thousand beauties in form and colour that called forth from ailie the most extravagant expressions of admiration. she wound up one of those eloquent bursts by saying-- "oh, glynn, how very, _very_ much i do wish i could go down there and play with the dear, exquisite, darling little fishes!" "you'd surprise them, i suspect," said glynn. "it's rather too deep a pool to play in unless you were a mermaid." "how deep is it, glynn?" "'bout ten feet, i think." "so much? it does not look like it. what a very pretty bit of coral i see over there, close to the white rock; do you see it? it is bright pink. oh, i would like _so_ much to have it." "would you?" cried glynn, jumping up and throwing off his jacket; "then here goes for it." so saying he clasped his hands above his head, and bending forward, plunged into the pool and went straight at the piece of pink coral, head-foremost, like an arrow! glynn was lightly clad. his costume consisted simply of a pair of white canvas trousers and a blue striped shirt, with a silk kerchief round his neck, so that his movements in the water were little, if at all, impeded by his clothes. at the instant he plunged into the water king bumble happened to approach, and while ailie stood, petrified with fear as she saw glynn struggling violently at the bottom of the pool, her sable companion stood looking down with a grin from ear to ear that displayed every one of his white teeth. "don't be 'fraid, missie ally," said the negro; "him's know wot him's doin', ho yis!" before ailie could reply, glynn was on the surface spluttering and brushing the hair from his forehead with one hand, while with the other he hugged to his breast the piece of pink coral. "here--it--ha!--is. my breath--oh--is a'most gone--ailie--catch hold!" cried he, as he held out the coveted piece of rock to the child, and scrambled out of the pool. "oh, thank you, glynn; but why did you go down so quick and stay so long? i got _such_ a fright." "you bin pay your 'spects to de fishes," said bumble, with a grin. "yes, i have, bumble, and they say that if you stare at them any longer with your great goggle eyes they'll all go mad with horror and die right off. have you caught any codlings, bumble?" "yis, me hab, an' me hab come for to make a preeposol to missie ally." "a what, bumble?" "a preeposol--a digestion." "i suppose you mean a suggestion, eh?" "yis, dat the berry ting." "well, out with it." "dis am it. me ketch rock-coddles; well, me put 'em in bucket ob water an' bring 'em to you, missie ally, an' you put 'em into dat pool and tame 'em, an' hab great fun with 'em. eeh! wot you tink?" "oh, it will be _so_ nice. how good of you to think about it, bumble; do get them as quick as you can." bumble looked grave and hesitated. "why, what's wrong?" inquired glynn. "oh, noting. me only tink me not take the trouble to put 'em into dat pool where de fishes speak so imperently ob me. stop, me will go an' ask if dey sorry for wot dey hab say." so saying the negro uttered a shout, sprang straight up into the air, doubled his head down and his heels up, and cleft the water like a knife. glynn uttered a cry something between a yell and a laugh, and sprang after him, falling flat on the water and dashing the whole pool into foam, and there the two wallowed about like two porpoises, to the unbounded delight of ailie, who stood on the brink laughing until the tears ran down her cheeks, and to the unutterable horror, no doubt, of the little fish. the rock-codlings were soon caught and transferred to the pool, in which, after that, neither glynn nor bumble were suffered to dive or swim, and ailie succeeded, by means of regularly feeding them, in making the little fish less afraid of her than they were at first. but while ailie and glynn were thus amusing themselves and trying to make the time pass as pleasantly as possible, captain dunning was oppressed with the most anxious forebodings. they had now been several weeks on the sandbank. the weather had, during that time, been steadily fine and calm, and their provisions were still abundant, but he knew that this could not last. moreover, he found on consulting his charts that he was far out of the usual course of ships, and that deliverance could only be expected in the shape of a chance vessel. oppressed with these thoughts, which, however, he carefully concealed from every one except tim rokens and the doctor, the captain used to go on the point of rocks every day and sit there for hours, gazing out wistfully over the sea. chapter eighteen. matters grow worse and worse--the mutiny--commencement of boat-building, and threatening storms. one afternoon, about three weeks after the _red eric_ had been wrecked on the sandbank, captain dunning went out on the point of rocks, and took up his accustomed position there. habit had now caused him to go to the point with as much regularity as a sentinel. but on the present occasion anxiety was more deeply marked on his countenance than usual, for dark, threatening clouds were seen accumulating on the horizon, an unnatural stillness prevailed in the hot atmosphere and on the glassy sea, and everything gave indication of an approaching storm. while he sat on a low rock, with his elbows on his knees, and his chin resting in his hands, he felt a light touch on his shoulder, and looking round, found ailie standing by his side. catching her in his arms, he pressed her fervently to his heart, and for the first time spoke to her in discouraging tones. "my own darling," said he, parting the hair from her forehead, and gazing at the child with an expression of the deepest sadness, "i fear we shall _never_ quit this dreary spot." ailie looked timidly in her father's face, for his agitated manner, more than his words, alarmed her. "won't we leave it, dear papa," said she, "to go up yonder?" and she pointed to a gathering mass of clouds overhead, which, although heavy with dark shadows, had still a few bright, sunny points of resemblance to the fairy realms in which she delighted to wander in her daydreams. the captain made no reply; but, shutting his eyes, and drawing ailie close to his side, he uttered a long and fervent prayer to god for deliverance, if he should see fit, or for grace to endure with christian resignation and fortitude whatever he pleased to send upon them. when he concluded, and again looked up, dr hopley was standing beside them, with his head bowed upon his breast. "i fear, doctor," said the captain, "that i have broken my resolution not to alarm my dear ailie by word or look. yet why should i conceal from her the danger of our position? her prayers for help ought to ascend, as well as ours, to him who alone can deliver us from evil at any time, but who makes us to _feel_, as well as _know_, the fact at such times as these." "but i am not afraid, papa," said ailie quickly. "i'm never afraid when you are by me; and i've known we were in danger all along, for i've heard everybody talking about it often and often, and i've _always_ prayed for deliverance, and surely it must come; for has not jesus said if we ask anything in his name he will give it to us?" "true, darling; but he means only such things as will do us good." "of course, papa, if i asked for a bad thing, i would not expect him to give me that." "deliverance from death," said the doctor, "is a good thing, yet we cannot be sure that god will grant our prayer for that." "there are worse things than death, doctor," replied the captain; "it may be sometimes better for men to die than to live. it seems to me that we ought to use the words, `if it please the lord,' more frequently than we do in prayer. deliverance from sin needs no such `if,' but deliverance from death does." at this point the conversation was interrupted by tim rokens, who came up to the captain, and said respectfully-- "if ye please, sir, it 'ud be as well if ye wos to speak to the men; there's somethin' like mutiny a-goin' on, i fear." "mutiny! why, what about?" "it's about the spirits. some on 'em says as how they wants to enjoy theirselves here as much as they can, for they won't have much chance o' doin' so ashore any more. it's my belief that fellow tarquin's at the bottom o't." "there's not much spirits aboard the wreck to fight about," said the captain, somewhat bitterly, as they all rose, and hurried towards the hut. "i only brought a supply for medicine; but it must not be touched, however little there is." when the captain came up, he found the space in front of their rude dwelling a scene of contention and angry dispute that bade fair to end in a fight. tarquin was standing before the first mate, with his knife drawn, and using violent language and gesticulations towards him, while the latter stood by the raft, grasping a handspike, with which he threatened to knock the steward down if he set foot on it. the men were grouped round them, some with looks that implied a desire to side with tarquin, while others muttered "shame!" "shame!" cried tarquin, looking fiercely round on his shipmates, "who cried shame? we're pretty sure all on us to be starved to death on this reef; and it's my opinion, that since we haven't got to live long, we should try to enjoy ourselves as much as we can. there's not much spirits aboard, more's the pity; but what there is i shall have. so again i say, who cried `shame?'" "i did," said glynn proctor, stepping quickly forward; "and i invite all who think with me to back me up." "here ye are, me boy," said phil briant, starting forward, and baring his brawny arms, as was his invariable custom in such circumstances. "it's meself as'll stick by ye, lad, av the whole crew should go with that half-caste crokidile." gurney and dick barnes immediately sided with glynn also, but jim scroggles and nikel sling, and, to the surprise of every one, markham, the second mate, sided with the steward. as the opposing parties glanced at each other, glynn observed that, although his side was superior in numbers, some of the largest and most powerful men of the crew were among his opponents, and he felt that a conflict between such men must inevitably be serious. matters had almost come to a crisis when dr hopley and the captain approached the scene of action. the latter saw at a glance the state of affairs, and stepping up to the steward, ordered him at once into the hut. tarquin seemed to waver for a moment under the stern gaze of his commander; but he suddenly swore a terrible oath, and said that he would not obey. "you're no longer in command of us," he said gruffly, "now that you have lost your ship. every man may do what he pleases." "may he?" replied the captain; "then it pleases me to do that!" and, launching out his clenched right hand with all his might, he hit the steward therewith right between the eyes. tarquin went down as if he had been shot, and lay stunned and at full length upon the sand. "now, my lads," cried the captain, turning towards the men, "what he said just now is so far right. having lost my ship, i am no longer entitled to command you; but my command does not cease unless a majority of you choose that it should. tarquin has taken upon himself to decide the question, without asking your opinion, which amounts to mutiny, and mutiny, under the circumstances in which we are placed, requires to be promptly dealt with. i feel it right to say this, because i am a man of peace, as you well know, and do not approve of a too ready appeal to the fists for the settlement of a dispute." "ah, then, more's the pity!" interrupted briant, "for ye use them oncommon well." a suppressed laugh followed this remark. "silence, men, this is no time for jesting. one of our shipmates has, not long since, been taken suddenly from us; it may be that we shall all of us be called into the presence of our maker before many days pass over us. we have much to do that will require to be done promptly and well, if we would hope to be delivered at all, and the question must be decided _now_ whether i am to command you, or every one is to do what he pleases." "i votes for cap'en dunning," exclaimed gurney. "so does i," cried jim scroggles; who, being somewhat weather-cockish in his nature, turned always with wonderful facility to the winning side. "three cheers for the cap'en," cried dick barnes, suiting the action to the word. almost every voice joined in the vociferous cheer with which this proposal was received. "an' wan more for miss ailie," shouted phil briant. even jacko lent his voice to the tremendous cheer that followed, for briant in his energy chanced to tread on that creature's unfortunate tail, which always seemed to be in his own way as well as in that of every one else, and the shriek that he uttered rang high above the laughter into which the cheer degenerated, as some one cried, "ah, pat, trust you, my boy, for rememberin' the ladies!" order having been thus happily restored, and captain dunning having announced that the late attempt at mutiny should thenceforth be buried in total oblivion, a council was called, in order to consider seriously their present circumstances, and to devise, if possible, some means of escape. "my lads," said the captain, when they were all assembled, "i've been ponderin' over matters ever since we were cast away on this bank, an' i've at last come to the conclusion that our only chance of gettin' away is to build a small boat and fit her out for a long voyage. i need not tell you that this chance is a poor one--well-nigh a forlorn hope. had it been better i would have spoken before now, and began the work sooner; but i have lived from day to day in the hope of a ship heaving in sight. this is a vain hope. we are far out of the usual track of all ships here. none come this way, except such as may chance to be blown out of their course, as we were; and even if one did come within sight, it's ten chances to one that we should fail to attract attention on such a low bank as this. "i've had several reliable observations of late, and i find that we are upwards of two thousand miles from the nearest known land, which is the cape of good hope. i propose, therefore, that we should strip off as much of the planking of the wreck as will suit our purpose, get the carpenter's chest landed, and commence work at once. now, what say you? if anyone has a better plan to suggest, i'll be only to glad to adopt it, for such a voyage in so slim a craft as we can build here will be one necessarily replete with danger." "i'll tell ye wot it is, cap'en," said tim rokens, rising up, taking off his cap, and clearing his throat, as if he were about to make a studied oration. "we've not none on us got no suggestions to make wotsomdiver. you've only got to give the word and we'll go to work; an' the sooner you does so the better, for it's my b'lief we'll have a gale afore long that'll pretty well stop work altogether as long as it lasts." the indications in the sky gave such ample testimony to the justness of rokens' observations that no more time was wasted in discussion. dick barnes, who acted the part of ship's carpenter when not otherwise engaged, went out to the wreck on the raft, with a party of men under command of mr millons, to fetch planking and the necessary material for the construction of a boat, while the remainder of the crew, under the captain's superintendence, prepared a place near fairyland for laying the keel. this spot was selected partly on account of the convenient formation of the shore for the launching of the boat when finished, and partly because that would be the lee side of the rocky point when the coming storm should burst. for the latter reason the hut was removed to fairyland, and poor ailie had the mortification in a few hours of seeing her little paradise converted into an unsightly wreck of confusion. alas! how often this is the case in human affairs of greater moment; showing the folly of setting our hearts on the things of earth. it seems at first sight a hard passage, that, in the word of god. "what?" the enthusiastic but thoughtless are ready to exclaim, "not love the world! the bright, beautiful world that was made by god to be enjoyed? not love our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives? not give our warmest affections to all these?" truly, ye hasty ones, if you would but earnestly consider it, you would find that god not only permits, but requires us to love all that is good and beautiful here, as much as we will, as much as we can; but we ought to love himself _more_. if this be our happy condition, then our hearts are not "set on the world"; on the contrary, they are set free to love the world and all that is lovable in it--of which there is very, very much--more, probably than the best of men suppose. else, wherefore does the father love it and care for it so tenderly? but ailie had not set her heart on her possessions on the sandbank. she felt deep regret for a time, it is true, and in feeling thus she indulged a right and natural impulse, but that impulse did not lead to the sin of murmuring. her sorrow soon passed away, and she found herself as cheerful and happy afterwards in preparing for her long, long voyage as ever she had been in watching the gambols of her fish, or in admiring the lovely hues of the weeds and coral rocks in the limpid pools of fairyland. it was a fortunate circumstance that captain dunning set about the preparations for building the boat that afternoon, for the storm burst upon them sooner than had been expected, and long before all the requisite stores and materials had been rafted from the wreck. the most important things, however, had been procured--such as the carpenter's chest, a large quantity of planking, oakum, and cordage, and several pieces of sail cloth, with the requisite thread and needles for making boat sails. still, much was wanting when the increasing violence of the wind compelled them to leave off work. some of the men were now ordered to set about securing such materials as had been collected, while others busied themselves in fixing ropes to the hut and rolling huge masses of coral rock against its fragile walls to steady it. "av ye plaze, sir," said briant to the captain, wiping his forehead as he approached with a lump of tarry canvas which he used in default of a better pocket-handkerchief, "av ye plaze, sir, wot'll i do now?" "do something useful, lad, whatever you do," said the captain, looking up from the hole which he was busily engaged in digging for the reception of a post to steady the hut. "there's lots of work; you can please yourself as to choice." "then i comed fur to suggist that the purvisions and things a-top o' the sandbank isn't quite so safe as they might be." "true, briant; i was just thinking of that as you came up. go and see you make a tight job of it. get rokens to help you." briant hurried off, and calling his friend, walked with him to the top of the sandbank, leaning heavily against the gale, and staggering as they went. the blast now whistled so that they could scarcely hear each other talk. "we'll be blowed right into the sea," shouted tim, as the two reached a pile of casks and cases. "sure, that's me own belaif entirely," roared his companion. "what d'ye say to dig a hole and stick the things in it?" yelled rokens. "we're not fit," screamed phil. "let's try," shrieked the other. to this briant replied by falling on his knees on the lee side of the goods, and digging with his hands in the sand most furiously. tim rokens followed his example, and the two worked like a couple of sea-moles (if such creatures exist) until a hole capable of holding several casks was formed. into this they stowed all the biscuit casks and a few other articles, and covered them up with sand. the remainder they covered with tarpaulin, and threw sand and stones above it until the heap was almost buried out of sight. this accomplished, they staggered back to the hut as fast as they could. here they found everything snugly secured, and as the rocks effectually sheltered the spot from the gale, with the exception of an occasional eddying blast that drove the sand in their faces, they felt comparatively comfortable. lighting their pipes, they sat down among their comrades to await the termination of the storm. chapter nineteen. the storm. a storm in almost all circumstances is a grand and solemnising sight, one that forces man to feel his own weakness and his maker's might and majesty. but a storm at sea in southern latitudes, where the winds are let loose with a degree of violence that is seldom or never experienced in the temperate zones, is so terrific that no words can be found to convey an adequate idea of its appalling ferocity. the storm that at this time burst upon the little sandbank on which the shipwrecked crew had found shelter, was one of the most furious, perhaps, that ever swept the seas. the wind shrieked as if it were endued with life, tore up the surface of the groaning deep into masses and shreds of foam, which it whirled aloft in mad fury, and then dissipated into a thin blinding mist that filled the whole atmosphere, so that one could scarcely see a couple of yards beyond the spot on which he stood. the hurricane seemed to have reached its highest point soon after sunset that night, and a ray of light from the moon struggled ever and anon through the black hurtling clouds, as if to reveal to the cowering seamen the extreme peril of their situation. the great ocean was lashed into a wide sheet of foam, and the presence of the little isle in the midst of that swirling waste of water was indicated merely by a slight circle of foam that seemed whiter than the rest of the sea. the men sat silently in their frail hut, listening to the howling blast without. a feeling of awe crept over the whole party, and the most careless and the lightest of heart among the crew of the _red eric_ ceased to utter his passing jest, and became deeply solemnised as the roar of the breakers filled his ear, and reminded him that a thin ledge of rock alone preserved him from instant destruction. "the wind has shifted a point," said the captain, who had just risen and opened a chink of the rude door of the hut in order to look out. "i see that the keel of the boat is all fast and the planking beside it. the coral rock shelters it just now; but if the wind goes on shifting i fear it will stand a poor chance." "we'd better go out and give it a hextra fastening," suggested mr millons. "not yet. there's no use of exposing any of the men to the risk of being blown away. the wind may keep steady, in which case i've no fear for it." "i dun know," said rokens, who sat beside ailie, close to the embers of their fire, with a glowing cinder from which he re-lighted his pipe for at least the twentieth time that night. "you never can tell wot's a-goin' to turn up. i'll go out, cap'en, if ye like, and see that all's fast." "perhaps you're right, tim; you may make a bolt across to it, and heave another rock or two on the planking if it seems to require it." the seaman rose, and putting aside his pipe, threw off his coat, partly in order that he might present as small a surface to the wind as possible, and partly that he might have a dry garment to put on when he returned. as he opened the little door of the hut a rude gust of wind burst in, filling the apartment with spray, and scattering the embers of the fire. "i feared as much," said the captain, as he and the men started up to gather together the pieces of glowing charcoal; "that shows the wind's shifted another point; if it goes round two points more it'll smash our boat to pieces. look sharp, tim." "lean well against the wind, me boy," cried briant, in a warning voice. thus admonished, rokens issued forth, and dashed across the open space that separated the hut from the low ledge of coral rock behind which the keel of the intended boat and its planking were sheltered. a very few minutes sufficed to show tim that all was fast, and to enable him to place a few additional pieces of rock above the heap in order to keep it down. then he prepared to dart back again to the hut, from the doorway of which his proceedings, were watched by the captain and as many of the men as could crowd round it. just as the harpooner sprang from the shelter of the rock the blast burst upon the bank with redoubled fury, as if it actually were a sentient being, and wished to catch the sailor in its rude grasp and whirl him away. rokens bent his stout frame against it with all his might, and stood his ground for a few seconds like a noble tree on some exposed mountain side that has weathered the gales of centuries. then he staggered, threw his arms wildly in the air, and a moment after was swept from the spot and lost to view in the driving spray that flew over the island. the thing was so instantaneous that the horrified onlookers could scarcely credit the evidence of their eyes, and they stood aghast for a moment or two ere their feelings found vent in a cry of alarm. next instant captain dunning felt himself rudely pushed aside, and briant leaped through the doorway, shouting, as he dashed out-- "if tim rokens goes, it's phil briant as'll go along with him." the enthusiastic irishman was immediately lost to view, and glynn proctor was about to follow, when the captain seized him by the collar, dragged him back, and shut the door violently. "keep back, lads," he cried, "no one must leave the hut. if these two men cannot save themselves by means of their own strong muscles, no human power can save them." glynn, and indeed all of the men, felt this remark to be true, so they sat down round the fire, and looked in each other's faces with the expression of men who half believed they must be dreaming. little was said during the next ten or fifteen minutes; indeed, it was difficult to make their voices heard, owing to the noise of the wind and dashing waves. the captain stood at the door, looking out from time to time with feelings of the deepest anxiety, each moment expecting to see the two sailors struggling back towards the hut; but they did not return. soon the gale increased to such a degree that every one felt, although no one would acknowledge it even to himself, that there was now no hope of their comrades ever returning. the wind shifted another point; and now their lost shipmates were for a time forgotten in the anxieties of their own critical position, for their rocky ledge formed only a partial shelter, and every now and then the hut was shaken with a blast so terrible that it threatened to come down about their ears. "don't you think our house will fall, dear papa?" inquired ailie, as a gust more furious than any that had hitherto passed swept round the rocks, and shook the hut as if it had been made of pasteboard. "god knows, my darling; we are in his hands." ailie tried to comfort herself with the thought that her heavenly father was indeed the ruler of the storm, and could prevent it from doing them harm if he pleased; but as gust after gust dashed against the frail building, and almost shook it down, while the loud rattling of the boards which composed it almost stunned her, an irresistible feeling of alarm crept over her, despite her utmost efforts to control herself. the captain now ordered the men to go out and see that the fastenings to windward and the supports to leeward of the hut remained firm, and to add more of them if possible. he set the example by throwing off his coat and leading the way. this duty was by no means so difficult or dangerous as that which had been previously performed by rokens, for it must be remembered the hut as yet was only exposed to partial gusts of eddying wind, not to the full violence of the storm. it involved a thorough wetting, however, to all who went. in ten minutes the men re-entered, and put on their dry coats, but as no one knew how soon he might again be called upon to expose himself, none thought of changing his other garments. "now, ailie, my pet," said captain dunning, sitting down beside his child on the sandy floor of the hut, "we've done all we can. if the wind remains as it is our house will stand." "but have you not seen rokens or briant?" inquired ailie with an anxious face, while the tears rolled over her cheeks. the captain shook his head, but made no reply, and the men looked earnestly at each other, as if each sought to gather a ray of hope from the countenance of his friend. while they sat thus, a terrible blast shook the hut to its foundation. again and again it came with ever-increasing violence, and then it burst on them with a continuous roar like prolonged thunder. "look out," cried the captain, instinctively clasping ailie in his arms, while the men sprang to their feet. the stout corner-posts bent over before the immense pressure, and the second mate placed his shoulder against one of those on the windward side of the hut, while dick barnes and nikel sling did the same to the other. "it's all up with us," cried tarquin, as part of the roof blew off, and a deluge of water and spray burst in upon them, extinguishing the fire and leaving them in total darkness. at that moment ailie felt herself seized round the waist by a pair of tiny arms, and putting down her hand, she felt that jacko was clinging to her with a tight but trembling grasp. even in that hour of danger, the child experienced a sensation of pleasure at the mere thought that there was one living creature there which looked up to and clung to her for protection; and although she knew full well that if the stout arm of her father which encircled her were removed, her own strength, in their present circumstances, could not have availed to protect herself, yet she felt a gush of renewed strength and courage at her heart when the poor little monkey put its trembling arms around her. "lay your shoulders to the weather-wall, lads," cried the captain, as another rush of wind bore down in the devoted hut. the men obeyed, but their united strength availed nothing against the mighty power that raged without. the wind, as the captain had feared, went round another point, and they were now exposed to the unbroken force of the hurricane. for a few minutes the stout corner-posts of the hut held up, then they began to rend and crack. "bear down with the blast to the lee of the rocks, lads," cried the captain; "it's your only chance; don't try to face it." almost before the words left his lips the posts snapped with a loud crash; the hut was actually lifted off the ground by the wind, and swept completely away, while most of the men were thrown violently to the ground by the wreck as it passed over their heads. the captain fell like the rest, but he retained his grasp of ailie, and succeeded in rising, and as the gale carried him away with irresistible fury he bore firmly down to his right, and gained the eddy caused by the rocks which until now had sheltered the hut. he was safe; but he did not feel secure until he had staggered towards the most sheltered part, and placed his child in a cleft of the rock. here he found gurney and tarquin before him, and soon after glynn came staggering in, along with one or two others. in less than three minutes after the hut had been blown away, all the men were collected in the cleft, where they crouched down to avoid the pelting, pitiless spray that dashed over their heads. it is difficult to conceive a more desperate position than that in which they were now placed, yet there and at that moment a thrill of joy passed through the hearts of most, if not all of them, for they heard a shout which was recognised to be the voice of tim rokens. it came from the rocks a few yards to their right, and almost ere it had died away, rokens himself staggered into the sheltering cleft of rock, accompanied by phil briant. some of the men who had faced the dangers to which they had been exposed with firm nerves and unblanched cheeks, now grew pale, and trembled violently, for they actually believed that the spirits of their lost shipmates had come to haunt them. but these superstitious fears were soon put to flight by the hearty voice of the harpooner, who shook himself like a great newfoundland dog as he came up, and exclaimed-- "why, wot on airth has brought ye all here?" "i think we may say, what has brought _you_ here?" replied the captain, as he grasped them each by the hand and shook them with as much energy as if he had not met them for ten years past. "it's aisy to tell that," said briant, as he crouched down in the midst of the group; "tim and me wos blow'd right across the bank, an' we should no doubt ha' bin blow'd right into the sea, but tim went full split agin one o' the casks o' salt junk, and i went slap agin _him_, and we lay for a moment all but dead. then we crep' in the lee o' the cask, an' lay there till a lull came, when we clapped on all sail, an' made for the shelter o' the rocks, an' shure we got there niver a taste too soon, for it came on to blow the next minit, fit to blow the eyelids off yer face, it did." "it's a fact," added rokens. "moreover, we tried to git round to the hut, but as we wos twice nearly blowed away w'en we tried for to double the point, we 'greed to stay where we wos till the back o' the gale should be broke. but, now, let's hear wot's happened." "the hut's gone," said gurney, in reply. "blowed clean over our heads to--i dun know where." "blowed away?" cried rokens and briant, in consternation. "not a stick left," replied the captain. "an' the boat?" inquired briant. "it's gone too, i fancy; but we can't be sure." "then it's all up, boys," observed briant; "for nearly every morsel o' the prog that wos on the top o' the bank is washed away." this piece of news fell like a thunderbolt on the men, and no one spoke for some minutes. at last the captain said-- "well, lads, we must do the best we can. thank god, we are still alive; so let us see whether we can't make our present quarters more comfortable." setting his men the example, captain dunning began to collect the few boards, and bits of canvas that chanced to have been left on that side of the rocky ledge when the hut was removed to the other side, and with these materials a very partial and insufficient shelter was put up. but the space thus inclosed was so small that they were all obliged to huddle together in a mass. those farthest from the rock were not altogether protected from the spray that flew over their heads, while those nearest to it were crushed and incommoded by their companions. thus they passed that eventful night and all the following day, during which the storm raged with such fury that no one dared venture out to ascertain how much, if any, of their provisions and stores were left to them. during the second night, a perceptible decrease in the violence of the gale took place, and before morning it ceased altogether. the sun rose in unclouded splendour, sending its bright and warm beams up into the clear blue sky and down upon the ocean, which glittered vividly as it still swelled and trembled with agitation. all was serene and calm in the sky, while below the only sound that broke upon the ear was the deep and regular dash of the great breakers that fell upon the shores of the islet, and encircled it with a fringe of purest white. on issuing from their confined uneasy nest in the cleft of the rock, part of the shipwrecked crew hastened anxiously to the top of the bank to see how much of their valuable store of food was left, while others ran to the spot in fairyland where the keel of the new boat had been laid. the latter party found to their joy that all was safe, everything having been well secured; but a terrible sight met the eyes of the other men. not a vestige of all their store remained! the summit of the sandbank was as smooth as on the day they landed there. casks, boxes, barrels--all were gone; everything had been swept away into the sea! almost instinctively the men turned their eyes towards the reef on which the _red eric_ had grounded, each man feeling that in the wrecked vessel all his hope now remained. it, too, was gone! the spot on which it had lain was now washed by the waves, and a few broken planks and spars on the beach were all that remained to remind them of their ocean home! the men looked at each other with deep despondency expressed in their countenances. they were haggard and worn from exposure, anxiety, and want of rest; and as they stood there in their wet, torn garments, they looked the very picture of despair. "there's one chance for us yet, lads," exclaimed tim rokens, looking carefully round the spot on which they stood. "what's that?" exclaimed several of the men eagerly, catching at their comrade's words as drowning men are said to catch at straws. "briant an' me buried some o' the things, by good luck, when we were sent to make all snug here, an' i'm of opinion they'll be here yet, if we could only find the place. let me see." rokens glanced round at the rocks beside which their hut had found shelter, and at the reef where the ship had been wrecked, in order to find the "bearin's o' the spot," as he expressed it. then walking a few yards to one side, he struck his foot on the sand and said, "it should be hereabouts." the blow of his heel returned a peculiar hollow sound, very unlike that produced by stamping on the mere sand. "shure ye've hit the very spot, ye have," cried briant, falling on his knees beside the place; and scraping up the sand with both hands. "it sounds uncommon like a bread-cask. here it is. hurrah! boys, lind a hand, will ye. there now, heave away; but trate it tinderly! shure it's the only friend we've got in the wide world." "you're all wrong, phil," cried gurney, who almost at the same moment began to scrape another hole close by. "it's not our only one; here's another friend o' the same family. bear a hand, lads!" "and here's another!" cried ailie, with a little scream of delight, as she observed the rim of a small keg just peeping out above the sand. "well done, ailie," cried glynn, as he ran to the spot and quickly dug up the keg in question, which, however, proved to be full of nails, to ailie's great disappointment, for she expected it to have turned out a keg of biscuits. "how many casks did you bury?" inquired the captain. "it's meself can't tell," replied briant; "d'ye know, tim?" "three, i think; but we was in sich a hurry that i ain't sartin exactly." "well, then, boys, look here!" continued the captain, drawing a pretty large circle on the sand, "set to work like a band of moles an' dig up every inch o' that till you come to the water." "that's your sort," cried rokens, plunging elbow-deep into the sand at once. "arrah! then, here's at ye; a fair field an' no favour at any price," shouted briant, baring his arms, straddling his legs, and sending a shower of sand behind him that almost overwhelmed gurney, before that stout little individual could get out of the way. the spirits of the men were farther rejoiced by the coming up of the other party, bearing the good news that the keel of the boat was safe, as well as all her planking and the carpenter's tools, which fortunately happened to have been secured in a sheltered spot. from the depths of despair they were all suddenly raised to renewed and sanguine hope, so that they wrought with the energy of gold-diggers, and soon their toil was rewarded by the discovery of that which, in their circumstances, they would not have exchanged for all the golden nuggets that ever were or will be dug up from the prolific mines of australia, california, or british columbia, namely, three casks of biscuit, a small keg of wine, a cask of fresh water, a roll of tobacco, and a barrel of salt junk. chapter twenty. preparations for a long voyage--briant proves that ghosts can drink-- jacko astonishes his friends, and saddens his adopted mother. "wot _i_ say is one thing; wot _you_ say is another--so it is. i dun know w'ich is right, or w'ich is wrong--no more do you. p'raps you is, p'raps i is; anywise we can't both on us be right or both on us be wrong--that's a comfort, if it's nothin' else. wot _you_ say is--that it's morally imposs'ble for a crew sich as us to travel over two thousand miles of ocean on three casks o' biscuit and a barrel o' salt junk. wot _i_ say is--that we can, an', moreover, that morals has nothin' to do with it wotsomediver. now, wot then?" tim rokens paused and looked at gurney, to whom his remarks were addressed, as if he expected an answer. that rotund little seaman did not, however, appear to be thoroughly prepared to reply to "wot then," for he remained silent, but looked at his comrade as though to say, "i'll be happy to learn wisdom from your sagacious lips." "wot then?" repeated tim rokens, assaulting his knee with his clenched fist in a peculiarly emphatic manner; "i'll tell ye wot then, as you may be right and i may be right, an' nother on us can be both right or wrong, i say as how that we don't know nothin' about it." gurney looked as if he did not quite approve of so summary a method of solving such a knotty question, but observing from the expression of rokens' countenance that, though he had paused, that philosopher had not yet concluded, he remained silent. "an', furthermore," continued tim, "it's my opinion--seein' that we're both on us in such a state o' cumblebofubulation, an' don't know nothin'--we'd better go an' ax the cap'en, who does." "_you_ may save yourselves the trouble," observed glynn proctor, who at that moment came up and sat down on the rocks beside them, with a piece of the salt junk that formed an element in the question at issue, in his hand-- "i've just heard the captain give his opinion on that subject, and he says that the boat can be got ready in a week or less, and that, with strict economy, the provisions we have will last us long enough to enable us to make the cape, supposing we have good weather and fair winds. that's _his_ opinion." "i told ye so," said tim rokens. "you did nothin' o' the sort," retorted gurney. "well, if ye come fur to be oncommon strick in the use o' your lingo, i did _not_ 'xactly tell ye so, but i _thought_ so, w'ich is all the same." "it ain't all the same," replied gurney, whose temper seemed to have been a little soured by the prospects before him, "and you don't need to go for to be talkin' there like a great solon as you are." "wot's a solon?" inquired tim. "solon was a man as thought his-self a great feelosopher, but he worn't, he wor an ass." "if i'm like solon," retorted rokens, "you're like a solon-goose, w'ich is an animal as _don't_ think itself an ass, 'cause its too great a one to know it." having thus floored his adversary, the philosophic mariner turned to glynn and said-- "in course we can't expect to be on full allowance." "of course not, old boy; the captain remarked, just as i left him, that we'd have to be content with short allowance--very short allowance indeed." gurney sighed deeply. "how much?" inquired tim. "about three ounces of biscuit, one ounce of salt junk, and a quarter of a pint of water per day." gurney groaned aloud. "you, of all men," said glynn, "have least reason to complain, gurney, for you've got fat enough on your own proper person to last you a week at least!" "ay, a fortnight, or more," added rokens; "an' even then ye'd scarcely be redooced to a decent size." "ah, but," pleaded gurney, "you scarecrow creatures don't know how horrid sore the process o' comin' down is. an' one gets so cold, too. it's just like taking off yer clo's." "sarves ye right for puttin' on so many," said rokens, as he rose to resume work, which he and gurney had left off three-quarters of an hour before, in order to enjoy a quiet, philosophical _tete-a-tete_ during dinner. "it's a bad business, that of the planking not being sufficient to deck or even half-deck the boat," observed glynn, as they went together towards the place where the new boat was being built. "it is," replied rokens; "but it's a good thing that we've got plenty of canvas to spare. it won't make an overly strong deck, to be sure; but it's better than nothin'." "a heavy sea would burst it in no time," remarked gurney. "we must hope to escape heavy seas, then," said glynn, as they parted, and went to their several occupations. the boat that was now building with the most urgent despatch, had a keel of exactly twenty-three feet long, and her breadth, at the widest part, was seven feet. she was being as well and firmly put together as the materials at their command would admit of, and, as far as the work had yet proceeded, she bid fair to become an excellent boat, capable of containing the whole crew, and their small quantity of provisions. this last was diminishing so rapidly, that captain dunning resolved to put all hands at once on short allowance. notwithstanding this, the men worked hard and hopefully; for, as each plank and nail was added to their little bark, they felt as if they were a step nearer home. the captain and the doctor, however, and one or two of the older men, could not banish from their minds the fact that the voyage they were about to undertake was of the most perilous nature, and one which, in any other than the hopeless circumstances in which they were placed at that time, would have been regarded as the most desperate of forlorn hopes. for fourteen souls to be tossed about on the wide and stormy sea, during many weeks, it might be months, in a small open boat, crowded together and cramped, without sufficient covering, and on short allowance of food, was indeed a dreary prospect, even for the men--how much more so for the delicate child who shared their trials and sufferings? captain dunning's heart sank within him when he thought of it; but he knew how great an influence the conduct and bearing of a commander has, in such circumstances, on his men; so he strove to show a smiling, cheerful countenance, though oftentimes he carried a sad and anxious heart in his bosom. to the doctor and tim rokens alone did he reveal his inmost thoughts, because he knew that he could trust them, and felt that he needed their advice and sympathy. the work progressed so rapidly, that in a few days more the boat approached completion, and preparations were being made in earnest for finally quitting the little isle on which they had found a home for so many days. it was observed by the captain that as the work of boat-building drew to a close, glynn proctor continued to labour long after the others had retired to rest, wearied with the toils of the day--toils which they were not now so well able to bear as heretofore, on account of the slight want of vigour caused by being compelled to live on half allowance. one evening the captain went down to the building yard in fairyland, and said to glynn-- "hallo, my boy! at it yet? why, what are you making? a dog-kennel, eh?" "no; not exactly that," replied glynn, laughing. "you'll hardly guess." "i would say it was a house for jacko, only it seems much too big." "it's just possible that jacko may have a share in it," said glynn; "but it's not for him." "who, then? not for yourself, surely!" "it's for ailie," cried glynn gleefully. "don't you think it will be required?" he added, looking up, as if he half feared the captain would not permit his contrivance to be used. "well, i believe it will, my boy. i had intended to get some sort of covering for my dear ailie put up in the stern-sheets; but i did not think of absolutely making a box for her." "ah, you'll find it will be a capital thing at nights. i know she could never stand the exposure, and canvas don't keep out the rain well; so i thought of rigging up a large box, into which she can creep. i'll make air-holes in the roof that will let in air, but not water; and i'll caulk the seams with oakum, so as to keep it quite dry inside." "thank you, my boy, it's very kind of you to take so much thought for my poor child. yet she deserves it, glynn, and we can't be too careful of her." the captain patted the youth on the shoulder, and, leaving him to continue his work, went to see gurney, who had been ailing a little during the last few days. brandy, in small quantities, had been prescribed by the doctor, and, fortunately, two bottles of that spirit had been swept from the wreck. being their whole stock, captain dunning had stowed it carefully away in what he deemed a secret and secure place; but it turned out that some member of the crew was not so strict in his principles of temperance as could be desired; for, on going to the spot to procure the required medicine, it was found that one of the bottles was gone. this discovery caused the captain much anxiety and sorrow, for, besides inflicting on them the loss of a most valuable medicine, it proved that there was a thief in their little society. what was to be done? to pass it over in silence would have shown weakness, which, especially in the circumstances in which they were at that time placed, might have led at last to open mutiny. to discover the thief was impossible. the captain's mind was soon made up. he summoned every one of the party before him, and, after stating the discovery he had made, he said-- "now, lads, i'm not going to charge any of you with having done this thing, but i cannot let it pass without warning you that if i discover any of you being guilty of such practices in future, i'll have the man tied up and give him three dozen with a rope's-end. you know i have never resorted, as many captains are in the habit of doing, to corporal punishment. i don't like it. i've sailed in command of ships for many years, and have never found it needful; but now, more than ever, strict discipline must be maintained; and i tell you, once for all, that i mean to maintain it _at any cost_." this speech was received in silence. all perceived the justice of it, yet some felt that, until the thief should be discovered, they themselves would lie under suspicion. a few there were, indeed, whose well-known and long-established characters raised them above suspicion, but there were others who knew that their character had not yet been established on so firm a basis, and they felt that until the matter should be cleared up, their honesty would be, mentally at least, called in question by their companions. with the exception of the disposition to mutiny related in a previous chapter, this was the first cloud that had risen to interrupt the harmony of the shipwrecked sailors, and as they returned to their work, sundry suggestions and remarks were made in reference to the possibility of discovering the delinquent. "i didn't think it wos poss'ble," said rokens. "i thought as how there wasn't a man in the ship as could ha' done sich a low, mean thing as that." "no more did i," said dick barnes. "wall, boys," observed nikel sling emphatically, "i guess as how that i don't believe it yet." "arrah! d'ye think the bottle o' brandy stole his-self?" inquired briant. "i ain't a-goin' fur to say that; but a ghost might ha' done it, p'raps, a-purpose to get us into a scrape." there was a slight laugh at this, and from that moment the other men suspected that sling was the culprit. the mere fact of his being the first to charge the crime upon any one else--even a ghost--caused them, in spite of themselves, to come to this conclusion. they did not, however, by word or look, show what was passing in their minds, for the yankee was a favourite with his comrades, and each felt unwilling that his suspicion should prove to be correct. "i don't agree with you," said tarquin, who feared that suspicion might attach to himself, seeing that he had been the ringleader in the recent mutiny; "i don't believe that ghosts drink." "och! that's all ye know!" cried phil briant. "av ye'd only lived a month or two in owld ireland, ye'd have seen raison to change yer mind, ye would. sure i've seed a ghost the worse o' liquor meself." "oh! phil, wot a stunner!" cried gurney. "it's as true as me name's phil briant--more's the pity. did i niver tell ye o' the widdy morgan, as had a ghost come to see her frequently?" "no, never--let's hear it." "stop that noise with yer hammer, then, tim rokens, jist for five minutes, and i'll tell it ye." the men ceased work for a few minutes while their comrade spoke as follows-- "it's not a long story, boys, but it's long enough to prove that ghosts drink. "ye must know that wance upon a time there wos a widdy as lived in a small town in the county o' clare, in owld ireland, an' oh! but that was the place for drinkin' and fightin'. it wos there that i learned to use me sippers; and it wos there, too, that i learned to give up drinkin', for i comed for to see what a mighty dale o' harm it did to my poor countrymen. the sexton o' the place was the only man as niver wint near the grog-shop, and no wan iver seed him overtook with drink, but it was a quare thing that no wan could rightly understand why he used to _smell_ o' drink very bad sometimes. there wos a young widdy in that town, o' the name o' morgan, as kep' a cow, an' owned a small cabin, an' a patch o' tater-ground about the size o' the starn sheets of our owld long-boat. she wos a great deal run after, wos this widdy--not that the young lads had an eye to the cow, or the cabin, or the tater-estate, by no manes--but she wos greatly admired, she wos. i admired her meself, and wint to see her pretty fraquent. well, wan evenin' i wint to see her, an' says i, `mrs morgan, did ye iver hear the bit song called the widdy machree?' `sure i niver did,' says she. `would ye like to hear it, darlint?' says i. so she says she would, an' i gave it to her right off; an' when i'd done, says i, `now, widdy morgan, ochone! will ye take _me_?' but she shook her head, and looked melancholy. `ye ain't a-goin' to take spasms?' said i, for i got frightened at her looks. `no,' says she; `but there's a sacret about me; an' i like ye too well, phil, to decaive ye; if ye only know'd the sacret, ye wouldn't have me at any price.' "`wouldn't i?' says i; `try me, cushla, and see av i won't.' "`phil briant,' says she, awful solemn like, `i'm haunted.' "`haunted!' says i; `'av coorse ye are, bliss yer purty face; don't i know that ivery boy in the parish is after ye?' "`it's not that i mane. it's a ghost as haunts me. it haunts me cabin, and me cow, and me tater-estate; an' it drinks.' "`now, darlint,' says i, `everybody knows yer aisy frightened about ghosts. i don't belave in one meself, an' i don't mind 'em a farden dip; but av all the ghosts in ireland haunted ye, i'd niver give ye up.' "`will ye come an' see it this night?' says she. "`av coorse i will,' says i. an' that same night i wint to her cabin, and she let me in, and put a candle on the table, an' hid me behind a great clock, in a corner jist close by the cupboard, where the brandy-bottle lived. then she lay down on her bed with her clo's on, and pulled the coverlid over her, and pretinded to go to slape. in less nor half-an-hour i hears a fut on the doorstep; then a tap at the door, which opened, it seemed to me, of its own accord, and in walks the ghost, sure enough! it was covered all over from head to fut in a white sheet, and i seed by the way it walked that it wos the worse of drink. i wos in a mortal fright, ye may be sure, an' me knees shuk to that extint ye might have heard them rattle. the ghost walks straight up to the cupboard, takes out the brandy-bottle, and fills out a whole tumbler quite full, and drinks it off; it did, the baste, ivery dhrop. i seed it with me two eyes, as sure as i'm a-standin' here. it came into the house drunk, an' it wint out drunker nor it came in." "is that all?" exclaimed several of briant's auditors. "all! av coorse it is. wot more would ye have? didn't i say that i'd tell ye a story as would prove to ye that ghosts drink, more especially irish ghosts? to be sure it turned out afterwards that the ghost was the sexton o' the parish as took advantage o' the poor widdy's fears; but i can tell ye, boys, that ghost niver came back after the widdy became mrs briant." "oh! then ye married the widder, did ye?" said jim scroggles. "i did; an' she's alive and hearty this day av she's not--" briant was interrupted by a sudden roar of laughter from the men, who at that moment caught sight of jacko, the small monkey, in a condition of mind and body that, to say the least of it, did him no credit. we are sorry to be compelled to state that jacko was evidently and undoubtedly tipsy. gurney said he was "as drunk as a fiddler." we cannot take upon ourself to say whether he was or was not as drunk as that. we are rather inclined to think that fiddlers, as a class, are maligned, and that they are no worse than their neighbours in this respect, perhaps not so bad. certainly, if any fiddler really deserves the imputation, it must be a violoncello player, because he is, properly speaking, a base-fiddler. be this, however, as it may, jacko was unmistakably drunk--in a maudlin state of intoxication--drunker, probably, than ever a monkey was before or since. he appeared, as he came slowly staggering forward to the place where the men were at work on the boat, to have just wakened out of his first drunken sleep, for his eyes were blinking like the orbs of an owl in the sunshine, and in his walk he placed his right foot where his left should have gone, and his left foot where his right should have gone, occasionally making a little run forward to save himself from tumbling on his nose, and then pulling suddenly up, and throwing up his arms in order to avoid falling on his back. sometimes he halted altogether,--and swayed to and fro, gazing, meanwhile, pensively at the ground, as if he were wondering why it had taken to rolling and earthquaking in that preposterous manner; or were thinking on the bald-headed mother he had left behind him in the african wilderness. when the loud laugh of the men saluted his ears, jacko looked up as quickly and steadily as he could, and grinned a ghastly smile--or something like it--as if to say, "what are you laughing at, villains?" it is commonly observed that, among men, the ruling passion comes out strongly when they are under the influence of strong drink. so it is with monkeys. jacko's ruling passion was thieving; but having, at that time, no particular inducement to steal, he indulged his next ruling passion--that of affection--by holding out both arms, and staggering towards phil briant to be taken up. a renewed burst of laughter greeted this movement. "it knows ye, phil," cried jim scroggles. "ah! then, so it should, for it's meself as is good to it. come to its uncle, then. o good luck to yer purty little yaller face. so it wos you stole the brandy, wos it? musha! but ye might have know'd ye belonged to a timp'rance ship, so ye might." jacko spread his arms on briant's broad chest--they were too short to go round his neck--laid his head thereon, and sighed. perhaps he felt penitent on account of his wickedness; but it is more probable that he felt uneasy in body rather than in mind. "i say, briant," cried gurney. "that's me," answered the other. "if you are jacko's self-appointed uncle, and miss ailie is his adopted mother, wot relation is miss ailie to you?" "you never does nothin' right, gurney," interposed nikel sling; "you can't even preepound a pruposition. here's how you oughter to ha' put it. if phil briant be jacko's uncle, and miss ailie his adopted mother--all three bein' related in a sorter way by bein' shipmates, an' all on us together bein' closely connected in vartue of our bein' messmates--wot relation is gurney to a donkey?" "that's a puzzler," said gurney, affecting to consider the question deeply. "here's a puzzler wot'll beat it, though," observed tim rokens; "suppose we all go on talkin' stuff till doomsday, w'en'll the boat be finished?" "that's true," cried dick barnes, resuming work with redoubled energy; "take that young thief to his mother, phil, and tell her to rope's-end him. i'm right glad to find, though, that he _is_ the thief arter all, and not one o' us." on examination being made, it was found that the broken and empty brandy-bottle lay on the floor of the monkey's nest, and it was conjectured, from the position in which it was discovered, that that dissipated little creature, having broken off the neck in order to get at the brandy, had used the body of the bottle as a pillow whereon to lay its drunken little head. luckily for its own sake, it had spilt the greater part of the liquid, with which everything in its private residence was saturated and perfumed. on having ocular demonstration of the depravity of her pet, ailie at first wept, then, on beholding its eccentric movements, she laughed in spite of herself. after that, she wept again, and spoke to it reproachfully, but failed to make the slightest impression on its hardened little heart. then she put it to bed, and wrapped it up carefully in its sailcloth blanket. with this piece of unmerited kindness jacko seemed touched, for he said, "oo-oo--oo-oo--ooee-ee!" once or twice in a peculiarly soft and penitential tone, after which he dropped into a calm, untroubled slumber. chapter twenty one. the boat finished--farewell to fairyland--once more at sea. at last the boat was finished. it had two masts and two lug-sails, and pulled eight oars. there was just sufficient room in it to enable the men to move about freely, but it required a little management to enable them to stow themselves away when they went to sleep, and had they possessed the proper quantity of provisions for their contemplated voyage, there is no doubt that they would have found themselves considerably cramped. the boat was named the _maid of the isle_, in memory of the sandbank on which she had been built, and although in her general outline and details she was rather a clumsy craft, she was serviceable and strongly put together. had she been decked, or even half-decked, the voyage which now began would not have been so desperate an undertaking; but having been only covered in part with a frail tarpaulin, she was not at all fitted to face the terrible storms that sometimes sweep the southern seas. each man, as he gazed at her, felt that his chance of ultimate escape was very small indeed. still, the men had now been so long contemplating the voyage and preparing for it, and they had become so accustomed to risk their lives upon the sea, that they set out upon this voyage at last in cheerful spirits, and even jested about the anticipated dangers and trials which they knew full well awaited them. it was a lovely morning, that on which the wrecked crew of the whaler bade adieu to "fairyland," as the islet had been named by ailie--a name that was highly, though laughingly, approved of by the men. the ocean and sky presented that mysterious co-mingling of their gorgeous elements that irresistibly call forth the wonder and admiration of even the most unromantic and matter-of-fact men. it was one of ailie's peculiarly beloved skies. you could not, without much consideration, have decided as to where was the exact line at which the glassy ocean met the clear sky, and it was almost impossible to tell, when gazing at the horizon, which were the real clouds and which the reflections. the bright blue vault above was laden with clouds of the most gorgeous description, in which all the shades of pearly-grey and yellow were mingled and contrasted. they rose up, pile upon pile, in stupendous majesty, like the very battlements of heaven, while their images, clear and distinct almost as themselves, rolled down and down into the watery depths, until the islet--the only well-defined and solid object in the scene--appeared to float in their midst. the rising sun shot throughout the vast immensity of space, and its warm rays were interrupted, and broken, and caught, and absorbed, and reflected in so many magical ways, that it was impossible to trace any of the outlines for more than a few seconds, ere the eye was lost in the confusion of bright lights and deep shadows that were mingled and mellowed together by the softer lights and shades of every degree of depth and tint into splendid harmony. in the midst of this scene captain dunning stood, with ailie by his side, and surrounded by his men, on the shores of the little island. everything was now in readiness to set sail. the boat was laden, and in the water, and the men stood ready to leap in and push off. "my lads," said the captain, earnestly, "we're about to quit this morsel of sandbank on which it pleased the almighty to cast our ship, and on which, thanks be to him, we have found a pretty safe shelter for so long. i feel a sort o' regret almost at leavin' it now. but the time has come for us to begin our voyage towards the cape, and i need scarcely repeat what you all know well enough--that our undertakin' is no child's play. we shall need all our bodily and our mental powers to carry us through. our labour must be constant, and our food is not sufficient, so that we must go on shorter allowance from this day. i gave you half rations while ye were buildin' the boat, because we had to get her finished and launched as fast as we could, but now we can't afford to eat so much. i made a careful inspection of our provisions last night, and i find that by allowing every man four ounces a day, we can spin it out. we may fall in with islands, perhaps, but i know of none in these seas--there are none put down on the charts--and we may get hold of a fish now and then, but we must not count on these chances. now it must be plain to all of you that our only chance of getting on well together in circumstances that will try our tempers, no doubt, and rouse our selfishness, is to resolve firmly before starting--each man for himself--that we will lay restraint on ourselves and try to help each other as much as we can." there was a ready murmur of assent to this proposal; then the captain continued:-- "now, lads, one word more. our best efforts, let us exert ourselves ever so much, cannot be crowned with success unless before setting out, we ask the special favour and blessing of him who, we are told in the bible, holds the waters of the ocean in the hollow of his hand. if he helps us, we shall be saved; if he does not help us, we shall perish. we will therefore offer up a prayer now, in the name of our blessed redeemer, that we may be delivered from every danger, and be brought at last in peace and comfort to our homes." captain dunning then clasped his hands together, and while the men around him reverently bowed their heads, he offered up a short and simple, but earnest prayer to god. from that day forward they continued the habit of offering up prayer together once a day, and soon afterwards the captain began the practice of reading a chapter aloud daily out of ailie's bible. the result of this was that not only were the more violent spirits among them restrained, under frequent and sore privations and temptations, but all the party were often much comforted and filled with hope at times when they were by their sufferings well-nigh driven to despair. "i'm sorry to leave fairyland, papa," said ailie sadly, as the men shoved the _maid of the isle_ into deep water and pulled out to sea. "so am i, dear," replied the captain sitting down beside his daughter in the stern-sheets of the boat, and taking the tiller; "i had no idea i could have come to like such a barren bit of sand so well." there was a long pause after this remark. every eye in the boat was turned with a sad expression on the bright-yellow sandbank as they rowed away, and the men dipped their oars lightly into the calm waters, as if they were loth to leave their late home. any spot of earth that has been for some time the theatre of heart-stirring events, such as rouse men's strong emotions, and on which happy and hopeful as well as wretched days have been spent, will so entwine itself with the affections of men that they will cling to it and love it, more or less powerfully, no matter how barren may be the spot or how dreary its general aspect. the sandbank had been the cause, no doubt, of the wreck of the _red eric_, but it had also been the means, under god, of saving the crew and affording them shelter during many succeeding weeks--weeks of deep anxiety, but also of healthful, hopeful, energetic toil, in which, if there were many things to create annoyance or fear, there had also been not a few things to cause thankfulness, delight, and amusement. unknown to themselves, these rough sailors and the tender child had become attached to the spot, and it was only now that they were about to leave it for ever that they became aware of the fact. the circumscribed and limited range on which their thoughts and vision had been bent for the last few weeks, had rendered each individual as familiar with every inch of the bank as if he had dwelt there for years. ailie gazed at the low rocks that overhung the crystal pool in fairyland, until the blinding tears filled her eyes, and she felt all the deep regret that is experienced by the little child when it is forcibly torn from an old and favourite toy--regret that is not in the least degree mitigated by the fact that the said toy is but a sorry affair, a doll, perchance, with a smashed head, eyes thrust out, and nose flattened on its face or rubbed away altogether--it matters not; the long and happy hours and days spent in the companionship of that battered little mass of wood or wax rush on the infant memory like a dear delightful dream, and it weeps on separation as if its heart would break. each man in the boat's crew experienced more or less of the same feeling, and commented, according to his nature, either silently or audibly, on each familiar object as he gazed upon it for the last time. "there's the spot where we built the hut when we first landed, ailie," said glynn, who pulled the aft oar; "d'ye see it?--just coming into view; look! there it will be shut out again in a moment by the rock beside the coral-pool." "i see it!" exclaimed ailie eagerly, as she brushed away the tears from her eyes. "there's the rock, too, where we used to make our fire," said the captain, pointing it out. "it doesn't look like itself from this point of view." "ah!" sighed phil briant, "an' it wos at the fut o' that, too, where we used to bile the kittle night an' mornin'. sure it's many a swait bit and pipe i had beside ye." "is that a bit o' the wreck?" inquired tim rokens, pointing to the low rocky point with the eagerness of a man who had made an unexpected discovery. "no," replied mr millons, shading his eyes with his hands, and gazing at the object in question, "it's himpossible. i searched every bit o' the bank for a plank before we came hoff, an' couldn't find a morsel as big as my 'and. w'at say you, doctor?" "i think with you," answered dr hopley; "but here's the telescope, which will soon settle the question." while the doctor adjusted the glass, rokens muttered that "he wos sure it wos a bit o' the wreck," and that "there wos a bit o' rock as nobody couldn't easy git a t'other side of to look, and that that wos it, and the bit of wreck was there," and much to the same effect. "so it is," exclaimed the doctor. "lay on your oars, lads, a moment," said the captain, taking the glass and applying it to his eye. the men obeyed gladly, for they experienced an unaccountable disinclination to row away from the island. perhaps the feeling was caused in part by the idea that when they took their last look at it, it might possibly be their _last_ sight of land. "it's a small piece of the foretopmast crosstrees," observed the captain, shutting up the telescope and resuming his seat. "shall we go back an' pick it up, sir?" asked dick barnes gravely, giving vent to the desires of his heart, without perceiving at the moment the absurdity of the question. "why, what would you do with it, dick?" replied the captain, smiling. "sure, ye couldn't ait it!" interposed briant; "but afther all, there's no sayin'. maybe nikel sling could make a tasty dish out of it stewed in oakum and tar." "it wouldn't be purlite to take such a tit-bit from the mermaids," observed gurney, as the oars were once more dipped reluctantly, in the water. the men smiled at the jest, for in the monotony of sea life every species of pleasantry, however poor, is swallowed with greater or less avidity; but the smile did not last long. they were in no jesting humour at that time, and no one replied to the passing joke. soon after this a soft gentle breeze sprang up. it came direct from fairyland, as if the mermaids referred to by gurney had been touched by the kindly feelings harboured in the sailors' bosoms towards their islet, and had wafted towards them a last farewell. the oars were shipped immediately and the sails hoisted, and, to the satisfaction of all on board, the _maid of the isle_ gave indications of being a swift sailer, for, although the puff of wind was scarcely sufficient to ruffle the glassy surface of the sea, she glided through the water under its influence a good deal faster than she had done with the oars. "that's good!" remarked the captain, watching the ripples as they passed astern; "with fair winds, and not too much of 'em, we shall get on bravely; so cheer up, my lassie," he added, patting ailie on the head, "and let us begin our voyage in good spirits, and with hopeful, trusting hearts." "look at fairyland," said ailie, clasping her father's hand, and pointing towards the horizon. at the moment she spoke, an opening in the great white clouds let a ray of light fall on the sandbank, which had now passed almost beyond the range of vision. the effect was to illumine its yellow shore and cause it to shine out for a few seconds like a golden speck on the horizon. no one had ceased to gaze at it from the time the boat put forth; but this sudden change caused every one to start up, and fix their eyes on it with renewed interest and intensity. "shall we ever see land again?" passed, in one form or another, through the minds of all. the clouds swept slowly on the golden point melted away, and the shipwrecked mariners felt that their little boat was now all the world to them in the midst of that mighty world of waters. chapter twenty two. reduced allowance of food--jacko teaches briant a useful lesson. the first few days of the voyage of the _maid of the isle_ were bright and favourable. the wind, though light, was fair, and so steady that the men were only twice obliged to have recourse to their oars. the boat behaved admirably. once, during these first days, the wind freshened into a pretty stiff breeze, and a somewhat boisterous sea arose, so that she was tested in another of her sailing qualities, and was found to be an excellent sea-boat. very little water was shipped, and that little was taken in rather through the awkwardness of king bumble, who steered, than through the fault of the boat. captain dunning had taken care that there should be a large supply of tin and wooden scoops, for baling out the water that might be shipped in rough weather, as he foresaw that on the promptness with which this duty was performed, might sometimes depend the safety of the boat and crew. there was one thing that proved a matter of much regret to the crew, and that was the want of a fowling-piece, or firearm of any kind. had they possessed a gun, however old and bad, with ammunition for it, they would have been certain, at some period of their voyage, to shoot a few sea-birds, with which they expected to fall in on approaching the land, even although many days distant from it. but having nothing of the kind, their hope of adding to their slender stock of provisions was very small indeed. fortunately, they had one or two fishing-lines, but in the deep water, over which for many days they had to sail, fishing was out of the question. this matter of the provisions was a source of constant anxiety to captain dunning. he had calculated the amount of their stores to an ounce, and ascertained that at a certain rate of distribution they would barely serve for the voyage, and this without making any allowance for interruptions or detentions. he knew the exact distance to be passed over, namely, miles in a straight line, and he had ascertained the sailing and rowing powers of the boat and crew; thus he was enabled to arrive at a pretty correct idea of the probable duration of the voyage, supposing that all should go well. but in the event of strong contrary winds arising, no fresh supplies of fish or fowl being obtained, or sickness breaking out among the men, he knew either that they must starve altogether, or that he must at once, before it was too late, still farther reduce the scanty allowance of food and drink to each man. the captain sat at the helm one fine evening, about a week after their departure from fairyland, brooding deeply over this subject. the boat was running before a light breeze, at the rate of about four or five knots, and the men, who had been obliged to row a good part of that day, were sitting or reclining on the thwarts, or leaning over the gunwale, watching the ripples as they glided by, and enjoying the rest from labour; for now that they had been for some time on reduced allowance of food, they felt less able for work than they used to be, and often began to look forward with intense longing to seasons of repose. ailie was sitting near the entrance of her little sleeping apartment--which the men denominated a kennel--and master jacko was seated on the top of it, scratching his sides and enjoying the sunshine. "my lads," said the captain, breaking a silence which had lasted a considerable time, "i'm afraid i shall have to reduce our allowance still farther." this remark was received by gurney and phil briant with a suppressed groan--by the other men in silence. "you see," continued the captain, "it won't do to count upon chances, which may or may not turn out to be poor. we can, by fixing our allowance per man at a lower rate, make quite certain of our food lasting us until we reach the cape, even if we should experience a little detention; but if we go on at the present rate, we are equally certain that it will fail us just at the last." "we're sartain to fall in with birds before we near the land," murmured gurney, with a rueful expression of countenance. "we are certain of nothing," replied the captain; "but even suppose we were, how are we to get hold of them?" "that's true," observed briant, who solaced himself with his pipe in the absence of a sufficiency of food. "sea-birds, no more nor land-birds, ain't given to pluckin' and roastin' themselves, and flyin' down people's throats ready cooked." "besides," resumed the captain, "the plan i propose, although it will entail a little more present self-denial, will, humanly speaking, ensure our getting through the voyage with life in us even at the worst, and if we _are_ so lucky as to catch fish or procure birds in any way, why we shall fare sumptuously." here tim rokens, to whom the men instinctively looked, upon all matters of perplexity, removed his pipe from his lips, and said-- "wot cap'en dunnin' says is true. if we take his plan, why, we'll starve in a reg'lar way, little by little, and p'raps spin out till we git to the cape; w'ereas, if we take the other plan, we'll keep a little fatter on the first part of the voyage, mayhap, but we'll arrive at the end of it as dead as mutton, every man on us." this view of the question seemed so just to the men, and so full of incontrovertible wisdom, that it was received with something like a murmur of applause. "you're a true philosopher, rokens. now doctor hopley, i must beg you to give us your opinion, as a medical man, on this knotty subject," said the captain, smiling. "do you think that we can continue to exist if our daily allowance is reduced one-fourth?" the doctor replied, "let me see," and putting his finger on his forehead, frowned portentously, affecting to give the subject the most intense consideration. he happened to look at jacko when he frowned, and that pugnacious individual, happening at the same instant to look at the doctor, and supposing that the frown was a distinct challenge to fight, first raised his eyebrows to the top of his head in amazement, then pulled them down over his flashing orbs in deep indignation, and displayed all his teeth, as well as an extent of gums that was really frightful to behold! "oh! jacko, bad thing," said ailie, in a reproachful tone, pulling the monkey towards her. taking no notice of these warlike indications, the doctor, after a few minutes' thought, looked up and said-- "i have no doubt whatever that we can stand it. most of us are in pretty good condition still, and have some fat to spare. fat persons can endure reduced allowance of food much better and longer than those who are lean. there's gurney, now, for instance, he could afford to have his share even still further curtailed." this remark was received with a grin of delighted approval by the men and with a groan by gurney, who rubbed his stomach gently, as if that region were assailed with pains at the bare thought of such injustice. "troth, if that's true what ye say, doctor, i hope ye'll see it to be yer duty to give wot ye cut off gurney's share to me," remarked briant, "for its nothing but a bag o' bones that i am this minute." "oh! oh! wot a wopper," cried jim scroggles, whose lean and lanky person seemed ill adapted to exist upon light fare. "well," observed the captain, "the doctor and i shall make a careful calculation and let you know the result by supper-time, when the new system shall be commenced. what think you, ailie, my pet, will you be able to stand it?" "oh yes, papa, i don't care how much you reduce my allowance." "what! don't you feel hungry?" "no, not a bit." "not ready for supper?" "not anxious for it, at any rate." "och! i wish i wos you," murmured briant, with a deep sigh. "i think i could ait the foresail, av it wos only well biled with the laste possible taste o' pig's fat." by supper-time the captain announced the future daily allowance, and served it out. each man received a piece of salt junk--that is, salt beef--weighing exactly one ounce; also two ounces of broken biscuit; a small piece of tobacco, and a quarter of a pint of water. although the supply of the latter was small, there was every probability of a fresh supply being obtained when it chanced to rain, so that little anxiety was felt at first in regard to it; but the other portions of each man's allowance were weighed with scrupulous exactness, in a pair of scales which were constructed by tim rokens out of a piece of wood--a leaden musket-ball doing service as a weight. ailie received an equal portion with the others, but jacko was doomed to drag out his existence on a very minute quantity of biscuit and water. he utterly refused to eat salt junk, and would not have been permitted to use tobacco even had he been so inclined, which he was not. although they were thus reduced to a small allowance of food--a smaller quantity than was sufficient to sustain life for any lengthened period-- no one in the slightest degree grudged jacko his small portion. all the men entertained a friendly feeling to the little monkey, partly because it was ailie's pet, and partly because it afforded them great amusement at times by its odd antics. as for jacko himself, he seemed to thrive on short allowance, and never exhibited any unseemly haste or anxiety at meal-times. it was observed, however, that he kept an uncommonly sharp eye on all that passed around him, as if he felt that his circumstances were at that time peculiar and worthy of being noted. in particular he knew to a nicety what happened to each atom of food, from the time of its distribution among the men to the moment of its disappearance within their hungry jaws, and if any poor fellow chanced to lay his morsel down and neglect it for the tenth part of an instant, it vanished like a shot, and immediately thereafter jacko was observed to present an unusually serene and innocent aspect, and to become suddenly afflicted, with a swelling in the pouch under his cheek. one day the men received a lesson in carefulness which they did not soon forget. breakfast had been served out, and phil briant was about to finish his last mouthful of biscuit--he had not had many mouthfuls to try his masticating powers, poor fellow--when he paused suddenly, and gazing at the cherished morsel addressed it thus-- "shure, it's a purty bit, ye are! av there wos only wan or two more o' yer family here, it's meself as 'ud like to be made beknown to them. i'll not ait ye yit. i'll look at ye for a little." in pursuance of this luxurious plan, briant laid the morsel of biscuit on the thwart of the boat before him, and, taking out his pipe, began to fill it leisurely, keeping his eye all the time on the last bite. just then mr markham, who pulled the bow oar, called out-- "i say, briant, hand me my tobacco-pouch, it's beside you on the th'ort, close under the gun'le." "is it?" said briant, stretching out his hand to the place indicated, but keeping his eye fixed all the time on the piece of biscuit. "ah, here it is; ketch it." for one instant briant looked at the second mate in order to throw the pouch with precision. that instant was sufficient for the exercise of jacko's dishonest propensities. the pouch was yet in its passage through the air when a tremendous roar from tim rokens apprised the unhappy irishman of his misfortune. he did not require to be told to "look out!" although more than one voice gave him that piece of advice. an intuitive perception of irreparable loss flashed across his soul, and, with the speed of light, his eye was again on the thwart before him--but not on the morsel of biscuit. at that same instant jacko sat down beside ailie with his usual serene aspect and swelled cheek! "och, ye bottle imp!" yelled the bereaved one, "don't i know ye?" and seizing a tin pannikin, in his wrath, he threw it at the small monkey's head with a force that would, had it been well directed, have smashed that small head effectually. jacko made a quick and graceful nod, and the pannikin, just missing ailie, went over the side into the sea, where it sank and was lost for ever, to the regret of all, for they could ill afford to lose it. "ye've got it, ye have, but ye shan't ait it," growled briant through his teeth, as he sprang over the seat towards the monkey. jacko bounded like a piece of indiarubber on to gurney's head; next moment he was clinging to the edge of the mainsail, and the next he was comfortably seated on the top of the mast, where he proceeded calmly and leisurely to "ait" the biscuit in the face of its exasperated and rightful owner. "oh,--briant!" exclaimed ailie, who was half frightened, half amused at the sudden convulsion caused by her favourite's bad conduct, "don't be vexed; see, here is a little bit of my biscuit; i don't want it--really i don't." briant, who stood aghast and overwhelmed by his loss and by the consummate impudence of the small monkey, felt rebuked by this offer. bursting into a loud laugh, he said, as he resumed his seat and the filling of his pipe-- "sure i'd rather ait me own hat, miss ailie, an' it's be no means a good wan--without sarce, too, not even a blot o' mustard--than take the morsel out o' yer purty mouth. i wos more nor half jokin', dear, an' i ax yer parding for puttin' ye in sich a fright." "expensive jokin'," growled tarquin, "if ye throw a pannikin overboard every time you take to it." "kape your tongue quiet," said briant, reddening, for he felt somewhat humbled at having given way to his anger so easily, and was nettled at the remark, coming as it did, in a sneering spirit, from a man for whom he had no particular liking. "never mind, briant," interposed the captain quickly, with a good-humoured laugh; "i feel for you, lad. had it been myself i fear i should have been even more exasperated. i would not sell a crumb of my portion just now for a guinea." "neither would i," added the doctor, "for a thousand guineas." "i'll tell ye wot it is, lads," remarked tim rokens; "i wish i only had a crumb to sell." "now, rokens, don't be greedy," cried gurney. "greedy!" echoed tim. "ay, greedy; has any o' you lads got a dickshunairy to lend him? come, jim scroggles, you can tell him what it means--you've been to school, i believe, hain't you?" rokens shook his head gravely. "no, lad, i'm not greedy, but i'm ready for wittles. i won't go fur to deny that. now, let me ax ye a question. wot--supposin' ye had the chance--would ye give, at this good min'it, for a biled leg o' mutton?" "with or without capers-sauce?" inquired gurney. "w'ichever _you_ please." "och! we wouldn't need capers-sarse," interposed briant; "av we only had the mutton, i'd cut enough o' capers meself to do for the sarce, i would." "it matters little what you'd give," cried glynn, "for we can't get it at any price just now. don't you think, captain, that we might have our breakfast to-night? it would save time in the morning, you know." there was a general laugh at this proposal, yet there was a strong feeling in the minds of some that if it were consistent with their rules to have breakfast served out then and there, they would gladly have consented to go without it next morning. thus, with laugh and jest, and good-natured repartee, did these men bear the pangs of hunger for many days. they were often silent during long intervals, and sometimes they became talkative and sprightly, but it was observed that, whether they conversed earnestly or jestingly, their converse ran, for the most part, on eating and drinking, and in their uneasy slumbers, during the intervals between the hours of work and watching, they almost invariably dreamed of food. chapter twenty three. progress of the long voyage--story-telling and journalising. many weeks passed away, but the _maid of the isle_ still held on her course over the boundless ocean. day after day came and went, the sun rose in the east morning after morning, ran its appointed course, and sank, night after night, on the western horizon, but little else occurred to vary the monotony of that long, long voyage. when the sun rose, its bright rays leapt from the bosom of the ocean; when it set, the same bosom of the great deep received its descending beams. no land, no sail appeared to the anxious gazers in that little boat, which seemed to move across, yet never to reach the boundaries of that mighty circle of water and sky, in the midst of which they lay enchained, as if by some wicked enchanter's spell. breezes blew steadily at times and urged them swiftly on towards the circumference, but it fled as fast as they approached. then it fell calm, and the weary men resumed their oars, and with heavy hearts and weakened arms tugged at the boat which seemed to have turned into a mass of lead. at such times a dead silence was maintained, for the work, which once would have been to them but child's play, had now become severe and heavy labour. still they did not murmur. even the cross-grained tarquin became subdued in spirit by the influence of the calm endurance and good-humour of his comrades. but the calms seldom lasted long. the winds, which happily continued favourable, again ruffled the surface of the sea, and sometimes blew so briskly as to oblige them to take in a reef or two in their sails. the oars were gladly drawn in, and the spirits of the men rose as the little boat bent over to the blast, lost her leaden qualities, and danced upon the broad-backed billows, like a cork. there was no rain during all this time; little or no stormy weather; and, but for their constant exposure to the hot sun by day and the cold chills by night, the time might have been said to pass even pleasantly, despite the want of a sufficiency of food. thus day after day and night after night flew by, and week after week came and went, and still the _maid of the isle_ held on her course over the boundless ocean. during all that time the one and a quarter ounces of salt junk and biscuit and the eighth of a pint of water were weighed and measured out to each man, three times a day, with scrupulous care and exactness, lest a drop or a crumb of the food that was more precious than diamonds should be lost. the men had all become accustomed to short allowance now, and experienced no greater inconvenience than a feeling of lassitude, which feeling increased daily, but by such imperceptible degrees that they were scarcely conscious of it, and were only occasionally made aware of the great reduction of their strength when they attempted to lift any article which, in the days of their full vigour, they could have tossed into the air, but which they could scarcely move now. when, however, the fair breeze enabled them to glide along under sail, and they lay enjoying complete rest, they experienced no unwonted sensations of weakness; their spirits rose, as the spirits of sailors always will rise when the waves are rippling at the bow and a white track forming in the wake; and they spent the time--when not asleep--in cheerful conversation and in the spinning of long yarns. they did not sing, however, as might have been expected--they were too weak for that--they called the feeling "lazy," some said they "couldn't be bothered" to sing. no one seemed willing to admit that his strength was in reality abated. in story-telling the captain, the doctor, and glynn shone conspicuous. and when all was going smoothly and well, the anecdotes, histories, and romances related by these three were listened to with such intense interest and delight by the whole crew, that one would have thought they were enjoying a pleasure trip, and had no cause whatever for anxiety. gurney, too, and briant, and nikel sling came out frequently in the story-telling line, and were the means of causing many and many an hour to pass quickly and pleasantly by, which would otherwise have hung heavily on the hands of all. ailie dunning was an engrossed and delighted listener at all times. she drank in every species of story with an avidity that was quite amusing. it seemed also to have been infectious, for even jacko used to sit hour after hour looking steadily at each successive speaker, with a countenance so full of bright intelligence, and grave surpassing wisdom, as to lead one to the belief that he not only understood all that was said, but turned it over in his mind, and drew from it ideas and conclusions far more bright and philosophical than could have been drawn therefrom by any human being, however wise or ingenious. he grinned, too, did jacko, with an intensity and frequency that induced the sailors at first to call him a clever dog, in the belief that his perception of the ludicrous was very strong indeed; but as his grins were observed to occur quite as frequently at the pathetic and the grave as at the comical parts of the stories, they changed their minds, and said he was a "codger"--in which remark they were undoubtedly safe, seeing that it committed them to nothing very specific. captain dunning's stories were, more properly speaking, histories, and were very much relished, for he possessed a natural power of relating what he knew in an interesting manner and with a peculiarly pleasant tone of voice. every one who has considered the subject at all must have observed what a powerful influence there lies in the mere manner and tone of a speaker. the captain's voice was so rich, so mellow, and capable of such varied modulation, that the men listened with pleasure to the words which rolled from his lips, as one would listen to a sweet song. he became so deeply interested, too, in the subject about which he happened to be speaking, that his auditors could not help becoming interested also. he had no powers of eloquence, neither was he gifted with an unusually bright fancy. but he was fluent in speech, and his words, though not chosen, were usually appropriate. the captain had no powers of invention whatever. he used to say, when asked to tell a story, that he "might as well try to play the fiddle with a handspike." but this was no misfortune, for he had read much, and his memory was good, and supplied him with an endless flow of small-talk on almost every subject that usually falls under the observation of sea-captains, and on many subjects besides, about which most sea-captains, or land-captains, or any other captains whatsoever, are almost totally ignorant. captain dunning could tell of adventures in the whale-fishery, gone through either by himself or by friends, that would have made your two eyes stare out of their two sockets until they looked like saucers (to use a common but not very correct simile). he could tell the exact latitude and longitude of almost every important and prominent part of the globe, and give the distance, pretty nearly, of any one place (on a large scale) from any other place. he could give the heights of all the chief mountains in the world to within a few feet, and could calculate, by merely looking at its current and depth, how many cubic feet of water any river delivered to the sea per minute. length, breadth, and thickness, height, depth, and density, were subjects in which he revelled, and with which he played as a juggler does with golden balls; and so great were his powers of numerical calculation, that the sailors often declared they believed he could work out any calculation backwards without the use of logarithms! he was constantly instituting comparisons that were by no means what the proverb terms "odious," but which were often very astonishing, and in all his stories so many curious and peculiar facts were introduced, that, as we have already said, they were very much relished indeed. not less relished, however, were glynn proctor's astounding and purely imaginative tales. after the men's minds had been chained intently on one of the captain's semi-philosophical anecdotes, they turned with infinite zest to one of glynn's outrageous flights. glynn had not read much in his short life, and his memory was nothing to boast of, but his imagination was quite gigantic. he could invent almost anything; and the curious part of it was, that he could do it out of nothing, if need be. he never took time to consider what he should say. when called on for a story he began at once, and it flowed from him like a flood of sparkling water from a fountain in fairy realms. up in the clouds; high in the blue ether; down in the coral caves; deep in the ocean waves; out on the mountain heaths; far in the rocky glens, or away in the wild woods green--it was all one to glynn; he leaped away in an instant, with a long train of adventurers at his heels--male and female, little and big, old and young, pretty and plain, grave and gay. and didn't they go through adventures that would have made the hair of mortals not only stand on end, but fly out by the roots altogether? didn't he make them talk, as mortals never talked before; and sing as mortals never dreamed of? and, oh! didn't he just make them stew, and roast, and boil joints of savoury meat, and bake pies, and tarts, and puddings, such as soyer in his wildest culinary dreams never imagined, and such as caused the mouths of the crew of the _maid of the isle_ to water, until they were constrained, poor fellows, to tell him to "clap a stopper upon that," and hold his tongue, for they "couldn't stand it!" phil briant and gurney dealt in the purely comic line. they remarked-- generally in an undertone--that they left poetry and prose to glynn and the captain; and it was as well they did, for their talents certainly did not lie in either of these directions. they came out strong after meals, when the weather was fine, and formed a species of light and agreeable interlude to the more weighty efforts of the captain and the brilliant sallies of glynn. gurney dealt in _experiences_ chiefly, and usually endeavoured by asseveration and iteration to impress his hearers with the truth of facts said to have been experienced by himself, which, if true, would certainly have consigned him to a premature grave long ago. briant, on the other hand, dealt largely in ghost stories, which he did not vouch for the truth of, but permitted his hearers to judge of for themselves-- a permission which they would doubtless have taken for themselves at any rate. but tales and stories occupied, after all, only a small portion of the men's time during that long voyage. often, very often, they were too much exhausted to talk or even to listen, and when not obliged to labour at the oars they tried to sleep; but "nature's sweet restorer" did not always come at the first invitation, as was his wont in other days, and too frequently they were obliged to resume work unrefreshed. their hands became hard and horny in the palms at last, like a man's heel, and their backs and arms ached from constant work. ailie kept in good health, but she, too, began to grow weak from want of proper nourishment. she slept better than the men, for the comfortable sleeping-box that glynn had constructed for her sheltered her from the heat, wet, and cold, to which the former were constantly exposed. she amused herself, when not listening to stories or asleep, by playing with her favourite, and she spent a good deal of time in reading her bible-- sometimes to herself, at other times, in a low tone, to her father as he sat at the helm. and many a time did she see a meaning in passages which, in happier times, had passed meaningless before her eyes, and often did she find sweet comfort in words that she had read with comparative indifference in former days. it is in the time of trial, trouble, and sorrow that the bible proves to be a friend indeed. happy the christian who, when dark clouds overwhelm his soul, has a memory well stored with the comforting passages of the word of god. but ailie had another occupation which filled up much of her leisure, and proved to be a source of deep and engrossing interest at the time. this was the keeping of a journal of the voyage. on the last trip made to the wreck of the _red eric_, just before the great storm that completed the destruction of that ship, the captain had brought away in his pocket a couple of note-books. one of these he kept to himself to jot down the chief incidents of the intended voyage; the other he gave to ailie, along with a blacklead pencil. being fond of trying to write, she amused herself for hours together in jotting down her thoughts about the various incidents of the voyage, great and small; and being a very good drawer for her age, she executed many fanciful and elaborate sketches, among which were innumerable portraits of jacko and several caricatures of the men. this journal, as it advanced, became a source of much interest and amusement to every one in the boat; and when, in an hour of the utmost peril, it, along with many other things, was lost, the men, after the danger was past, felt the loss severely. thus they spent their time--now pleasantly, now sadly--sometimes becoming cheerful and hopeful, at other times sinking almost into a state of despair as their little stock of food and water dwindled down, while the _maid of the isle_ still held on her apparently endless course over the great wide sea. chapter twenty four. the calm and the storm--a serious loss and great gain--bird-catching extraordinary--saved at last. one day a deep death-like calm settled down upon the ocean. for some days before, the winds had been light and uncertain, and the air had been excessively warm. the captain cast uneasy glances around him from time to time, and looked with a sadder countenance than usual on the haggard faces of the men as they laboured slowly and silently at the oars. "i don't know what this will turn to, doctor," he said, in a low tone; "i don't like the look of it." the doctor, who was perusing ailie's journal at the moment, looked up and shook his head. "it seems to me, captain, that whatever happens, matters cannot be made much worse." "you are wrong, doctor," replied the captain quietly; "we have still much to be thankful for." "did you not tell me a few minutes ago that the water was almost done?" the doctor said this in a whisper, for the men had not yet been made aware of the fact. "yes, i did; but it is not _quite_ done; that is matter for thankfulness." "oh, according to that principle," observed the doctor, somewhat testily, "you may say we have cause to be thankful for _everything_, bad as well as good." "so we have! so we have! if everything good were taken from us, and nothing left us but our lives, we would have reason to be thankful for that--thankful that we were still above ground, still in the land of hope, with salvation to our immortal souls through jesus christ freely offered for our acceptance." the doctor made no reply. he thought the captain a little weak in the matter of religion. if religion is false, his opinion of the captain no doubt, was right, but if true, surely the weakness lay all the other way. that morning the captain's voice in prayer was more earnest, if possible, than usual, and he put up a special petition for _water_, which was observed by the men with feelings of great anxiety, and responded to with a deep amen. after morning worship the scales were brought, and the captain proceeded to weigh out the scanty meal, while the men watched his every motion with an almost wolfish glare, that told eloquently of the prolonged sufferings they had endured. even poor ailie's gentle face now wore a sharp, anxious expression when food was being served out, and she accepted her small portion with a nervous haste that was deeply painful and touching to witness. she little knew, poor child, that that portion of bread and meat and water, small though it was, was larger than that issued to the men, being increased by a small quantity deducted from the captain's own allowance and an equal amount from that of glynn. the latter had noticed the captain's habit of regularly calling off the child's attention during the distribution of each meal, for the purpose of thus increasing her portion at the expense of his own, and in a whispering conversation held soon after he insisted that a little of his allowance should also be transferred to her. at first the captain firmly refused, but glynn said that if he did not accede to his wish he would hand over the whole of his portion in future to the monkey, let the result be what it might! as glynn never threatened without a full and firm resolve to carry out his threats, the captain was compelled to give in. when the water came to be served out that morning the captain paused, and looking round at the anxious eyes that were riveted upon him, said-- "my lads, it has pleased the almighty to lay his hand still heavier on us. may he who has said that he will not suffer men to be tempted above what they are able to bear, give us strength to stand it. our water is almost done. we must be content with a quarter of our usual allowance." this information was received in deep silence--perhaps it was the silence of despair, for the quantity hitherto served out had been barely sufficient to moisten their parched throats, and they _knew_ that they could not exist long on the reduced allowance. jacko came with the rest as usual for his share, and held out his little hand for the tin cup in which his few drops of water were wont to be handed to him. the captain hesitated and looked at the men; then he poured out a few drops of the precious liquid. for the first time a murmur of disapproval was heard. "it's only a brute beast; the monkey must die before _us_," said a voice which was so hollow and changed that it could scarcely be recognised as that of tarquin, the steward. no one else said a word. the captain did not even look up to see who had spoken. he felt the justice as well as the harshness of the remark, and poured the water back into the jar. jacko seems puzzled at first, and held out his hand again; then he looked round on the men with that expression of unutterable woe which is peculiar to some species of the monkey tribe. he seemed to feel that something serious was about to happen to him. looking up in the sad face of his young mistress, he uttered a very gentle and plaintive "oo-oo-ee!" ailie burst into a passionate flood of tears, and in the impulse of the moment handed her own cup, which she had not tasted, to jacko, who drained it in a twinkling--before the captain could snatch it from his hands. having emptied it, jacko went forward as he had been taught to do, and handed back the cup with quite a pleased expression of countenance--for he was easily satisfied, poor thing! "you should not have done that, my darling," said the captain, as he gave ailie another portion. "dear papa, i couldn't help it," sobbed the child; "indeed i couldn't-- and you need not give me any. i can do without it to-day." "can you? but you shan't," exclaimed glynn, with a degree of energy that would have made every one laugh in happier times. "no, no, my own pet," replied the captain. "you shan't want it. here, you _must_ drink it, come." from that day jacko received his allowance regularly as long as a drop of water was left, and no one again murmured against it. when it was finished he had to suffer with the rest. the calm which had set in proved to be of longer duration than usual, and the sufferings of the crew of the little boat became extreme. on the third day after its commencement the last drop of water was served out. it amounted to a couple of teaspoonfuls per man each meal, of which there were three a day. during the continuance of the calm, the sun shone in an almost cloudless sky and beat down upon the heads of the men until it drove them nearly mad. they all looked like living skeletons, and their eyes glared from their sunken sockets with a dry fiery lustre that was absolutely terrible to behold. had each one in that boat possessed millions of gold he would have given all, gladly, for one drop of fresh water; but, alas! nothing could purchase water there. ailie thought upon the man who, in the bible, is described as looking up to heaven from the depths of hell and crying for one drop of water to cool his tongue, and she fancied that she could now realise his agony. the captain looked up into the hot sky, but no blessed cloud appeared there to raise the shadow of a hope. he looked down at the sea, and it seemed to mock him with its clear blue depths, which looked so sweet and pleasant. he realised the full significance of that couplet in coleridge's _ancient mariner_-- "water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink." and, drawing ailie to his breast, he laid his cheek upon hers and groaned aloud. "we shall soon be taken away, dear papa!" she said--and she tried to weep, but the tears that came unbidden and so easily at other times to her bright blue eyes refused to flow now. the men had one by one ceased to ply their useless oars, and the captain did not take notice of it, for he felt that unless god sent relief in some almost miraculous way, their continuing to row would be of no avail. it would only increase their agony without advancing them more than a few miles on the long, long voyage that he knew still lay before them. "o god, grant us a breeze!" cried mr millons, in a deep, tremulous tone breaking a silence that had continued for some hours. "messmates," said tim rokens, who for some time had leaned with both elbows on his oar and his face buried in his hands, "wot d'ye say to a bath? i do believe it 'ud do us good." "p'haps it would," replied king bumble; but he did not move, and the other men made no reply, while rokens again sank forward. gurney and tarquin had tried to relieve their thirst the day before by drinking sea-water, but their inflamed and swollen throats and lips now showed that the relief sought had not been obtained. "it's time for supper," said the captain, raising his head suddenly, and laying ailie down, for she had fallen into a lethargic slumber; "fetch me the bread and meat can." dick barnes obeyed reluctantly, and the usual small allowance of salt junk was weighed out, but there were no eager glances now. most of the crew refused to touch food--one or two tried to eat a morsel of biscuit without success. "i'll try a swim," cried glynn, suddenly starting up with the intention of leaping overboard. but his strength was more exhausted than he had fancied, for he only fell against the side of the boat. it was as well that he failed. had he succeeded in getting into the water he could not have clambered in again, and it is doubtful whether his comrades had sufficient strength left to have dragged him in. "try it this way, lad," said tim rokens, taking up a bucket, and dipping it over the side. "p'raps it'll do as well." he raised the bucket with some difficulty and poured its contents over glynn's head. "thank god!" said glynn, with a deep, long-drawn sigh. "do it again, tim, do it again. that's it,--again, again! no, stop; forgive my selfishness; here, give me the bucket, i'll do it to you now." tim rokens was quickly drenched from head to foot, and felt great and instantaneous relief. in a few minutes every one in the boat, jacko included, was subjected to this species of cold bath, and their spirits rose at once. some of them even began to eat their food, and briant actually attempted to perpetrate a joke, which gurney seconded promptly, but they failed to make one, even a bad one, between them. although the cold bathing seemed good for them at first, it soon proved to be hurtful. sitting and lying constantly night and day in saturated clothes had the effect of rendering their skins painfully sensitive, and a feverish feeling was often alternated with cold shivering fits, so they were fain to give it up. still they had found some slight relief, and they bore their sufferings with calm resignation--a state of mind which was fostered, if not induced, by the blessed words of comfort and hope which the captain read to them from the bible as frequently as his strength would permit, and to which they listened with intense, all-absorbing interest. it is ever thus with men. when death approaches, in almost all instances, we are ready--ay, anxious--to listen with the deepest interest to god's message of salvation through his son, and to welcome and long for the influences of the holy spirit. oh! how happy should we be in life and in death, did we only give heartfelt interest to our souls' affairs _before_ the days of sorrow and death arrive. on the fifth morning after the water had been exhausted the sun arose in the midst of dark clouds. the men could scarcely believe their eyes. they shouted and, in their weakness, laughed for joy. the blessing was not long delayed. thick vapours veiled the red sun soon after it emerged from the sea, then a few drops of rain fell. blessed drops! how the men caught at them! how they spread out oiled cloths and tarpaulins and garments to gather them! how they grudged to see them falling around the boat into the sea, and being lost to them for ever. but the blessing was soon sent liberally. the heavens above grew black, and the rain came down in thick heavy showers. the tarpaulins were quickly filled, and the men lay with their lips to the sweet pools, drinking-in new life, and dipping their heads and hands in the cool liquid when they could drink no more. their thirst was slaked at last, and they were happy. all their past sufferings were forgotten in that great hour of relief, and they looked, and laughed, and spoke to each other like men who were saved from death. as they stripped off their garments and washed the encrusted salt from their shrunken limbs, all of them doubtless felt, and some of them audibly expressed, gratitude to the "giver of every good and perfect gift." so glad were they, and so absorbed in their occupation, that they thought not of and cared not for the fact that a great storm was about to break upon them. it came upon them almost before they were aware, and before the sails could be taken in the boat was almost upset. "stand-by to lower the sails!" shouted the captain, who was the first to see their danger. the old familiar command issued with something of the old familiar voice and energy caused every one to leap to his post, if not with the agility of former times, at least with all the good will. "let go!" the halyards were loosed, and the sails came tumbling down; at the same moment the squall burst on them. the _maid of the isle_ bent over so quickly that every one expected she would upset; the blue water curled in over the edge of the gunwale, and the foam burst from her bows at the rude shock. then she hissed through the water as she answered the helm, righted quickly, and went tearing away before the wind at a speed that she had not known for many days. it was a narrow escape. the boat was nearly filled with water, and, worst of all, the provision can, along with ailie's sleeping-box, were washed overboard and lost. it was of no use attempting to recover them. all the energies of the crew were required to bale out the water and keep the boat afloat, and during the whole storm some of them were constantly employed in baling. for three days it blew a perfect hurricane, and during all that time the men had nothing whatever to eat; but they did not suffer so much as might be supposed. the gnawing pangs of hunger do not usually last beyond a few days when men are starving. after that they merely feel ever-increasing weakness. during the fall of the rain they had taken care to fill their jars, so that they had now a good supply of water. after the first burst of the squall had passed, the tarpaulins were spread over the boat, and under one of these, near the stern, ailie was placed, and was comparatively sheltered and comfortable. besides forming a shelter for the men while they slept, these tarpaulins threw off the waves that frequently broke over the boat, and more than once bid fair to sink her altogether. these arose in enormous billows, and the gale was so violent that only the smallest corner of the foresail could be raised--even that was almost sufficient to tear away the mast. at length the gale blew itself out, and gradually decreased to a moderate breeze, before which the sails were shaken out, and on the fourth morning after it broke they found themselves sweeping quickly over the waves on their homeward way, but without a morsel of food, and thoroughly exhausted in body and in mind. on that morning, however, they passed a piece of floating seaweed, a sure indication of their approach to land. captain dunning pointed it out to ailie and the crew with a cheering remark that they would probably soon get to the end of their voyage; but he did not feel much hope; for, without food, they could not exist above a few days more at the furthest--perhaps not so long. that same evening, several small sea-birds came towards the boat, and flew inquiringly round it, as if they wondered what it could be doing there, so far away from the haunts of men. these birds were evidently unaccustomed to man, for they exhibited little fear. they came so near to the boat that one of them was at length caught. it was the negro who succeeded in knocking it on the head with a boat-hook as it flew past. great was the praise bestowed on king bumble for this meritorious deed, and loud were the praises bestowed on the bird itself, which was carefully divided into equal portions (and a small portion for jacko), and eaten raw. not a morsel of it was lost--claws, beak, blood, bones, and feathers--all were eaten up. in order to prevent dispute or jealousy, the captain made ailie turn her back on the bird when thus divided, and pointing to the different portions, he said-- "who shall have this?" whoever was named by ailie had to be content with what thus fell to his share. "ah, but ye wos always an onlucky dog!" exclaimed briant, to whom fell the head and claws. "ye've no reason to grumble," replied gurney; "ye've got all the brains to yerself, and no one needs them more." the catching of this bird was the saving of the crew, and it afforded them a good deal of mirth in the dividing of it. the heart and a small part of the breast fell to ailie--which every one remarked was singularly appropriate; part of a leg and the tail fell to king bumble; and the lungs and stomach became the property of jim scroggles, whereupon briant remarked that he would "think as much almost o' _that_ stomach as he had iver done of his own!" but there was much of sadness mingled with their mirth, for they felt that the repast was a peculiarly light one, and they had scarcely strength left to laugh or jest. next morning they knocked down another bird, and in the evening they got two more. the day after that they captured an albatross, which furnished them at last with an ample supply of fresh food. it was mr markham, the second mate, who first saw the great bird looming in the distance, as it sailed over the sea towards them. "let's try to fish for him," said the doctor. "i've heard of sea-birds being caught in that way before now." "fish for it!" exclaimed ailie in surprise. "ay, with hook and line, ailie." "i've seen it done often," said the captain. "hand me the line, bumble, and a bit o' that bird we got yesterday. now for it." by the time the hook was baited, the albatross had approached near to the boat, and hovered around it with that curiosity which seems to be a characteristic feature of all sea-birds. it was an enormous creature; but ailie, when she saw it in the air, could not have believed it possible that it was so large as it was afterwards found to be on being measured. "here, glynn, catch hold of the line," said the captain, as he threw the hook overboard, and allowed it to trail astern; "you are the strongest man amongst us now, i think; starvation don't seem to tell so much on your young flesh and bones as on ours!" "no; it seems to agree with his constitution," remarked gurney. "it's me that wouldn't give much for his flesh," observed briant; "but his skin and bones would fetch a good price in the leather and rag market." while his messmates were thus freely remarking on his personal appearance--which, to say truth, was dreadfully haggard--glynn was holding the end of the line, and watching the motions of the albatross with intense interest. "he won't take it," observed the captain. "me tink him will," said bumble. "no go," remarked nikel sling sadly. "that was near," said the first mate eagerly, as the bird made a bold swoop down towards the bait, which was skipping over the surface of the water. "no, he's off," cried mr markham in despair. "cotched! or i'm a dutchman!" shouted. gurney. "no!" cried jim scroggles. "yes!" screamed ailie. "hurrah!" shouted tim rokens and tarquin in a breath. dick barnes, and the doctor, and the captain, and, in short, everybody, echoed the last sentiment, and repeated it again and again with delight as they saw the gigantic bird once again swoop down upon the bait and seize it. glynn gave a jerk, the hook caught in its tongue, and the albatross began to tug, and swoop, and whirl madly in its effort to escape. now, to talk of any ordinary bird swooping, and fluttering, and tugging, does not sound very tremendous; but, reader, had you witnessed the manner in which that enormous albatross conducted itself, you wouldn't have stared with amazement--oh, no! you wouldn't have gone home with your mouth as wide open as your eyes, and have given a gasping account of what you had seen--by no means! you wouldn't have talked of feathered steam-engines, or of fabled rocs, or of winged elephants in the air--certainly not! glynn's arms jerked as if he were holding on to the sheet of a shifting mainsail of a seventy-four. "bear a hand," he cried, "else i'll be torn to bits." several hands grasped the line in a moment. "my! wot a wopper," exclaimed tim rokens. "och! don't he pull? wot a fortin he'd make av he'd only set his-self up as a tug-boat in the thames!" "if only we had him at the oar for a week," added gurney. "hoich! doctor, have ye strength to set disjointed limbs?" "have a care, lads," cried the captain, in some anxiety; "give him more play, the line won't stand it. time enough to jest after we've got him." the bird was now swooping, and waving, and beating its great wings so close to the boat that they began to entertain some apprehension lest any of the crew should be disabled by a stroke from them before the bird could be secured. glynn, therefore, left the management of the line to others, and, taking up an oar, tried to strike it. but he failed in several attempts. "wait till we haul him nearer, boy," said the captain. "now, then!" glynn struck again, and succeeded in hitting it a slight blow. at the same instant the albatross swept over the boat, and almost knocked the doctor overboard. as it brushed past, king bumble, who was gifted with the agility of a monkey, leaped up, caught it round the neck, and the next moment the two were rolling together in the bottom of the boat. the creature was soon strangled, and a mighty cheer greeted this momentous victory. we are not aware that albatross flesh is generally considered very desirable food, but we are certain that starving men are particularly glad to get it, and that the supply now obtained by the wrecked mariners was the means of preserving their lives until they reached the land, which they did ten days afterwards, having thus accomplished a voyage of above two thousand miles over the ocean in an open boat in the course of eight weeks, and on an amount of food that was barely sufficient for one or two weeks' ordinary consumption. great commiseration was expressed for them by the people at the cape, who vied with each other in providing for their wants, and in showing them kindness. ailie and her father were carried off bodily by a stout old merchant, with a broad kind face, and a hearty, boisterous manner, and lodged in his elegant villa during their stay in that quarter of the world, which was protracted some time in order that they might recruit the wasted strength of the party ere they commenced their voyage home in a vessel belonging to the same stout, broad-faced, and vociferous merchant. meanwhile, several other ships departed for america, and by one of these captain dunning wrote to his sisters martha and jane. the captain never wrote to martha or to jane separately--he always wrote to them conjointly as "martha jane dunning." the captain was a peculiar letter-writer. those who may feel curious to know more about this matter are referred for further information to the next chapter. chapter twenty five. home, sweet home--the captain takes his sisters by surprise--a mysterious stranger. it is a fact which we cannot deny, however much we may feel disposed to marvel at it, that laughter and weeping, at one and the same time, are compatible. the most resolute sceptic on this point would have been convinced of the truth of it had he been introduced into the misses martha and jane dunning's parlour on the beautiful summer morning in which the remarkable events we are about to relate occurred. on the morning in question, a letter-carrier walked up to the cottage with the yellow-painted face, and with the green door, so like a nose in the middle; and the window on each side thereof, so like its eyes; and the green venetian blinds, that served so admirably for eyelids, attached thereto--all of which stood, and beamed, and luxuriated, and vegetated, and grew old in the centre of the town on the eastern seaboard of america, whose name (for strictly private reasons) we have firmly declined, and do still positively refuse to communicate. having walked up to the cottage, the letter-carrier hit it a severe smash on its green nose, as good captain dunning had done many, many months before. the result now, as then, was the opening thereof by a servant-girl--the servant-girl of old. the letter-carrier was a taciturn man; he said nothing, but handed in the letter, and went his way. the servant-girl was a morose damsel; she said nothing, but took the letter, shut the door, and laid it (the letter, not the door) on the breakfast-table, and went her way--which way was the way of all flesh, fish, and fowl--namely, the kitchen, where breakfast was being prepared. soon after the arrival of the letter miss jane dunning--having put on an immaculately clean white collar and a spotlessly beautiful white cap with pink ribbons, which looked, if possible, taller than usual-- descended to the breakfast-parlour. her eye instantly fell on the letter, and she exclaimed--"oh!" at the full pitch of her voice. indeed, did not respect for the good lady forbid, we would say that she _yelled_ "oh!" instantly, as if by magic, a faint "oh!" came down-stairs like an echo, from the region of miss martha dunning's bedroom, and was followed up by a "what is it?" so loud that the most unimaginative person could not have failed to perceive that the elder sister had opened her door and put her head over the banisters. "what is it?" repeated miss martha. "a letter!" answered miss jane. "who from?" (in eager surprise, from above.) "brother george!" (in eager delight, from below.) miss jane had not come to this knowledge because of having read the letter, for it still lay on the table unopened, but because she could not read it at all! one of captain dunning's peculiarities was that he wrote an execrably bad and illegible hand. his english was good, his spelling pretty fair, considering the absurd nature of the orthography of his native tongue, and his sense was excellent, but the whole was usually shrouded in hieroglyphical mystery. miss jane could only read the opening "my dearest sisters," and the concluding "george dunning," nothing more. but miss martha could, by the exercise of some rare power, spell out her brother's hand, though not without much difficulty. "i'm coming," shouted miss martha. "be quick!" screamed miss jane. in a few seconds miss martha entered the room with her cap and collar, though faultlessly clean and stiff, put on very much awry. "give it me! where is it?" miss jane pointed to the letter, still remaining transfixed to the spot where her eye had first met it, as if it were some dangerous animal which would bite if she touched it. miss martha snatched it up, tore it open, and flopped down on the sofa. miss jane snatched up an imaginary letter, tore it open (in imagination), and flopping down beside her sister, looked over her shoulder, apparently to make believe to herself that she read it along with her. thus they read and commented on the captain's letter in concert. "`table bay'--dear me! what a funny bay that must be--`my dearest sisters'--the darling fellow, he always begins that way, don't he, jane dear?" "bless him! he does, martha dear." "`we've been all'--i can't make this word out, can you, dear?" "no, love." "`we've been all-worked!' no, it can't be that. stay, `we've been all _wrecked_!'" here martha laid down the letter with a look of horror, and jane, with a face of ashy paleness, exclaimed, "then they're lost!" "but no," cried martha, "george could not have written to us from tablecloth bay had he been lost." "neither he could!" exclaimed jane, eagerly. under the influence of the revulsion of feeling this caused, martha burst into tears and jane into laughter. immediately after, jane wept and martha laughed; then they both laughed and cried together, after which they felt for their pocket-handkerchiefs, and discovered that in their haste they had forgotten them; so they had to call the servant-girl and send her up-stairs for them; and when the handkerchiefs were brought, they had to be unfolded before the sisters could dry their eyes. when they had done so, and were somewhat composed, they went on with the reading of the letter. "`we've been all wrecked'--dreadful--`and the poor _red angel_'"--"oh! it can't be that, martha dear!" "indeed, it looks very like it, jane darling. oh! i see; it's _eric_--`and the poor _red eric_ has been patched,' or--`pitched on a rock and smashed to sticks and stivers'--dear me! what can that be? i know what `sticks' are, but i can't imagine what `stivers' mean. can you, jane?" "haven't the remotest idea; perhaps johnson, or walker, or webster may-- yes, webster is sure to." "oh! never mind just now, dear jane, we can look it up afterwards--`stivers--sticks and stivers'--something very dreadful, i fear. `but we're all safe and well now'--i'm _so_ thankful!--`and we've been stumped'--no `starved nearly to death, too. my poor ailie was thinner than ever i saw her before'--this is horrible, dear jane." "dreadful, darling martha." "`but she's milk and butter'--it can't be that--`milk and'--oh!--`much better now.'" at this point martha laid down the letter, and the two sisters wept for a few seconds in silence. "darling ailie!" said martha, drying her eyes, "how thin she must have been!" "ah! yes, and no one to take in her frocks." "`we'll be home in less than no time,'" continued martha, reading, "`so you may get ready for us. glynn will have tremendous long yarns to spin to you when we come back, and so will ailie. she has seen a lotofun since we left you'--bless me! what _can_ that be, jane?" "very likely some terrible sea monster, martha; how thankful we ought to be that it did not eat her!--`seen a lotofun'--strange!--`a lot--o''-- oh!--`_lot o' fun_!'--that's it! how stupid of me!--`and my dear pet has been such an ass'--eh! for shame, brother." "don't you think, dear, martha, that there's some more of that word on the next line?" "so there is, i'm _so_ stupid--`istance'--it's not rightly divided though--`as-sistance and a comfort to me.' i knew it couldn't be ass." "so did i. ailie an ass! precious child!" "`now, good-bye t'ye, my dear lassies,' "`ever your affectionate brother,' "(dear fellow!) "`george dunning.'" now it chanced that the ship which conveyed the above letter across the atlantic was a slow sailer and was much delayed by contrary winds. and it also chanced--for odd coincidences do happen occasionally in human affairs--that the vessel in which captain dunning with ailie and his crew embarked some weeks later was a fast-sailing ship, and was blown across the sea with strong favouring gales. hence it fell out that the first vessel entered port on sunday night, and the second cast anchor in the same port on monday morning. the green-painted door, therefore, of the yellow-faced cottage, had scarcely recovered from the assault of the letter-carrier, when it was again struck violently by the impatient captain dunning. miss martha, who had just concluded and refolded the letter, screamed "oh!" and leaped up. miss jane did the same, with this difference, that she leaped up before screaming "oh!" instead of after doing so. then both ladies, hearing voices outside, rushed towards the door of the parlour with the intention of flying to their rooms and there carefully arranging their tall white caps and clean white collars, and keeping the early visitor, whoever he or she might be, waiting fully a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, before they should descend, stiffly, starchly, and ceremoniously, to receive him--or her. these intentions were frustrated by the servant-girl, who opened the green-painted door and let in the captain, who rushed into the parlour and rudely kissed his speechless sisters. "can it be?" gasped martha. jane had meant to gasp "impossible!" but seeing ailie at that moment bound into martha's arms, she changed her intention, uttered a loud scream instead, and fell down flat upon the floor under the impression that she had fainted. finding, however, that this was not the case, she got up again quickly--ignorant of the fact that the tall cap had come off altogether in the fall--and stood before her sister weeping, and laughing, and wringing her hands, and waiting for her turn. but it did not seem likely to come soon, for martha continued to hug ailie, whom she had raised entirely from the ground, with passionate fervour. seeing this, and feeling that to wait was impossible, jane darted forward, threw her arms round ailie--including martha, as an unavoidable consequence--and pressed the child's back to her throbbing bosom. between the two poor ailie was nearly suffocated. indeed, she was compelled to scream, not because she wished to, but because martha and jane squeezed a scream out of her. the scream acted on the former as a reproof. she resigned ailie to jane, flung herself recklessly on the sofa, and kicked. meanwhile, captain dunning stood looking on, rubbing his hands,-- slapping his thighs, and blowing his nose. the servant-girl also stood looking on doing nothing--her face was a perfect blaze of amazement. "girl," said the captain, turning suddenly towards her, "is breakfast ready?" "yes," gasped the girl. "then fetch it." the girl did not move. "d'ye hear?" cried the captain. "ye-es." "then look alive." the captain followed this up with a roar and such an indescribably ferocious demonstration that the girl fled in terror to the culinary regions, where she found the cat breakfasting on a pat of butter. the girl yelled, and flung first a saucepan, and after that the lid of a teapot, at the thief. she failed, of course, in this effort to commit murder, and the cat vanished. breakfast was brought, but, excepting in the captain's case, breakfast was not eaten. what between questioning, and crying, and hysterical laughing, and replying, and gasping, explaining, misunderstanding, exclaiming, and choking, the other members of the party that breakfasted that morning in the yellow cottage with the much-abused green door, did little else than upset tea-cups and cream-pots, and sputter eggs about, and otherwise make a mess of the once immaculate tablecloth. "oh, aunt martha!" exclaimed ailie, in the midst of a short pause in the storm, "i'm _so_ very, very, _very_ glad to be home!" the child said this with intense fervour. no one but he who has been long, long away from the home of his childhood, and had come back after having despaired of ever seeing it again, can imagine with what deep fervour she said it, and then burst into tears. aunt jane at that moment was venturing to swallow her first mouthful of tea, so she gulped and choked, and aunt martha spent the next five minutes in violently beating the poor creature's back, as if she deemed choking a serious offence which merited severe punishment. as for the captain, that unfeeling monster went on grinning from ear to ear, and eating a heavy breakfast, as if nothing had happened. but a close observer might have noticed a curious process going on at the starboard side of his weather-beaten nose. in one of his many desperate encounters with whales, captain dunning had had the end of a harpoon thrust accidentally into the prominent member of his face just above the bridge. a permanent little hole was the result, and on the morning of which we write, a drop of water got into that hole continually, and when it rolled out--which it did about once every two minutes--and fell into the captain's tea-cup, it was speedily replaced by another drop, which trickled into the depths of that small cavern on the starboard side of the captain's nose. we don't pretend to account for that curious phenomenon. we merely record the fact. while the breakfast party were yet in this april mood, a knock was heard at the outer door. "visitors!" said martha, with a look that would have led a stranger to suppose that she held visitors in much the same estimation as tax-gatherers. "how awkward!" exclaimed aunt jane. "send 'em away, girl," cried the captain. "we're all engaged. can't see any one to-day." in a moment the servant-girl returned. "he says he _must_ see you." "see who?" cried the captain. "see _you_, sir." "must he; then he shan't. tell him that." "please, sir, he says he won't go away." "won't he?" as he said this the captain set his teeth, clenched his fists, and darted out of the room. "oh! george! stop him! do stop him. he's _so_ violent! he'll do something dreadful!" said aunt martha. "will no one call out murder?" groaned aunt jane, with a shudder. as no one, however, ventured to check captain dunning, he reached the door, and confronted a rough, big, burly sailor, who stood outside with a free-and-easy expression of countenance, and his hands in his trousers pockets. "why don't you go away when you're told, eh?" shouted the captain. "'cause i won't," answered the man coolly. the captain stepped close up, but the sailor stood his ground and grinned. "now, my lad, if you don't up anchor and make sail right away, i'll knock in your daylights." "no, you won't do nothin' o' the kind, old gen'lem'n; but you'll double-reef your temper, and listen to wot i've got to say; for it's very partikler, an' won't keep long without spilin'." "what have you got to say, then?" said the captain, becoming interested, but still feeling nettled at the interruption. "can't tell you here." "why not?" "never mind; but put on your sky-scraper, and come down with me to the grog-shop wot i frequents, and i'll tell ye." "i'll do nothing of the sort; be off," cried the captain, preparing to slam the door. "oh! it's all the same to me, in coorse, but i rather think if ye know'd that it's 'bout the _termagant_, and that 'ere whale wot--but it don't matter. good-mornin'." "stay," cried the captain, as the last words fell on his ears. "have you really anything to say to me about that ship?" "in coorse i has." "won't you come in and say it here?" "not by no means. you must come down to the grog-shop with _me_." "well, i'll go." so saying the captain ran back to the parlour; said, in hurried tones, that he had to go out on matters of importance, but would be back to dine at five, and putting on his hat, left the cottage in company with the strange sailor. chapter twenty six. captain dunning astonishes the stranger--surprising news, and desperate resolves. still keeping his hands in his pockets and the free-and-easy expression on his countenance, the sailor swaggered through the streets of the town with captain dunning at his side, until he arrived at a very dirty little street, near the harbour, the chief characteristics of which were noise, compound smells, and little shops with sea-stores hung out in front. at the farther end of this street the sailor paused before a small public-house. "here we are," said he; "this is the place w'ere i puts up w'en i'm ashore--w'ich ain't often--that's a fact. after you, sir." the captain hesitated. "you ain't afraid, air you?" asked the sailor, in an incredulous tone. "no, i'm not, my man; but i have an objection to enter a public-house, unless i cannot help it. have you had a glass this morning?" the sailor looked puzzled, as if he did not see very clearly what the question had to do with the captain's difficulty. "well, for the matter o' that, i've had three glasses this mornin'." "then i suppose you have no objection to try a glass of my favourite tipple, have you?" the man smiled, and wiping his mouth with the cuff of his jacket, as if he expected the captain was, then and there, about to hand him a glass of the tipple referred to, said-- "no objection wotsomediver." "then follow me; i'll take you to the place where _i_ put up sometimes when i'm ashore. it's not far off." five minutes sufficed to transport them from the dirty little street near the harbour to the back-parlour of the identical coffee-house in which the captain was first introduced to the reader. here, having whispered something to the waiter, he proceeded to question his companion on the mysterious business for which he had brought him there. "couldn't we have the tipple first?" suggested the sailor. "it will be here directly. have you breakfasted?" "'xceptin' the three glasses i told ye of--no." well, now, what have you to tell me about the _termagant_? you have already said that you are one of her crew, and that you were in the boat that day when we had a row about the whale. what more can you tell me? the sailor sat down on a chair, stretched out his legs quite straight, and very wide apart, and thrust his hands, if possible, deeper into his pockets than they even were thrust before--so deep, in fact, as to suggest the idea that there were no pockets there at all--merely holes. then he looked at captain dunning with a peculiarly sly expression of countenance and winked. "well, that's not much. anything more?" inquired the captain. "ho, yes; lots more. the _termagant's_ in this yere port--at--this-- yere--moment." the latter part of this was said in a hoarse emphatic whisper, and the man raising up both legs to a horizontal position, let them fall so that his heels came with a crash upon the wooden floor. "is she?" cried the captain, with lively interest; "and her captain?" "he's--yere--too!" captain dunning took one or two hasty strides across the floor, as if he were pacing his own quarterdeck--then stopped suddenly and said-- "can you get hold of any more of that boat's crew?" "i can do nothin' more wotiver, nor say nothin' more wotsomediver, till i've tasted that 'ere tipple of yourn." the captain rang the bell, and the waiter entered with ham and eggs, buttered toast, and hot coffee for two. the sailor opened his eyes to their utmost possible width, and made an effort to thrust his hands still deeper into his unfathomable trousers pockets; then he sat bolt upright, and gathering his legs as close under his chair as possible, clasped his knees with his hands, hugged himself, and grinned from ear to ear. after sitting a second or two in that position, he jumped up, and going forward to the table, took up the plate of ham and eggs, as if to make sure that it was a reality, and smelt it. "is _this_ your favourite tipple?" he said, on being quite satisfied of the reality of what he saw. "coffee is my favourite drink," replied the captain, laughing. "i never take anything stronger." "ho! you're a to-teetler?" "i am. now, my man, as you have not yet had breakfast, and as you interrupted me in the middle of mine, suppose we sit down and discuss the matter of the whale over this." "well, this is the rummiest way of offerin' to give a fellow a glass as i ever did come across since i was a tadpole, as sure as my name's dick jones," remarked the sailor, sitting down opposite the captain, and turning up the cuffs of his coat. having filled his mouth to its utmost possible extent, the astonished seaman proceeded, at one and the same time, to masticate and to relate all that he knew in regard to the _termagant_. he said that not only was that vessel in port at that time, but that the same men were still aboard; that the captain--dixon by name--was still in command, and that the whale which had been seized from the crew of the _red eric_ had been sold along with the rest of the cargo. he related; moreover, how that he and his comrades had been very ill-treated by captain dixon during the voyage, and that he (captain d) was, in the opinion of himself and his shipmates, the greatest blackguard afloat, and had made them so miserable by his brutality and tyranny, that they all hoped they might never meet with his like again-- not to mention the hopes and wishes of a very unfeeling nature which they one and all expressed in regard to that captain's future career. besides all this, he stated that he (dick jones) had recognised captain dunning when he landed that morning, and had followed him to the cottage with the yellow face and the green door; after which he had taken a turn of half-an-hour or so up and down the street to think what he ought to do, and had at last resolved to tell all that he knew, and offer to stand witness against his captain, which he was then and there prepared to do, at that time or at any future period, wherever he (captain dunning) liked, and whenever he pleased, and that there was an end of the whole matter, and that was a fact. having unburdened his mind, and eaten all the ham, and eggs, and toast, and drunk all the coffee, and asked for more and got it, dick jones proceeded to make himself supremely happy by filling his pipe and lighting it. "i'll take him to law," said captain dunning firmly, smiting the table with his fist. "i know'd a feller," said jones, "wot always said, w'en he heard a feller say that, `you'll come for to wish that ye hadn't;' but i think ye're right, cap'en; for it's a clear case, clear as daylight; an' we'll all swear to a'most anything as'll go fur to prove it." "but are you sure your messmates are as willing as you are to witness against the captain?" "sure? in coorse i is--sartin sure. didn't he lamp two on 'em with a rope's-end once till they wos fit to bust, and all for nothin' but skylarkin'? they'll all go in the same boat with me, 'cept perhaps the cook, who is named baldwin. he's a cross-grained critter, an'll stan' by the cap'en through thick an thin, an' so will the carpenter--box they call him--he's dead agin us; but that's all." "then i'll do it at once," cried captain dunning, rising and putting on his hat firmly, as a man does when he has made a great resolve, which he more than half suspects will get him into a world of difficulties and trouble. "i s'pose i may set here till ye come back?" inquired dick jones, who now wore a dim mysterious aspect, in consequence of the cloud of smoke in which he had enveloped himself. "you may sit there till they turn you out; but come and take breakfast with me at the same hour to-morrow, will ye?" "won't i?" "then good-day." so saying, the captain left the coffee-house, and hurried to his sisters' cottage, where he rightly conjectured he should find glynn proctor. without telling his sisters the result of the interview with the "rude seaman," he took glynn's arm and sallied forth in search of tim rokens and mr millons, both of whom they discovered enjoying their pipes, after a hearty breakfast, in a small, unpretending, but excellent and comfortable "sailors' home," in the dirty little street before referred to. the greater part of the crew of the late _red eric_ (now "sticks and stivers") were found in the same place, engaged in much the same occupation, and to these, in solemn conclave assembled, captain dunning announced his intention of opening a law-suit against the captain of the _termagant_ for the unlawful appropriation of the whale harpooned by glynn. the men highly approved of what they called a "shore-going scrimmage," and advised the captain to go and have the captain and crew of the _termagant_ "put in limbo right off." thus advised and encouraged, captain dunning went to a lawyer, who, after hearing the case, stated it as his opinion that it was a good one, and forthwith set about taking the needful preliminary steps to commencing the action. thereafter captain dunning walked rapidly home, wiping his hot brow as he went, and entering the parlour of the cottage--the yellow-faced cottage--flung himself on the sofa with a reckless air, and said, "i've done it!" "horror!" cried aunt martha. "misery!" gasped aunt jane, who happened to be fondling ailie at the time of her brother's entrance. "is he dead?" "_quite_ dead?" added martha. "is _who_ dead?" inquired the captain, in surprise. "the man--the rude sailor!" "dead! no." "you said just now that you had done it." "so i have. i've done the deed. i've gone to law." had the captain said that he had gone to "sticks and stivers," his sisters could not have been more startled and horrified. they dreaded the law, and hated it with a great and intense hatred, and not without reason; for their father had been ruined in a law-suit, and his father had broken the law, in some political manner they could never clearly understand, and had been condemned by the law to perpetual banishment. "will it do you much harm, dear, papa?" inquired ailie, in great concern. "harm? of course not. i hope it'll do me, and you too, a great deal of good." "i'm _so_ glad to hear that; for i've heard people say that when you once go into it you never get out of it again." "so have i," said aunt martha, with a deep sigh. "and so have i," added aunt jane, with a deeper sigh, "and i believe it's true." "it's false!" cried the captain, laughing, "and you are all silly geese; the law is--" "a bright and glorious institution! a desirable investment for the talents of able men! a machine for justice usually--injustice occasionally--and, like all other good things, often misused, abused, and spoken against!" said glynn proctor, at that moment entering the room, and throwing his hat on one chair, and himself on another. "i've had enough of the sea, captain, and have come to resign my situation, and beg for dinner." "you shall have it immediately, dear glynn," said martha, whose heart warmed at the sight of one who had been so kind to her little niece. "nay, i'm in no hurry," said glynn, quickly; "i did but jest, dear madam, as shakespeare has it. perhaps it was milton who said it; one can't be sure; but whenever a truly grand remark escapes you, you're safe to clap it down to shakespeare." at this point the servant-girl announced dinner. at the same instant a heavy foot was heard in the passage, and tim rokens announced himself, saying that he had just seen the captain's lawyer, and had been sent to say that he wished to see captain dunning in the course of the evening. "then let him go on wishing till i'm ready to go to him. meanwhile do you come and dine with us, rokens, my lad." rokens looked awkward, and shuffled a little with his feet, and shook his head. "why, what's the matter, man?" rokens looked as if he wished to speak, but hesitated. "if ye please, cap'en, i'd raither not, axin' the ladies' parding. i'd like a word with you in the passage." "by all means," replied the captain, going out of the room with the sailor. "now, what's wrong?" "my flippers, cap'en," said rokens, thrusting out his hard, thick, enormous hands, which were stained all over with sundry streaks of tar, and were very red as well as extremely clumsy to look at--"i've bin an' washed 'em with hot water and rubbed 'em with grease till i a'most took the skin off, but they won't come clean, and i'm not fit to sit down with ladies." to this speech the captain replied by seizing tim rokens by the collar and dragging him fairly into the parlour. "here's a man," cried the captain enthusiastically, presenting him to martha, "who's sailed with me for nigh thirty years, and is the best harpooner i ever had, and has stuck to me through thick and thin, in fair weather and foul, in heat and cold, and was kinder to ailie during the last voyage than all the other men put together, exceptin' glynn, and who tells me his hands are covered with tar, and that he can't wash 'em clean nohow, and isn't fit to dine with ladies; so you will oblige me, martha, by ordering him to leave the house." "i will, brother, with pleasure. i order you, mr rokens, to leave this house _at your peril_! and i invite you to partake of our dinner, which is now on the table in the next room." saying this, aunt martha grasped one of the great tar-stained "flippers" in both of her own delicate hands, and shook it with a degree of vigour that tim rokens afterwards said he could not have believed possible had he not felt it. seeing this, aunt jane turned aside and blew her nose violently. tim rokens attempted to make a bow, failed, and grinned. the captain cried--"now, then, heave ahead!" glynn, in the exuberance of his spirits, uttered a miniature cheer. ailie gave vent to a laugh, that sounded as sweet as a good song; and the whole party adjourned to the dining-room, where the servant-girl was found in the sulks because dinner was getting rapidly cold, and the cat was found:-- "prowling round the festal board on thievish deeds intent." [see milton's _paradise regained_, latest edition.] chapter twenty seven. the law-suit--the battle, and the victory. the great case of dunning _versus_ dixon came on at last. on that day captain dunning was in a fever; glynn proctor was in a fever; tim rokens was in a fever; the misses dunning were in two separate fevers--everybody, in fact, on the dunning side of the case was in a fever of nervous anxiety and mental confusion. as witnesses in the case, they had been precognosced to such an extent by the lawyers that their intellects were almost overturned. on being told that he was to be precognosced. tim rokens said stoutly, "he'd like to see the man as 'ud do it"; under the impression that that was the legal term for being kicked, or otherwise maltreated; and on being informed that the word signified merely an examination as to the extent of his knowledge of the facts of the case, he said quietly, "fire away!" before they had done firing away, the gallant harpooner was so confused that he began to regard the whole case as already hopeless. the other men were much in the same condition; but in a private meeting held among themselves the day before the trial, rokens made the following speech, which comforted them not a little. "messmates and shipmates," said tim, "i'll tell ye wot it is. i'm no lawyer--that's a fact--but i'm a man; an' wot's a man?--it ain't a bundle o' flesh an' bones on two legs, with a turnip a-top o't, is it?" "be no manes," murmured briant, with an approving nod. "cer'nly not," remarked dick barnes. "i second that motion." "good," continued rokens. "then, bein' a man, i've got brains enough to see that, if we don't want to contredick one another, we must stick to the truth." "you don't suppose i'd go fur to tell lies, do you?" said tarquin quickly. "in coorse not. but what i mean to say is, that we must stick to what we _knows_ to be the truth, and not be goin' for to guess at it, or _think_ that we knows it, and then swear to it as if we wos certain sure." "hear! hear!" from the assembled company. "in fact," observed glynn, "let what we say be absolutely true, and say just as little as we can. that's how to manage a good case." "an', be all manes," added briant, "don't let any of ye try for to improve matters be volunteerin' yer opinion. volunteerin' opinions is stuff. volunteerin' is altogether a bad look-out. i know'd a feller, i did--a strappin' young feller he was, too, more betoken--as volunteered himself to death, he did. to be sure, his wos a case o' volunteerin' into the louth militia, and he wos shot, he wos, in a pop'lar riot, as the noosepapers said--a scrimmage, i calls it--so don't let any o' us be goin' for to volunteer opinions w'en nobody axes 'em--no, nor wants 'em." briant looked so pointedly at gurney while delivering this advice that that obese individual felt constrained to look indignant, and inquire whether "them 'ere imperent remarks wos meant for him." to which briant replied that "they wos meant for him, as well as for ivery man then present." whereupon gurney started up and shook his fist across the table at briant, and briant made a face at gurney, at which the assembled company of mariners laughed, and immediately thereafter the meeting was broken up. next day the trial came on, and as the case was expected to be more than usually interesting, the house was filled to overflowing long before the hour. the trial lasted all that day, and all the next, and a great part of the third, but we do not purpose going into it in detail. the way in which mr rasp (captain dunning's counsel) and mr tooth (captain dixon's counsel) badgered, browbeat, and utterly bamboozled the witnesses on both sides, and totally puzzled the jury, can only be understood by those who have frequented courts of law, but could not be fully or adequately described in less than six hundred pages. in the course of the trial the resolutions come to by the crew of the _red eric_, that they would tell _nothing_ but the truth, and carefully refrain from touching on what they were not quite sure of, proved to be of the greatest advantage to the pursuer's case. we feel constrained here to turn aside for one moment to advise the general adoption of that course of conduct in all the serious affairs of life. the evidence of tim rokens was clear and to the point. the whale had been first struck by glynn with a harpoon, to which a drogue was attached; it had been followed up by the crew of the _red eric_ and also by the crew of the _termagant_. the boats of the latter over-took the fish first, fixed a harpoon in it, and lanced it mortally. the drogue and harpoon of the _red eric_ were still attached to the whale when this was done, so that, according to the laws of the fishery, the crew of the _termagant_ had no right to touch the whale--it was a "fast" fish. if the drogue had become detached the fish would have been free, and both crews would have been entitled to chase and capture it if they were able. angry words and threats had passed between the crews of the opposing boats, but the whale put a stop to that by smashing the boat of the _red eric_ with its tail, whereupon the boat of the _termagant_ made off with the fish (which died almost immediately after), and left the crew of the boat belonging to the _red eric_ struggling in the water. such was the substance of the evidence of the harpooner, and neither cross-examination nor re-cross-examination by mr tooth, the counsel for the defendant, could induce tim rokens to modify, alter, omit, or contradict one iota of what he had said. it must not be supposed, however, that all of the men gave their evidence so clearly or so well. the captain did, though he was somewhat nervous, and the doctor did, and glynn did. but that of nikel sling was unsatisfactory, in consequence of his being unable to repress his natural tendency to exaggeration. tarquin also did harm; for, in his spite against the crew of the _termagant_, he made statements which were not true, and his credit as a witness was therefore totally destroyed. last of all came jim scroggles, who, after being solemnly sworn, deposed that he was between thirty-five and thirty-six years of age, on hearing which gurney said "oh!" with peculiar emphasis, and the people laughed, and the judge cried "silence," and the examination went on. after some time mr tooth rose to cross-question jim scroggles, who happened to be a nervous man in public, and was gradually getting confused and angry. "now, my man, please to be particular in your replies," said mr tooth, pushing up his spectacles on his forehead, thrusting his hands into his trousers pockets, and staring very hard at jim. "you said that you pulled the second oar from the bow on the day in which the whale was killed." "yes." "are you quite sure of that? was it not the _third_ oar, now?" "yes or no," interrupted mr tooth. "it's so long since--" "yes or no," repeated mr tooth. "yes," roared scroggles, forgetting at the moment, in his confusion and indignation at not being allowed to speak, in what manner the question had been put. "yes," echoed mr tooth, addressing the judge, but looking at the jury. "you will observe, gentlemen. would your lordship be so good as to note that? this witness, on that very particular occasion, when every point in the circumstances must naturally have been impressed deeply on the memories of all present, appears to have been so confused as not to know which oar of the boat he pulled. so, my man" (turning to the witness), "it appears evident that either you are now mis-stating the facts of the case or were then incapable of judging of them." jim scroggles felt inclined to leap out of the witness-box, and knocked the teeth of mr tooth down his throat! but he repressed the inclination, and that gentleman went on to say-- "when the boat of the _red eric_ came up to the whale was the drogue still attached to it?" "in coorse it was. didn't ye hear me say that three or--" "be so good as to answer my questions simply, and do not make unnecessary remarks, sir. was the drogue attached when the boat came up? yes or no?" "yes." "how do you know?" "'cause i seed it." "you are quite sure that you saw it?" "in coorse!--leastwise, tim rokens seed it, and all the men in the boat seed it, and said so to me afterwards--w'ich is the same thing, though i can't 'xactly say i seed it myself, 'cause i was looking hard at the men in the enemy's boat, and considerin' which on 'em i should give a dab in the nose to first w'en we come along side of 'em." "oh, then you did _not_ see the drogue attached to the whale?" said mr tooth, with a glance at the jury; "and you were so taken up with the anticipated fight, i suppose, that you scarcely gave your attention to the whale at all! were the other men in your boat in a similarly unobservant condition?" "eh?" exclaimed scroggles. "were the other men as eager for the fight as you were?" "i s'pose they wos; you'd better ax 'em. _i_ dun know." "no, i don't suppose you do, considering the state of mind you appear to have been in at the time. do you know which part of the whale struck your boat? was it the head?" "no; it was the tail." "are you quite sure of that?" "ho, yes, quite sartin, for i've got a knot on my head this day where the tip of its flukes came down on me." "you're quite sure of that? might it not have been the part of the fish near the tail, now, that struck you, or the fin just under the tail?" "no; i'm quite sartin sure it warn't _that_." "how are you so sure it wasn't that?" "because whales hain't got no fins just under their tails!" replied scroggles, with a broad grin. there was another loud laugh at this, and mr tooth looked a little put out, and the judge cried "silence" again, and threatened to clear the court. after a few more questions jim scroggles was permitted to retire, which he did oppressed with a feeling that his evidence had done the case little good, if not some harm, yet rather elated than otherwise at the success of his last hit. that evening captain dunning supped with ailie and his sisters in low spirits. glynn and the doctor and tim rokens and the two mates, millons and markham, supped with him, also in low spirits; and king bumble acted the part of waiter, for that sable monarch had expressed an earnest desire to become captain dunning's servant, and the captain had agreed to "take him on," at least for a time. king bumble was also in low spirits; and, as a natural consequence, so were aunts martha and jane and little ailie. it seemed utterly incomprehensible to the males of the party, how so good a case as this should come to wear such an unpromising aspect. "the fact is," said the captain, at the conclusion of a prolonged discussion, "i don't believe we'll gain it." "neither do i," said the doctor, helping himself to a large quantity of salad, as if that were the only comfort now left to him, and he meant to make the most of it before giving way to total despair. "i knew it," observed aunt martha firmly. "i always said the law was a wicked institution." "it's a great shame!" said aunt jane indignantly; "but what could we expect? it treats every one ill." "won't it treat captain dixon well, if he wins, aunt?" inquired ailie. "dear child, what can you possibly know about law?" said aunt martha. "would you like a little more tart?" asked aunt jane. "bravo! ailie," cried glynn, "that's a fair question. i back it up." "how much do you claim for damages, george?" inquired aunt martha, changing the subject. ("question!" whispered glynn.) "two thousand pounds," answered the captain. "what!" exclaimed the aunts, in a simultaneous burst of amazement. "all for _one_ fish?" "ay, it was a big one, you see, and dick jones, one of the men of the _termagant_, told me it was sold for that. it's a profitable fishing, when one doesn't lose one's ship. what do you say to go with me and ailie on our next trip, sisters? you might use up all your silk and worsted thread and crooked pins." "what nonsense you talk, george; but i suppose you really do use pretty large hooks and lines when you fish for whales?" aunt martha addressed the latter part of her remark to tim rokens, who seemed immensely tickled by the captain's pleasantry. "hooks and lines, ma'am!" cried rokens, regarding his hostess with a look of puzzled surprise. "to be sure we do," interrupted glynn; "we use anchors baited with live crocodiles--sometimes elephants, when we can't get crocodiles. but hippopotamuses do best." "oh! glynn!" cried ailie, laughing, "how can you?" "it all depends on the drogue," remarked the doctor. "i'm surprised to find how few of the men can state with absolute certainty that they saw the drogue attached to the whale when the boat came up to it. it all hinges upon that." "yes," observed mr millons, "the 'ole case 'inges on that, because that proves it was a fast fish." "dear me, mr millons," said aunt martha, smiling, "i have heard of fast young men, but i never heard of a fast fish before." "didn't you, ma'am?" exclaimed the first mate, looking up in surprise, for that matter-of-fact seamen seldom recognised a joke at first sight. aunt martha, who very rarely ventured on the perpetration of a joke, blushed, and turning somewhat hastily to mr markham, asked if he would "take another cup of tea." seeing that there was no tea on the table, she substituted "another slice of ham," and laughed. thereupon the whole company laughed, and from that moment their spirits began to rise. they began to discuss the more favourable points of the evidence led that day, and when they retired at a late hour to rest, their hopes had again become sanguine. next morning the examination of the witnesses for the defendant came on. there were more of them than dick jones had expected; for the crew of the _termagant_ happened to be partly made up of very bad men, who were easily bribed by their captain to give evidence in his favour. but it soon became evident that they had not previously determined, as captain dunning's men had done, to stick to the simple truth. they not only contradicted each other but each contradicted himself more than once; and it amazed them all, more than they could tell, to find how easily mr rasp turned their thoughts outside in, and caused them to prove conclusively that they were telling falsehoods. after the case had been summed up by the judge, the jury retired to consult, but they only remained five minutes away, and then came back with a verdict in favour of the pursuers. "who's the `pursooers?'" inquired gurney, when this was announced to him by nikel sling. "ain't we all pursooers? wasn't we all pursooing the whale together?" "oh, you grampus!" cried nikel, laughing. "don't ye know that _we_ is the purshooers, 'cause why? we're purshooin' the cap'en and crew of the _termagant_ at law, and means to purshoo 'em too, i guess, till they stumps up for that air whale. and they is the defendants, 'cause they're s'posed to defend themselves to the last gasp; but it ain't o' no manner o' use." nikel sling was right. captain dixon _was_ pursued until he paid back the value of his ill-gotten whale, and was forcibly reminded by this episode in his career, that "honesty is the best policy" after all. thus captain dunning found himself suddenly put in possession of a sum of two thousand pounds. chapter twenty eight. the conclusion. the trouble, and worry, and annoyance that the sum of pounds gave to captain dunning is past all belief. that worthy man, knowing that glynn proctor had scarcely a penny in the world, not even his "kit" (as sailors name their sea-chests), which had been lost in the wreck of the _red eric_, and that the boy was about to be cast upon the world again an almost friendless wanderer--knowing all this, we say, captain dunning insisted that as glynn had been the first to strike the whale, and as no one else had had anything to do with its capture, he (glynn) was justly entitled to the money. glynn firmly declined to admit the justice of this view of the case; he had been paid his wages; that was all he had any right to claim; so he positively refused to take the money. but the captain was more than his match. he insisted so powerfully, and argued so logically, that glynn at last consented, on condition that pounds of it should be distributed among his shipmates. this compromise was agreed to, and thus glynn came into possession of what appeared in his eyes a fortune of pounds. "now, what am i to do with it? that is the question." glynn propounded this knotty question one evening, about three weeks after the trial, to his friends of the yellow cottage with the green-painted door. "put it in the bank," suggested aunt martha. "yes, and live on the interest," added aunt jane. "or invest in the whale-fishery," said captain dunning, emitting a voluminous cloud of tobacco-smoke, as if to suggest the idea that the investment would probably end in something similar to that. (the captain was a peculiarly favoured individual; he was privileged to smoke in the misses dunning's parlour.) "oh! i'll tell you what to do, glynn," cried ailie, clapping her hands; "it would be _so_ nice. buy a cottage with it--a nice, pretty, white-painted cottage, beside a wood, with a little river in front of it, and a small lake with a boat on it not far off, and a far, far view from the windows of fields, and villages, and churches, and cattle, and sheep, and--" "hurrah! ailie, go it, my lass!" interrupted glynn; "and horses, and ponies, and carts, and cats, and blackbirds, and cocks and hens, and ploughmen, and milkmaids, and beggars, all in the foreground; and coaches, and railroads, and steamboats, and palaces, and canals, in the middle distance; with a glorious background of the mighty sea glittering for ever under the blazing beams of a perpetually setting sun, mingled with the pale rays of an eternally rising moon, and laden with small craft, and whale-ships, and seaweed, and fish, and bumboats, and men-of-war!" "oh, how nice!" cried ailie, screaming with delight. "go ahead, lad, never give in!" said the captain; whose pipe during this glowing description had been keeping up what seemed like a miniature sea-fight. "you've forgot the main point." "what's that?" inquired glynn. "why, a palace for jacko close beside it, with a portrait of jacko over the drawing-room fireplace, and a marble bust of jacko in the four corners of every room." "so i did; i forgot that," replied glynn. "dear jacko!" said ailie, laughing heartily, and holding out her hand. the monkey, which had become domesticated in the house, leaped nimbly upon her knee, and looked up in her face. "oh! ailie dear, do put it down!" cried aunt jane, shuddering. "how can you?" said aunt martha; "dirty beast!" of course aunt martha applied the latter part of her remark to the monkey, not to the child. "i'll never be able to bear it," remarked aunt jane. "and it will never come to agree with the cat," observed aunt martha. ailie patted her favourite on the cheek and told it to go away, adding, that it was a dear pet--whereupon that small monkey retired modestly to a corner near the sideboard. it chanced to be the corner nearest to the sugar-basin, which had been left out by accident; but jacko didn't know that, of course--at least, if he did, he did not say so. it is probable, however, that he found it out in course of time; for an hour or two afterwards the distinct marks of ten very minute fingers were visible therein, a discovery which aunt martha made with a scream, and aunt jane announced with a shriek--which caused jacko to retire precipitately. "but really," said glynn, "jesting apart, i must take to something on shore, for although i like the sea very well, i find that i like the land better." "well, since you wish to be in earnest about it," said captain dunning, "i'll tell you what has been passing in my mind of late. i'm getting to be an oldish young man now, you see, and am rather tired of the sea myself, so i also think of giving it up. i have now laid by about five thousand pounds, and with this i think of purchasing a farm. i learnt something of farming before i took to the sea, so that i am not quite so green on such matters as you might suppose, though i confess i'm rather rusty and behind the age; but that won't much matter in a fine country like this, and i can get a good steward to take command and steer the ship until i have brushed up a bit in shore-goin' navigation. there is a farm which is just the very thing for me not more than twenty miles from this town, with a cottage on it and a view _somewhat_ like the one you and ailie described a few minutes ago, though not _quite_ so grand. but there's one great and insuperable objection to my taking it." "what is that?" inquired aunt martha, who, with her sister, expressed in their looks unbounded surprise at the words of their brother, whom they regarded as so thoroughly and indissolubly connected with the sea that they would probably have been less surprised had he announced it to be his intention to become a fish and thenceforward dwell in a coral cave. "i have not enough of money wherewith to buy and stock it." "_what_ a pity!" said ailie, whose hopes had been rising with extraordinary rapidity, and were thus quenched at once. glynn leaped up and smote his thigh with his right hand, and exclaimed in a triumphant manner--"that's the very ticket!" "what's the very ticket?" inquired the captain. "i'll lend you _my_ money," said glynn. "ay, boy, that's just the point i was comin' to. a thousand pounds will do. now, if you lend me that sum, i'm willin' to take you into partnership, and we'll buy the place and farm it together. i think we'll pull well in the same boat, for i think you like me well enough, and i'm sure i like you, and i know ailie don't object to either of us; and after i'm gone, glynn, you can work the farm for ailie and give her her share. what say you?" "done," exclaimed glynn, springing up and seizing the captain's hand. "i'll be your son and you'll be my father, and ailie will be my sister-- and _won't_ we be jolly, just!" ailie laughed, and so did the two aunts, but the captain made no reply. he merely smoked with a violence that was quite appalling, and nodding his head, winked at glynn, as if to say--"that's it, exactly!" the compact thus half-jestingly entered into was afterwards thoroughly ratified and carried into effect. the cottage was named the red eric, and the property was named the whale brae, after an ancestral estate which, it was supposed, had, at some remote period, belonged to the dunning family in scotland. the title was not inappropriate, for it occupied the side of a rising ground, which, as a feature in the landscape, looked very like a whale, "only," as glynn said, "not quite so big," which was an outrageous falsehood, for it was a great deal bigger! a small wooden palace was built for jacko, and many a portrait was taken of him by glynn, in charcoal, on many an outhouse wall, to the immense delight of ailie. as to having busts of him placed in the corners of every room, glynn remarked that that was quite unnecessary, for jacko _almost_ "bu'st" himself in every possible way, at every conceivable time, in every imaginable place, whenever he could conveniently collect enough of food to do so--which was not often, for jacko, though small, was of an elastic as well as an amiable disposition. tim rokens stuck to his old commander to the last. he said he had sailed with him the better part of his life, in the same ships, had weathered the same storms, and chased the same fish, and now that the captain had made up his mind to lay up in port, he meant to cast anchor beside him. so the bold harpooner became a species of overseer and jack-of-all-trades on the property. phil briant set up as a carpenter in the village close by, took to himself a wife (his first wife having died), and became tim rokens' boon companion and bosom friend. as for the rest of the crew of the _red eric_, they went their several ways, got into separate ships, and were never again re-assembled together; but nearly all of them came at separate times, in the course of years, to visit their old captain and shipmates in the red eric at whale brae. in course of time ailie grew up into such a sweet, pretty, modest, loveable woman, that the very sight of her did one's heart good. love was the ruling power in ailie's heart--love to her god and saviour and to all his creatures. she was not perfect. who is? she had faults, plenty of them. who has not? but her loving nature covered up everything with a golden veil so beautiful, that no one saw her faults, or, if they did, would not believe them to be faults at all. glynn, also, grew up and became a _man_. observe, reader, we don't mean to say that he became a thing with long legs, and broad shoulders, and whiskers. glynn became a real man; an out-and-out man; a being who realised the fact that he had been made and born into the world for the purpose of doing that world good, and leaving it better than he found it. he did not think that to strut, and smoke cigars, and talk loud or big, and commence most of his sentences with "aw! 'pon my soul!" was the summit of true greatness. neither did he, flying in disgust to the opposite extreme, speak like a misanthrope, and look like a bear, or dress like a savage. he came to know the truth of the proverb, that "there is a time for all things," and following up the idea suggested by those words, he came to perceive that there is a place for all things-- that place being the human heart, when in a true and healthy condition in all its parts, out of which, in their proper time, some of those "all things" ought to be ever ready to flow. hence glynn could weep with the sorrowful and laugh with the gay. he could wear a red or a blue flannel shirt, and pull an oar (ay, the best oar) at a rowing match, or he could read the bible and pray with a bedridden old woman. had glynn proctor been a naval commander, he might have sunk, destroyed, or captured fleets. had he been a soldier, he might have stormed and taken cities; being neither, he was a greater man than either, for he could "_rule his own spirit_." if you are tempted, dear reader, to think that an easy matter, just try it. make the effort. the first time you chance to be in a towering rage (which i trust, however, may never be), try to keep your tongue silent, and, most difficult of all, try at that moment to pray, and see whether your opinion as to your power over your own spirit be not changed. such were glynn and ailie. "so they married, of course," you remark. well, reader, and why not? nothing could be more natural. glynn felt, and said, too, that nothing was nearer his heart. and ailie admitted-- after being told by glynn that she must be his wife, for he wanted to have her, and was determined to have her whether she would or not--that her heart was in similar proximity to the idea of marriage. captain dunning did not object--it would have been odd if he had objected to the fulfilment of his chief earthly desire. tim rokens did not groan when he heard of the proposal--by no means; on the contrary, he roared, and laughed, and shouted with delight, and went straight off to tell phil briant, who roared a duet with him, and they both agreed that it "wos the most gloriously nat'ral thing they ever did know since they wos launched upon the sea of time!" so glynn proctor and ailie dunning were married, and lived long, and happily, and usefully at whale brae. captain dunning lived with them until he was so old that ailie's eldest daughter (also named ailie) had to lead him from his bedroom each morning to breakfast, and light his pipe for him when he had finished. and ailie the second performed her duties well, and made the old man happy--happier than he could find words to express--for ailie the second was like her mother in all things, and greater praise than that could not possibly be awarded to her. the affairs of the cottage with the yellow face and the green door were kept in good order for many years by one of ailie the second's little sisters--martha by name; and there was much traffic and intercourse between that ancient building and the red eric, as long as the two aunts lived, which was a very long time indeed. its green door was, during that time, almost battered off its hinges by successive juvenile members of the proctor family. and truly deep and heartfelt was the mourning at whale brae when the amiable sisters were taken away at last. as for tim rokens, that ancient mariner became the idol of the young proctors, as they successively came to be old enough to know his worth. the number of ships and boats he made for the boys among them was absolutely fabulous. equal, perhaps, to about a twentieth part of the number of pipes of tobacco he smoked during his residence there, and about double the number of stories told them by phil briant during the same period. king bumble lived with the family until his woolly head became as white as his face was black; and jacko--poor little jacko--lived so long, that he became big, but he did not become less amiable, or less addicted to thieving. he turned grey at last and became as blind as a bat, and finally crawled about the house, enfeebled by old age, and wrapped in a flannel dressing-gown. sorrows and joys are the lot of all; they chase each other across the sky of human life like cloud and sunshine on an april day. captain dunning and his descendants were not exempt from the pains, and toils, and griefs of life, but they met them in the right spirit, and diffused so sweet an influence around their dwelling that the neighbours used to say--and say truly--of the family at the red eric, that they were always good-humoured and happy--as happy as the day was long. the end. the two whalers; or, adventures in the pacific, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ jack is a young teenager, who is being prepared for the sea. he lives in deal, a busy port in east kent, and several well-found boats with good skippers hail from there. after attending a nautical college, and obtaining first prize there, he goes to sea with captain hake in the "eagle". he has already met medley, another apprentice in the same vessel. they have difficulty getting out of the thames estuary and into the channel, on account of the weather, but eventually they reach southern latitudes where again they have difficulty in rounding cape horn and getting into the pacific. here begin a series of difficulties despite which they manage to catch some whales, and boil down the blubber, for its oil. the difficulties include weather, mutineers, pirates, and separation of whaling boats from the mother ship. eventually of course all problems are overcome, and they return to england, no doubt to go back to sea again soon after. ________________________________________________________________________ the two whalers; or, adventures in the pacific, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. i hail from deal, where my father was highly respected, not on account of his worldly wealth, for of that he had but small store, but because he was an honest, upright, god-fearing man, who did his duty to his neighbour, and ruled his family with discretion. and my mother--she was a mother!--so loving and gentle and considerate; she kept us, her children, of whom there were nine, i being the third, in excellent order, and yet we scarcely discovered the means she employed. we trusted her implicitly; we knew that she entered into all our sorrows as well as into our joys and amusements. how carefully she bound up a cut finger or bathed a bruised knee; or if we were trying to manufacture any toy, how ready she was to show us the best way to do the work; how warmly she admired it when finished, and how proudly she showed it to father when he came in. i was accustomed from my earliest days to the sight of ships coming into or going out of the downs, or brought up before our town, and i used to listen with deep interest to the account of his adventures in all parts of the world with which our neighbour, captain bland, was wont to entertain us when he came to our house, or when we went in to take tea with him and mrs bland and their daughter mary. i can, therefore, scarcely remember the time when i did not wish to become a sailor, though as my eldest brother bill was intended for the sea, and indeed went away when i was still a little fellow, my father had thoughts of bringing me up to some trade or other. i should have been content to follow my father's wishes, or rather to have done what he believed best for me, had i been sent away inland, where i could not have heard nautical matters talked about, and where the sea and shipping would have been out of my sight. while i remained at home the desire grew stronger and stronger to become like the seafaring men i was constantly meeting--pilots, masters and mates, and boatmen--and i may venture to say that a finer race of sailors are nowhere to be found than those belonging to deal. captain bland was a thorough sailor. he dearly loved the sea, and the ship he commanded, and his crew--at least he took a warm interest in their welfare--but he loved his wife and daughter more, and for their sakes he remained on shore longer than he would otherwise have done. still, he made three or four voyages while i was a youngster, and he always spoke as if he had no intention of abandoning the sea until he had laid by a competency for old age. how many a master says the same, and goes on ploughing the ocean in the delusive hope of reaping a harvest till the great reaper gathers him into his garner. notwithstanding my predilections in favour of a sea life, i was still undecided as to my future career, when one winter's day, after school hours, as i was taking a run out on the london road, i saw coming along towards me a fine broad, well-built lad, with a sun-burnt countenance, and a stick having a bundle at the end of it over his shoulder. his dress, and the jaunty way he walked, with a slight roll, as if trying to steady himself on a tossing deck, showed me that he was a sailor. we were going to pass each other, when he looked hard at me, and i looked hard at him. suddenly it struck me that i knew his features; so i stopped, and he stopped, and we gazed into one another's faces. "can you be brother bill?" i exclaimed. "bill's my name, my hearty. and you!--are you brother jack? yes, i'm sure you are!" and grasping my hand he wrung it till i thought he would have wrung it off, while, half-laughing, half-crying for pleasure, he asked, "how's father and mother, and susan and jane, and mary and dick, and the rest of them; and little tommy?" he was the youngest of us, and could just toddle when bill went away. thus he ran on, asking question after question, which i answered as well as i could, while we went towards home at a pretty round trot--he eager to get there and see them all again, and i almost as eager to have the satisfaction of rushing in and shouting out, "here's bill come back again!" i need not describe the way bill was received. no one seemed to think that they could make enough of him. mary, a small girl, sat on his knee at supper, with one arm round his neck, and ever and anon gave him a kiss and a hug, exclaiming, "dear bill, we are so glad you're come back;" and susan and jane placed themselves one on each side that they might the better help him to what was on the table; and we bigger boys listened eagerly to all he said; and father watched him with pride, and the light shone brighter than ever from mother's eyes as she gazed at him; and little tommy came toddling into the room in his night-gown (having scrambled out of his crib) saying, "tommy want see dat brodder bill really come home--all right--dere he is--hurrah!" and off he ran again with susan at his heels, but he had nimbly climbed into his nest before she caught him. as to myself, i looked at bill with unbounded admiration, and eagerly listened to every word which dropped from his lips. he had plenty to talk about, and wonders of all sorts to describe, for he had been in the indian sea, and visited china, and the west coast of america, and several islands in the pacific, and gone round the world. how he rattled on! i thought drake, cavendish, and dampier, lord anson and captain cook were nothing to him--at all events, that i would far rather hear the narrative of his adventures than read theirs. i was almost vexed with captain bland for coming in one evening, even though mary accompanied him, because bill became suddenly far more reticent than usual in his presence, if not altogether dumb, and when he did speak, merely described in a modest tone some very commonplace occurrences. i could not make it out. after some time, when bill was out of ear-shot, i heard captain bland remark to father that he liked lads who did not speak about themselves. it was a pretty sure sign that they were better doers than talkers. "he'll succeed, will that lad of yours; he's kept his eyes open wherever he's been; he'll make a smart officer one of these days," he added. i was much pleased when captain bland thus spoke of bill, and i thought to myself, what would he have said if he had heard him describe some of the wonderful adventures he had narrated to us. when i afterwards told bill what the old captain had said, and my ideas on the subject, he laughed heartily. "why, jack, he would have shut me up pretty smartly," he answered. "old cocks don't allow young ones to crow in their presence." bill made ample amends for his previous silence when we were together, knowing that i was never tired of listening to him. i could think about nothing else but what he had told me, and i made up my mind that i would far rather become a sailor than follow any other calling. i told him so. "well, jack, i think you're right," he said; "i wouldn't change if i had the offer--no, not to become prime minister of england or the first merchant in the land. remember, though, it isn't all smooth sailing. you must expect rough weather as well as fine; but if you're determined to go i'll speak to father, and i don't think that he'll refuse you." bill fulfilled his promise, and father, after consulting captain bland, agreed to let me go, provided i was of the same mind when i was old enough to be apprenticed. neither our mother nor our sisters had a word to say against my wishes; nor had mary bland. "i wish that i was a boy, jack, that i might go also," she exclaimed. "we shall be very, very sorry to lose you," she added after a short silence; "but then, you know, you will come back, and how glad we all shall be to see you again." bill told me how well pleased he was that father had given me leave to go to sea. "but i want you to study navigation at once, so that you may become an officer as soon as possible. you'll never get on without that," he said, and producing an old, well-thumbed edition of hamilton moore's "epitome of navigation," he added, "i'll give you this, jack. it has served me, and will serve you well if you master it as i've done." how i did prize that book! i doubt if i ever valued anything more in my life. my brother, i should have said, had been at an excellent nautical school in deal, established a few years before by several officers of the royal navy, where he gained much credit by his intelligence and attention to his studies. as soon as it was finally settled that i was to go to sea i was sent to the same school on the day my brother left home to go on his next voyage. i easily passed in, as i knew all the simple rules of arithmetic thoroughly, and was pretty well up in decimals. having learned from my brother that the use of logarithms and the first principles of geometry would soon be taught me at school, with his help i had at once set to work on them, and after he went away i continued my studies in the evenings when other boys were at play, so that i quickly mastered all those necessary preliminaries. i consequently got over them at school with a rapidity which astonished the master, and with no little pride i heard the inspector, a naval captain, remark, "first-rate boy--beats his brother--be a master in a jiffy." the result of my working so hard out of hours was that at our annual examination i took the first prize, and was shortly afterwards pronounced fit to be sent to sea. as i still held to my wish to go, my father at once wrote to the owners of several first-class south sea whalers, who immediately agreed to send me as an apprentice on board one of their ships, the "eagle," captain hake, just about to sail for the pacific. on the night before my departure i slept but little for thinking of the novel and wonderful scenes i expected to go through, and i am pretty sure that my kind mother did not close her eyes, but from a different cause. she was thinking of parting from me, and of the dangers to which i was to be exposed. she was praying that i might be preserved from them i know, for she told me so. at three o'clock in the morning she called me up, that i might be ready to start with my father by the mail coach for margate, whence we were to go up the river to london by steamer. how earnestly did my pious father at family prayers, which he never omitted, commend me to the care of him who watches over all the creatures of his hands! i felt that there was a reality in that prayer, such as i had never before comprehended. breakfast over, and parting embraces given, we started, and rattling away to margate, were soon on board the "royal adelaide" on our way up the thames. bitter as was the cold, i was too much occupied in running about and examining everything connected with the steamer to mind it. the helm, the machinery, the masts and rigging, the huge paddle-wheels, the lead and lead-line, all came under my notice. as i was in no ways bashful i made the acquaintance of several persons on board, and among others i spoke to a lad considerably my senior, whose dress and well-bronzed face and hands showed me that he was a sailor. "are you going to sea, youngster?" he asked, looking me over from head to foot, as if to judge how far i was cut out for a nautical life. "yes, in a few days, i hope, on board the `eagle,'" i answered. "that is curious; she is the ship i belong to," he remarked. "you're in luck, for she's a smart craft, and, as things go, we are tolerably comfortable on board; but you must be prepared to take the rough with the smooth, mind you; there are a good many things to rub against afloat as well as ashore, you'll find." "and what sort of man is the captain?" i asked somewhat eagerly, anxious to know the character of my future commander. "the captain is the captain, and while you are on board his ship you'd better not rub against him, but listen to what he tells you to do, and do it; sharp's the word with him." i was not much the wiser from this information, but i gathered from it that captain hake was a man who would stand no nonsense. i determined at all events to learn my duty, and to try and perform it to the best of my power. i next asked my new friend his name, supposing that, though he looked young, he might be one of the mates. "andrew medley," he answered. "i am still an apprentice, as you are about to become, so we shall be messmates; and if you are wise, i hope that we shall get on well together." "i hope so," i replied, with confidence, liking his looks. just then my father came up, and hearing that medley was to be my messmate, shook hands with him. presently he sent me off on some excuse or other, and drawing medley aside, had a short, earnest talk with him. what it was about i did not at the time know. "i am thankful that you have got so right-minded a young man for a messmate," observed my father shortly afterwards. "he will, i hope, prove a true friend to you." i must not stop to describe my astonishment at the crowded thoroughfares we passed along on our way to the inn where we lodged for the night. the next morning we went to the office of the owners in old broad street, where i was, by the signing of certain papers, bound apprentice for four years on board the good ship "eagle," south sea whaler, captain hake commander. this done, we made our way to the river, and getting into a wherry proceeded in her to the dock, in which my ship lay getting ready for sea. on going on board i looked round for medley, but could nowhere see him, and presently my father took me up to captain hake, who was standing aft, giving his orders in a sharp, ringing voice, which showed that he was accustomed to be obeyed. "if he is the man his appearance betokens, he is a very fine fellow indeed," i thought to myself. he was of good height, with broad shoulders, an open countenance, well-bronzed, large blue eyes, and a thick bushy beard. i don't know if he formed as good an opinion of me as i did of him, but he looked down good-naturedly as he said, "i'll do my best to make a seaman of the lad, mr kemp, and i'll keep an eye on him, as i do on all the youngsters under my charge." he then invited us into the cabin and gave us some luncheon, after which my father took his leave. i accompanied him to the side. pressing my hand, with a trembling voice he said, "we may never meet again, jack. you have chosen a perilous profession, and may at any moment be called away; but, my dear boy, seek always so to live that you may be ready to go when summoned." i watched him as he pulled away till his wherry was lost to sight among the shipping, and at first felt very sad; but i soon recovered my spirits, and having got one of the few seamen who had joined to stow my chest away for me on the half-deck, where he told me the apprentices slept, i set out to make an exploring expedition round the ship. i should have been wiser had i waited for medley, or, at all events, avoided touching anything with the use of which i was not acquainted. among other novelties which i examined was the windlass, which had the handles shipped, but i did not observe that on the top of it was coiled a large quantity of iron chain out of the way to allow of the deck being scraped. i saw that the big thing was intended to go round, so i thought that i would try if i could move it by myself. i pressed with all my force against one of the handles, when, to my infinite satisfaction, the windlass began to revolve, but as it did so, to my still greater dismay, down came the chain rattling on to the deck. in vain i tried to stop it. i then made a desperate effort to replace it, but as it had taken probably two men some time to put it up i had not the slightest chance of succeeding. my task was something like that of sisyphus, a man of ancient days, who had to roll a huge stone to the top of a mountain, but which always came down again as soon as he got it there. i had not been long engaged in my hopeless undertaking when my ears were assailed by such a volley of abuse as i had never before heard in my life. as i turned round, letting go the chain, which came rattling down again on deck, i discovered that it proceeded from a head that had suddenly appeared above the combings of the fore hatch. it might have been a picturesque head, but was not pleasant-looking to my eyes. on the top was an old party-coloured nightcap, beneath which stuck out on all sides a mass of reddish hair resembling oakum or shavings, as untwisted rope is called at sea; a pair of ferrety eyes, a snub nose, and a huge mouth half concealed by a bushy beard, completed the countenance of the individual who was addressing me. i need not repeat what he said, but if his remarks were true i was among the greatest reprobates this evil world has ever produced. i stood with my hands by my side mutely gazing at him, for i had nothing to say for myself. i was conscious that i had done something wrong, though not meriting the remarks to which i was listening. "arrah, now spake, youngster, if you've a tongue belonging to you," cried the head. still i said nothing. presently, below the head a pair of broad shoulders covered with a red shirt emerged from the hatchway, and i had an unpleasant vision of a bear-like hand grasping a short piece of knotted rope. the next instant a short thick-set man in tarry trousers springing on deck advanced towards me, ominously flourishing the piece of rope. i did not think of running, for i had nowhere to run to, so i stood stock still. down came the rope on my shoulders. i tried hard not to cry out. a second and a third blow followed. i had on a pretty thick jacket on account of the cold, so that i was not so much hurt as i might have been; still, as i did not like the treatment i was receiving, i tried to get out of my tormentor's way, and in doing so fell over the chain flat on the deck, striking my nose in a way which made the blood flow pretty quickly. he not noticing this gave me another whack, which hurt more than all the others, as it was on the part most exposed, and was about to repeat it, when i heard a voice say "hold fast there, dan; enough of that. the boy hasn't been on board an hour and you must needs get foul of him." "who are you that's afther spakin' to me in that way? sure, if, i'm not mighty mistaken, you're only an apprentice yourself," exclaimed dan, in an angry tone. while he was speaking i crawled along the deck out of his way, and looking up, i recognised my acquaintance on board the steamer, andrew medley, who replied calmly, "whether or not i am only an apprentice, i'll not stand by and see a young boy ill-treated who hasn't strength to defend himself." the ruffian laughed hoarsely, but when he saw the blood streaming down my face as medley assisted me to get up, he looked somewhat alarmed, for he remembered that we were not yet at sea, and that although he might then treat me much worse with impunity it would be prudent to avoid the risk of being summoned before a magistrate for an assault. "are you much hurt, jack?" asked medley, as he led me aft. "only my nose bleeds; though the last cuts that man gave me were not pleasant," i replied. "if that's all, come below and we'll soon get you set to rights with some cold water," said medley. "i am glad i came in time to save you from tasting more of dan hogan's colt. though a bully, he is a good boat-steerer, so the captain keeps him on, but, for my part, i think the ship would be better without him." "i should have been so, at all events, just now," i remarked, and i went down with medley to the half-deck. with the help of a sponge and some cold water i was soon put to rights, and except that i felt an unpleasant sensation in the back i was not much the worse for the beating i had received. the first mate, mr renshaw, however, who had heard of my performance from hogan, quickly sent for me, and after scolding me for my carelessness, ordered me to draw a bucket of water. "i'll find something for you to do, depend on that, youngster," he observed, and he was as good as his word. i was not over successful in carrying out this my first piece of duty, for in attempting to secure a rope to the bucket that i might lower it over the side, i made a slippery hitch. to my dismay when i hauled in the rope the bucket was not at the end. it had gone to the bottom. i fully expected to get another taste of dan hogan's colt, but medley, who at that moment came on deck, seeing what had happened, lowered a hook and fished up the bucket. he then showed me how to make a proper hitch, and the mate kept me drawing water till my arms ached. i was feeling very hungry, and was wondering if i should get any dinner, when medley told me that no fires were allowed to be lighted on board, and consequently that no cooking could be carried on while the ship was in dock. i was thinking of petitioning the steward for some bread and cheese, when the captain came out of his cabin and told me to accompany him on shore. before long we stopped close to the dock entrance, at the well-known inn, "the dog and duck," and taking me to the landlady told her to supply me with whatever i wanted to eat and drink. i thanked him very much as he left me there, and the hostess asking me if i should like something at once, to which i replied, "i should think so indeed," speedily placed a capital dinner before me. i did not fail after this, whenever i felt hungry, to pay a visit to "the dog and duck," not being particular as to hours, and mine hostess always looked glad to see me. i had learned the names of the masts and yards and ropes, and a good deal besides, thanks to medley's assistance, by the time the ship was ready for sea. even dan hogan readily told me anything i wanted to know, and seemed as pleased as his rough nature would allow that i did not show any ill-feeling towards him on account of the drubbing he had given me. in about a week after i went on board we hauled out of dock, and a tug towed us down to gravesend. here the owner paid us a parting visit, followed by the jew slop-sellers, with whom the men spent most of their advanced wages in the purchase of all sorts of articles, the more prudent furnishing themselves with warm clothing, and also with knives and trinkets to barter with the natives of the islands we were likely to visit. the following day we reached the nore lightship, where, the weather looking dirty, by the orders of the pilot who had charge of us we brought up. scarcely was the anchor at the bottom and the hands were aloft furling sails than down came the gale upon us. the pilot, a jolly old fellow, kept singing out, "more yet, more yet," meaning that we were to veer away more cable, and he did not seem satisfied till the whole of it was out. from this circumstance the men called him "old more yet." i forget his real name. i was thus early in my sea life to learn what a real gale of wind is like. chapter two. we lay at the nore for several days with our bows pitching into the sea and the spray flying over us, and after all, having lost both anchor-stocks, and received other damage, we were obliged to return to gravesend to get them repaired. this done, we again sailed. light winds prevailing, we were some time getting clear of the river. we thought that we should at once stand down channel, but as we rounded the north foreland the weather looked more threatening than ever, and we found that we were to bring up in the downs. i by this time had not only got my sea legs, but was pretty handy aloft. the winds being contrary we had to tack ship very frequently. i saw the first mate looking up, when just then he sang out to me, "away there, jack, and clear that rope from the lee fore-yard arm." i knew what he wanted me to do, so running up the rigging, lay out on the yard, and quickly performed the duty required of me. instead, however, of returning at once on deck, i sat watching several other ships beating up to an anchorage, as we were, while i did not hear "old more yet," the pilot, give the order "about ship." suddenly i felt the yard beginning to swing round. in another instant i should have been hurled off as from a catapult into the seething ocean, or been dashed on the deck. there was but one thing to do. retaining my presence of mind, i made a desperate spring and caught hold of the topmast backstay, down which i was sliding to the rail, when i saw the first mate rushing forward to try and catch me as i fell, he having just recollected that he had sent me aloft. his countenance expressed the greatest alarm, for he was a kind-hearted man, and fully believed that i should have been killed or terribly injured. when he saw that i was safe he rated me soundly for my carelessness, and told me never to play the same trick again. i saw, however, that he was not really angry, and i fancy that i gained some credit with him by the way i had sprung on to the backstay. had i missed it i should have been dashed to pieces. at length we brought up in the downs, with two anchors down, the wind blowing a heavy gale at south-west. the sea was the colour of pea-soup, tumbling and foaming and hissing, the wind roared and whistled through the rigging, and ships were driving in all directions--some threatening to come down upon us. to be ready for any emergency the hands were kept on deck, and "old more yet" stood with his keen eyes watching them, prepared to give the order to veer away the cables should it be necessary. we escaped all accidents, however, and the weather began to moderate. the captain or the mates found employment for me from morning till night. i was indeed, as the youngest on board, at every one's beck and call; but i did not complain. i had come to sea to do my duty, and i knew that that was to obey those over me in all things lawful. one of my tasks was to keep the captain's cabin in order. i was one day engaged in sweeping it when i heard outside a voice i knew. it was my father's. he looked somewhat surprised at finding me thus employed, but at once saw that i took it as a matter of course, and was in good heart. my younger brother dick was with him. i was very glad to see them, and having finished my job i asked them to come down on the half-deck, where, while they were seated on medley's and my chests, i regaled them with bread and cheese. "won't you give it up and come on shore with us?" asked dick, thinking that i must be leading a very hard life. "no, thank you," i answered. "matters are improving. i got a thrashing the first day and have never had one since. it has been blowing pretty hard till now, but we shall have fine weather in time, and i shall like the life very well. it is better to begin with the rough and to end with the smooth than the other way." "rightly said, jack," observed my father, well pleased to see me so contented. i sent many loving messages to my mother and sisters, not forgetting mary and captain bland, and after he had had a short conversation with medley and another with the captain he returned on shore. i felt somewhat sad while i watched him and dick as they pulled away, and had i then been asked to go with them i should have said yes; however, the feeling soon wore off and i went on with my ordinary duties as if home and all i held dear were not almost in sight. again we were under weigh, but it came on to blow as hard as ever from the old quarter. still we kept at it, beating down channel with the seas breaking over our bows. i was just going along the deck with some of the cabin dinner when, the ship diving into a heavier sea than usual, i found myself washed clean over the windlass, a piece of boiled beef flying in one direction, a dumpling in another, and potatoes and turnips scattered on every side. i rushed here and there to save as many as i could, and, helped by the cook and medley, i collected the greater portion, but the captain looked very blue when i placed the food all cold and sodden on the table. it spoke well for him that he did not blow me up; but he knew that it was not from my fault that his dinner was spoilt, and i dare say that the same thing had occurred to him when he was a youngster. i had just returned on deck, where the first mate, shouting "helm's alee!" was in the act of putting the ship about, when, as i was going forward, i saw medley with two other men, one of whom was john major, an ordinary seaman, standing a short distance from me. suddenly i heard a dull thud as if a heavy blow had been struck, followed by a piercing shriek. the clew of the mainsail was lashing about wildly in the gale. i saw a body lifted from the deck and carried over the bulwarks. it was but a momentary glimpse. i could scarcely have told whether or not it was a human being i had seen till i looked towards where the three persons had been standing. one was gone. the mate instantly hove the ship up into the wind, a grating and some spars were thrown overboard, and the captain, rushing on deck, ordered a boat to be lowered. notwithstanding the dangerously heavy sea running, a willing crew, with the second mate, jumped into her. not seeing medley i ran to the side, fearing that he was the victim. i saw the grating and spars, but could nowhere perceive a man's head amid the foaming billows. i expected every moment as i watched the boat tumbling and tossing about that she would be swamped. the captain and first mate were looking anxiously towards the place where the poor fellow must have fallen, but their countenances showed that they did not see him. "he's lost, i fear," said a voice near me. i turned and saw medley by my side. i was greatly relieved. "who has gone?" i asked. "john major," he answered. "he was speaking to me at the moment." "very awful," i remarked, "so suddenly to be called out of the world." "remember, jack, that either you or i may be as suddenly summoned to meet our god. we must so live as to be prepared," he answered solemnly. the boat, the search in vain, now coming alongside was hoisted up, and the ship kept on her course. scarcely, however, had the yards been braced round than down came the gale upon us with far greater force than before. there was no use longer contending against it. the helm was put up and we ran--tearing through the water--back again into the downs. here we lay day after day waiting for a fair wind. it was much the same to me, but a severe trial of temper to the captain and most of the ship's company, who wanted to be in the pacific catching whales. i have not yet described the crew of the "eagle." there was the captain, three mates, the carpenter and his mate, the cooper and his mate, the armourer, steward and cook, four boat-steerers, four able seamen, eight ordinary seamen, the doctor, and two apprentices--namely, medley and i. the ship was thus strongly manned for her size, but in the whaling service, when sometimes four boats are away at a time, a large number of hands are required. by the time we had been a week in the downs a fleet of some hundred merchantmen were collected there, driven in by the long continuing south-westerly gales. we had very little communication with the shore, though i managed to send a letter home, and medley wrote to his friends. "never miss an opportunity of writing home, jack," he said to me; "i know the pleasure it gives to those who love us to receive a letter, and the anxiety they suffer when they have to go long without hearing from us." i followed his advice, and wrote by every homeward bound ship we fell in with, though many of my letters did not reach their destination. we also got a man, eben dredge, in place of poor john major lost overboard. still the south-wester blustered and roared. some of the men declared that it had set in for good, and that there never would be any other wind as long as the world lasted. at length one morning when medley and i were below, we heard the first mate shouting, "all hands up anchor! fair wind, boys! be smart there, all of you." we sprang on deck. the watch below came tumbling up with eager looks. the wind had suddenly veered round to the east-north-east. every man, including the cook and steward, set to work with a will; while some with a cheery song hove round the windlass, others flew aloft to loose sails. hundreds of ships were setting sail at the same time, their white canvas rapidly expanding to the breeze. we were among the first to get under weigh, and running past numerous ships we took the lead and kept it, closely pressed, however, by another whaler, the "fair rosamond," but we lost sight of her off the isle of wight. as if the "eagle" was eager to make up for lost time she ran under every stitch of canvas she could carry at the rate of nearly twelve knots an hour to the lizard, when the wind fell; but it breezed up again when we were in the bay of biscay, and blew great guns and small arms, as sailors say, or in other words, very nearly a hurricane. i own that i did not like it. our stout ship looked like a mere cockle-shell amid the mighty billows, which in huge watery walls rose half-way up the masts, threatening every instant to overwhelm her. though i tried to conceal my fears medley detected them, but he did not laugh at me. "i once should have felt as you do, jack, but i know that we are as safe here in god's hands as on shore," he observed. "our ship is well-built, well found, and well manned, and i trust that we shall weather this gale, and any others we may have to encounter." we did weather it without carrying away a rope-yarn, and having sighted madeira steered for the cape de verde islands, at one of which, brava, we called to obtain fresh provisions and to ship several tall kroomen to pull the midship oars in the whale boats. very fine fellows they were, with gentle, happy dispositions, never grumbling or complaining, and they were consequently much liked by the officers and all the best men of the crew. after crossing the line "sail ho!" was shouted from the masthead. we steered towards her. the stranger proved to be an english brig bound from brazil to liverpool. the wind being light our captains exchanged visits, and medley, i, and others wrote home by her. when in the latitude of the river plate preparations were made for bad weather, as the winter of that region was approaching. the long royal-masts were sent down and replaced by stump topgallant masts, the flying jib-boom, and the studding-sail booms were also sent down, and all the boats, except one, were got in and secured, and the hatches were battened down, and everything else was done to make the ship light aloft. some of the men thought the captain over careful, but it was soon shown that he was right. "we shall have it before long, thick and strong," i heard him remark to the first mate, though at the time there was scarcely a breath of wind. "we'll stow the mainsail, and close reef the topsails." "ay, ay, sir," answered the mate, and the hands were sent aloft to perform the operation. still an hour or more passed away, and we continued on our course. "the old man is croaking again," growled out dan hogan. "belay the slack there, mate. the captain keeps his weather eye open, which is more than some aboard this ship do," said eben dredge. "what do you think of those black clouds out there?" "maybe there's a little wind in them," answered hogan. "a little do you say!" exclaimed dredge. "see, here it comes to show us whether there's a little or not." as he spoke the wind struck the ship like the blow of a mighty hammer right ahead. she gathered stern way and some of the after dead-lights being open the cabin was half filled with water. had we been under more sail, the ship might possibly have gone down or her masts would have been carried away. i rushed forward to call the carpenter and his mate, and we soon had the dead-lights closed. while i was afterwards engaged with the steward in swabbing up the cabin and putting things to rights we felt the ship give some tremendous rolls. "hillo! what for come ober her now?" exclaimed domingo, my companion, who was a black. on going on deck i found that she had fallen off into the trough of the sea, and was being sent from side to side in away which seemed sufficient to jerk the masts out of her. the rigging was well set up, or they would have gone to a certainty. we had not seen the worst of it. the gale blew harder and harder, and presently down came the rain in a way i had never seen it fall before, in regular torrents, as if some huge reservoirs had been emptied out on us in a moment, flooding the decks, and wetting us through our pea-coats to the skin. though several accidents happened we weathered this our first real gale, and i found that the one we had encountered in the bay of biscay was scarcely worthy of the name of a gale. sail being again made, we stood southward, till at the end of april we sighted cape horn, and the hopes of all were raised that we should soon be round it; but not half an hour afterwards, the wind shifting to the west and blowing with tremendous force, a mountainous sea getting up drove us back into the south atlantic. the moment the wind abated we again made sail, and endeavoured to regain our lost ground. it was trying work. the weather was bitterly cold-- the days little more than seven hours long--we scarcely ever had a dry rag on our backs, for when the rain was not falling the sea was continually breaking over us, knocking away our bulwarks, and threatening to carry off those on deck to destruction. scarcely had we made good forty or fifty miles to the westward, than the wind increasing we had again to heave-to under a close-reefed fore-topsail. here we lay day after day, drifting rapidly back from the point it had taken us so long to gain. each day, too, saw our bulwarks more and more shattered by the furious seas constantly breaking on board. during this time i was one forenoon in the pantry, just outside the captain's cabin, when domingo, handing me a wooden bowl containing the ingredients for a plum pudding, said, "here you, jack, carry dis to de galley, and tell de cook to boil him well." i was bound to obey the steward, black though he was, and away i sped on my errand. just as i reached the deck the ship gave a lurch and sent me down to leeward, when instead of, as i ought to have done, making my way up to windward, to save the distance, i ran along on the lee side of the deck. before, however, my destination was reached i saw rising up right ahead a high, dark, foam-crested sea. on it came. with a crash like thunder it broke on board, and rushed roaring and hissing along the deck. letting go the bowl, i frantically clutched a handspike sticking in the windlass, the nearest object to me. the fierce water surrounded me, the handspike unshipped, and, still grasping it, i felt myself borne away into the seething, hissing ocean. at that instant the ship gave another lee-lurch--all hope was gone--every incident of my life passed through my mind--when i caught a glimpse of the cook darting out of his galley; seizing me by the collar he dragged me in, dripping wet and half stunned. it was the work of a moment. directly afterwards the watch on the quarterdeck came hurrying forward with the third mate, who sang out, in a tone of alarm, "where is that boy?" making sure that i had been carried overboard, he not having seen the cook lift me into the galley. when he found me there--though i fancied that i deserved commiseration, for my teeth chattered with cold and fright, and i looked like a drowned rat--he rated me soundly for having gone along the lee side. medley, however, who had come with the rest, took me down below and made me shift into a dry suit of his clothing. he then persuaded domingo to mix a fresh pudding, which he took to the cook to boil, so that i was saved from the captain's anger, which would have fallen on my head had it not been forthcoming at dinner-time. on his return to the half-deck, medley said to me, "now, jack, let us thank our merciful father in heaven that you have been preserved from the greatest danger you were ever in during your life. had the cook not been looking your way in another moment of time you would have been overboard, and it would have been impossible to pick you up." i was willing to do as he proposed, and no one being below we knelt down by the side of our bunks, and i prayed more earnestly than i had ever prayed before. we were just about to rise from our knees when i heard dan hogan's voice exclaim, "arrah now, you young psalm singers, what new trick are you after?" "not a new trick, but an old custom, dan," answered medley, boldly confronting him. "if your life had just been saved i hope that you would thank god for it, otherwise i should say that you were a very ungrateful fellow." "i'm shut up," answered hogan, and taking the article he had come for he returned on deck. i expected that he would tell the men how he had found us employed, but i could not discover that he had spoken about it to any one, and after that he appeared to treat medley with more respect than heretofore. when a person is doing a right thing the proper way is to confront his opponent boldly. all this time we were suffering from the bitter cold, the sleet and snow, the long, long hours of darkness with seldom a gleam from the sun during the short period he was above the horizon. at length, the weather moderating, we again stood on our course to the westward. about five weeks after we first sighted the horn we managed to weather it, and finally steering northward with a favourable breeze soon ran into a more temperate atmosphere than we had enjoyed for many a day. chapter three. we were now fairly in the pacific. i have said little about our crew. there were some good men, not a few indifferent ones, and others as bad as could be. dan hogan was not by a long way the worst. it required the greatest strictness and vigilance on the part of the officers to keep them in order. medley and i kept pretty clear of them, except when on duty, and we were then compelled to lend a hand to any one of them who might summon us. this we did cheerfully, though i, being the youngest, had all sorts of odd jobs to perform, not all of the pleasantest description. i thus had opportunities of hearing what the men were talking about without intending to be an eavesdropper, and i was before long convinced that some of them, if they had the opportunity, would not scruple to mutiny, to knock all who opposed them on the head, and take possession of the ship, or to run off themselves. i told medley of my suspicions. "it's all brag, jack," he answered. "don't trouble yourself about the matter. they might very probably like to do that, or any other piece of villainy, but they dare not. they are cowards at heart, let them talk ever so boastfully." i was not convinced, and determined to watch them. while we were engaged in the chase of whales, in towing them alongside, and in cutting out and trying in, or, in other words, in taking off the blubber and boiling it down into oil, they were too actively employed to plot mischief. they were also then separated, some being in the boats and others on board; but while the ship was at anchor off some savage island, away from all constituted authority, was the time when they were likely to carry out their evil designs. i am sorry to say it, that though captain hake was a bold seaman, generous and kind-hearted, he was influenced by no religious principle; he objected to what he called methodism on board, and so did the mate and doctor. not a chest except medley's and mine contained a bible, and we had to read ours in secret to avoid the risk of being ordered to throw them overboard. if we had had merely to endure the sneers and laughter of our shipmates, we should not have minded. how i should have acted if left to myself, or with a different sort of companion, i do not know; but he encouraged me to read and pray, and refrain from evil habits, for which i owe him a deep debt of gratitude. the first land we made was juan fernandez, or, as we called it, robinson crusoe's island, where he, or rather alexander selkirk, lived so long till rescued by the ship in which the veteran dampier sailed as pilot. it is about three hundred miles west of valparaiso, on the coast of chili, very mountainous and rugged, but richly covered with vegetation. we hove-to off the bay in which drake, cavendish, dampier, and lord anson anchored. three boats were immediately sent on shore. i went in one with the doctor, who wanted to collect a species of mint, an excellent preventive against scurvy. it was found in such abundance that two boats loaded with it were sent back to the ship. we made tea of it, which we much enjoyed, after having had only pea-coffee to drink for so long. i half expected to meet robinson crusoe himself coming down to welcome us to his island, for we saw numbers of his goats among the craigs, though we in vain tried to catch one of the patriarchs of the flock, to ascertain whether its ears were nicked. anson's men discovered several venerable animals with long beards, which had evidently been so treated by selkirk himself, but that generation must have long since died out. the dogs anson saw have also disappeared, being more easily shot than the goats. pulling a short distance from the shore, we got out our fishing-lines. so beautifully clear was the water as the sun shone down into it, that we could actually see the fish take the hook. they bit with wonderful avidity, and in a short time we caught as many rock-cod and other fish as we required. after this we stood along the coast, seldom within sixty miles of it, yet in sight of the snowy summits of the towering andes. this part of the ocean is called by whalers "the off-shore fishing ground," extending from valparaiso to panama, and about four hundred miles westward from the land. we were tolerably successful, having killed four whales. i shall not forget the scene the deck presented to my eyes the night after the blubber from our first whale had been stripped off and cut up while the crew were engaged in "trying out," that is, boiling it down into oil, to be stowed away in casks below. along the deck were arranged the huge "try-pots," with brightly blazing fires beneath them, the fuel being the crisp membrane from the already used blubber. on each side of the "try-works" were copper tanks or coolers to receive the oil as it flows over the sides of the pots with the rolling of the ship, or is ladled into them when sufficiently boiled. some of the men stripped to the waist, and, begrimed with smoke and oil, were working away with forks or ladles, either throwing in the blubber, chopped into small pieces, or skimming off the scraps, or baling out the oil; others of the men were in the blubber-room, heaving on deck the horse-pieces, of about thirty pounds weight each, to be minced fine before being thrown into the try-pots. the whole watch were thus engaged, and what with the blazing fires, the wreaths of black smoke, the dark figures flourishing their implements, and ever and anon giving vent to horrible oaths and shouts and shrieks of savage laughter, the spectacle i beheld was more weird and wild than anything i could have imagined--like one of those dreadful scenes i have read of where spirits of darkness are described holding their midnight revels. my share of the work on such occasions when the watch to which i belonged was on deck was to turn the grindstone for the carpenter, whose business it was to sharpen the spades for the men. in the intervals during daylight i amused myself, armed with one of the spades, the pole of which was twenty feet long, in killing the sharks swarming alongside. one deep cut on the back of the neck or tail was sufficient to destroy the largest of the savage creatures. i must not be accused of cruelty to animals. of all the fierce creatures of land or sea the sailor most dreads and detests the cruel shark, for there are few who have not heard or seen some thing of his depredations. about a month after leaving juan fernandez we reached the galapagos, a group of volcanic islands lying under the equator, their black and rugged shores having a most uninviting appearance. in one only, charles island, is water to be found, though in another of considerable extent there are hills and valleys with groves of trees; but the chief vegetation on all of them is the prickly pear, which in most parts covers the ground. we cruised off the galapagos for upwards of two months, sometimes in company with other whalers, but more frequently alone, meeting with fair success. at last many of the men began to grumble at being kept so long at sea; those especially who had before shown a mutinous disposition taking no pains to conceal their discontent, for we had been ten months from the thames, and according to the articles we were bound to anchor in a civilised port at least once in every six months. i felt sure from what i overheard that mischief was brewing; and one day when domingo, whom i could not trust, was out of the cabin, i told the captain my fears. he only replied by a scornful laugh, but before he went on deck he put a brace of pistols in his belt, and i observed shortly afterwards that the mates had also armed themselves, while the muskets, cutlasses, tomahawks, and boarding-pikes were placed in a side cabin kept locked. the captain, however, knowing that the men had the right to put into port, informed them, after we had finished stowing the oil from the last whale caught, that he was about to steer for the coast of south america. in about a week we made the land near the gulf of guayaquil, and thence ran down to tumbez, an open roadstead, in which we brought up about a mile from the mouth of a river with a bar across it. here the crew, instead of enjoying the rest they expected, were employed in towing off rafts of wood and water through the heavy surf setting on the shore. it was very hard work under a blazing sun, but still necessary, and the true men did not complain, though the others did pretty loudly, notwithstanding that few captains were more considerate in not overworking their crews than was ours. i heard him tell the first mate that as soon as the task was performed he intended to let them all go on shore, a watch at a time, to amuse themselves. the first day's work was over, the boats hoisted up, and the anchor watch set, when i turned into my bunk. it seemed but a moment afterwards that medley called me to keep the middle watch. i had just got on deck and was looking aft when i saw four figures lowering, as it seemed to me, the starboard quarter boat. suspecting that something was wrong i looked round for the officer of the watch, but could nowhere see him. he must, i guessed, have gone below. i was about to hurry into the cabin, but before i could make many steps aft i was seized, gagged, and dragged forward, where i was lashed to the windlass. i could just make out through the gloom that the boat was no longer in her place, and presently i saw several figures carrying some bags go forward and disappear from the spritsail yard. i knew, therefore, that the men i had seen intended to run away, and that they were probably some of the fellows whose complaints i had overheard. in vain i struggled to get free that i might give the alarm. these very men must have formed the watch, for no one came near me. daylight came at last, and the morning watch appearing on deck, i was released and taken to the captain, to whom i gave an account of what i had seen. two boats were instantly sent in chase of the fugitives, who were the armourer, two boat-steerers, and three seamen. after some time the boats returned unsuccessful. the captain took, the matter very quietly: "a good riddance, more thorough scoundrels i never had under me," he observed. to show his confidence in the rest he allowed the whole crew to go on shore, first one watch and then the other, for three days each, but as most of them were drunk all the time they would have been better on board. sailing for the marquesas, instead of the runaways we shipped six kanakas, or natives, an englishman, a beachcomber, or runaway sailor, who had been living on the island for several years, a portuguese, and a sandwich islander. i mention them to show the heterogeneous materials of which the crews of english whalers were composed. touching at dominica we sailed for samoa, where we remained for some time, and thence proceeded off the kingsmill group, and from this to the japan whaling ground. while on this station we got so damaged in a typhoon that we had to make the best of our way to honolulu, in the sandwich islands, to refit. this accomplished we returned to the marquesas to land the natives we took from thence, having obtained as many hands as we required at honolulu. another season having come round, we again cruised for nearly two months in the neighbourhood of the galapagos. by this time medley, having been long out of his apprenticeship, was rated as an able seaman, and young as i was i could do the duty of one as well as any of the old hands, and better than those we had shipped to supply the places of the deserters and mutineers; besides which i had as good a knowledge of navigation as any of the mates. i had no longer to turn the grindstone or to sweep out the cabin, those and similar duties being performed by a young sandwich islander, but still the captain declined to give me up my indentures, or rather to have my name placed on the articles as an able seaman. of course i could not demand what i asked, so i had to submit; indeed the captain probably thought me unreasonable. calm as is in general this part of the pacific, there are occasionally storms of terrific violence. we experienced one when cruising some way to the southward of the galapagos, but as we had plenty of sea room and were prepared for it we escaped without material damage. two days afterwards, while the boats were away in chase of a whale, and i was aloft looking out for the appearance of others, i sighted a sail to the south-west standing towards us. i announced the fact by the usual cry of "sail ho!" but as we had to follow our boats we could not go to meet her. as she drew nearer, i observed that her fore-topmast, her main-topgallant-mast, and main-topsail yard were gone, and that she was evidently in other ways much damaged. the stranger passing within hail, a voice inquired, "what ship is that?" the third mate, mr reece, answered, and put the usual questions in return, but before these could be replied to, gliding by she had rounded to a short distance off. as i watched her i saw two females, who had apparently just come on deck to look at us. presently a boat was lowered which soon came alongside, when who, to my surprise, should step on board but my old friend captain bland. i at once concluded that the two females i had seen were mary and her mother, and my heart gave a bound at the thoughts of meeting them. our visitor first inquired for captain hake, and hearing that he was away in one of the boats his eye ranged along the deck as if in search of somebody. though i was near him he did not recognise me till i advanced, when his eye brightened, and putting out his hand he shook mine cordially. "mrs bland and mary will be right glad to see you, jack, and to give you all the news from home, and you must try to cheer them up by telling them all you have been about, for they have had a trying time of it for some months past. as soon as captain hake returns i will get him to allow you to accompany me on board the `lady alice.'" he then addressed mr reece: "your ship and mine belong to the same owners, and i want as many of your men as can be spared to assist my people in repairing our damages, for we are terribly short-handed. we encountered fearful weather in coming round cape horn, when we had the misfortune to lose four men overboard, three more were killed by the only whale we have yet taken, two deserted at juan fernandez with the idea of playing robinson crusoe, though they'll very soon get sick of that, and five others are too sick to come on deck. three days ago we were caught in a gale, and before the hands could shorten sail the topmasts were carried over the side, so you'll understand that we want all the help we can get." "i've no doubt that the captain will afford it, sir," answered mr reece; "but we ourselves are sadly wanting in able seamen--we haven't more than three hands who can be trusted to take the helm with any sea on." medley and i smiled at the mate's remark, for we believed that we could steer as well as he could, and that there were several others who could do so. a shout from the look-out aloft announced that a whale was killed, and we bore down to meet the boats towing it towards us. the captured whale was nearly eighty feet long, and worth a thousand pounds at least. our captain was, therefore, in very good humour, and cordially greeted captain bland, promising to do all he could to help him, but, of course, till the oil from the whale alongside was stowed away he could spare no hands. "but you will let my young friend, jack kemp, and your other apprentice, medley, go with me?" said captain bland. "they can best be spared at present, and i can trust them to assist my mates in superintending the work." the captain demurred to this, as i was especially useful to him. i used to work all his observations, make out his bills for the men, keep the slop-locker in order, serve out the stores, and besides many other duties, act as his barber. my kind friend, however, pressed the point, and at length the captain consented to let us go, accompanied by two of the kroomen, promising shortly to follow the "lady alice" to charles' island, one of the galapagos. medley and i were not long in cleaning ourselves and putting on our sunday best, and with our working clothes in our bags we stepped into captain bland's boat. by this time the two vessels were some way apart, so that we had a long pull. as we got near the "lady alice" i saw mrs bland and mary looking over the side, but they made no signal of recognition, so that it was evident they did not know me; they did not do so even when i stepped on deck. perhaps i might not have known mary, for she had grown from a little girl into almost a young woman, and very bright and pleasant she looked, which is better to my mind than what some people call beautiful. i saw her eyes as they turned towards me brighten, while a smile rose on her lips. "what! haven't you brought jack kemp with you?" asked mrs bland of her husband. "yes, there he is; i knew him," cried mary, springing forward and taking my hand. mrs bland embraced me, as if she were my mother. "i told her i would, jack," she said. "she often felt very anxious about you for fear you should get into the rough ways of your shipmates, and be no longer what you once were, a good, affectionate lad. you are not changed, jack, i hope, though you have grown so big and manly." i could nearly have cried, i felt so happy, as i answered, "i hope not, mrs bland, and i have to thank my friend medley here for assisting me to act rightly." "a christian friend is a valuable help on board ship, as well as everywhere else," observed captain bland. "i am truly glad that you have found such an one in andrew medley, whose father i have the pleasure of knowing. it will do his heart good to hear this account of his son. i wish there were more like you two young men at sea." the ladies now invited us into the cabin to have some tea, and as we sat there, helped by mary, we felt quite like different beings to those we had been for so many months past. i heard some of the news from home, which i need not repeat, but we had not much time for conversation, as, having shifted into our working clothes, we had to hurry on deck to assist the crew in getting the ship to rights. we and our two kroomen set to with a will, and three of the sick men turned out of their bunks to help. it was heavy work though, and in addition during two hours in each watch we had to keep the pumps going. while daylight lasted mary remained on deck, and her presence incited us to exertion. i thought of the danger to which she would be exposed should bad weather again come on, and the ship not be prepared to encounter it. at length we entered the harbour, a gloomy enough looking place, surrounded by high, black, rugged cliffs, yet being well protected from all winds, we were glad to find ourselves safe in it. i almost dreaded the arrival of the "eagle," as i feared that i should have to return to her and my rough associates. it was not the hard work i disliked, but the utter want of humanising influences on board the "eagle," whereas, independent of the effect produced by mrs bland and mary, a far higher moral tone prevailed on board the "lady alice"; the mates were well-conducted men, and several among the crew were real christians, who made the bible the rule of life. i do not mean to say that the ship was a perfect paradise; there were some bad, wild characters, but they were kept in check by the rest. we were too busy to escort the ladies on shore, and they had no fancy to go by themselves, although there were neither wild beasts nor savages to be feared. we were waiting, however, for the arrival of the "eagle" to heave the ship down, so as to get at the leak; and as the position she would then be in would make the cabin a very uncomfortable habitation, captain bland proposed rigging a tent on the beach under the cliffs in which his wife and daughter might live till the work was accomplished. as soon, therefore, as medley and i with two of the men could be spared, we accompanied the captain on shore, taking with us some spars, rope, sails, and spare canvas. it was evident that the spot the captain first thought of would be too hot, as not a breath of air reached it, so he selected another further from the ship in a more open situation. here, having beaten smooth the black lava-like soil, we soon had up a good-sized tent with three compartments--one for the captain and mrs bland, one for mary, and a third for a sitting-room. this done, while the boat returned for some furniture and cooking utensils, the captain sent me to the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean to the southward to ascertain if the "eagle" was in sight. i had not been long looking out when i saw a sail standing for the island, but after watching her for some time i was convinced that she was not the "eagle," but a much smaller craft. as she drew still nearer i perceived, indeed, that she was a schooner, apparently a spanish vessel, though she showed no flag. instead, however, of steering for the harbour where the "lady alice" lay, she kept round the island to another on the other side. what she was, or why she had come to the island, i could not conjecture, i was about to return when i caught sight of a speck of white canvas above the horizon. "that probably is the `eagle,'" i thought. "in a few days i shall have to bid my kind friends farewell and go back to my duties on board her." as there was a fine breeze the ship rapidly approached, and as i had no doubt that she was the "eagle," i went back to the tent to tell captain bland that she was in sight, as also to describe to him the schooner i had seen. "she has probably come across from payta to catch turtle or fish," he observed. "we are not likely to see any of her crew, unless they think that they can get a good price from us for what they bring." we now returned on board to describe to the ladies the preparations we had made for them. captain bland then had all the boats manned to assist in towing in the "eagle" should the wind fall light, as it frequently did towards evening. at length medley, who had landed and gone to the top of the cliff, made the signal that she was near, on which all the boats, with flags flying in the bows, pulled out of the harbour. we saw her about two miles off already nearly becalmed. as we got near her crew greeted us with a cheer, and without stopping to ask questions we took hold of the tow ropes, when, giving way with a will, joined by her boats already lowered, we made the big ship glide through the water at the rate of nearly three miles an hour. we thus soon brought the ship to an anchor in the harbour, when captain hake came on board the "lady alice," and undertook to do all his brother captain required. he was in high good humour at having captured another whale, which had caused the "eagle" to be so much longer in making her appearance than we expected. i thought that now would be the time to get captain bland to beg him to allow me to remain on board the "lady alice." the same idea occurred to mary, who i saw whispering to her father. captain bland kindly pressed the point. "what am i to do without my barber and clerk and storekeeper, i should like to know?" exclaimed captain hake. "why the young fellow works all my observations for me. no, no. be reasonable, bland; he is bound to me, remember. i will lend him to you now, but when the `eagle' leaves this harbour he goes in her." i thought that it was my captain who was not reasonable. i felt dreadfully disappointed, but i was his slave, and compelled to submit. chapter four. captain hake invited mrs bland and mary to take up their abode on board the "eagle" while the lady alice was hove down, and looked much disappointed when he heard that a tent had been put up for them on shore. i need not describe the operation of heaving down further than by saying that the topmasts being struck, the cargo landed, and the ballast shifted, the ship is heeled over on one side, till her keel can be seen, then stages are slung, so that every part may be easily reached. when one side is repaired she is turned over, and the other is treated in the same way. before commencing operations medley and i were engaged for some hours in securing all the things in the cabins, so that nothing might be broken, while the bedding and many other articles were carried on shore. i suggested to captain bland that it would be prudent to have a guard near him at night, and begged that he would allow medley and me, with our faithful kroomen, pepper and salt, and four of his own most trustworthy men, to put up a couple of rough tents, which would afford sufficient shelter to us in that warm climate. "do as you like, jack," he answered. "we shall be glad of your company in the evening, but i do not apprehend the slightest risk by our remaining on shore alone." i carried out my proposal, each of us having a musket and ammunition, and a very pleasant evening medley and i spent in the tent, captain hake not making his appearance, as we feared he would. of course we went off at daybreak to the ship, as we had to work as hard as the rest. having knocked off, however, an hour or so before nightfall, we hurried on shore, when mary asked us to escort her on an exploring trip into the island. "i should like to climb to the top of yonder high hill," she said; "we may get there and back before dark, i am sure." "if you don't mind our being in our working suits, miss bland," observed medley. "it would take us some time to polish up." "i quite forgot how you were dressed," she answered, laughing; "i only knew that you had been engaged in a necessary duty, which has, now i come to look at you, certainly made you unusually tarry and grimy. however, we are not likely to meet anybody else who will mind how you look, so pray let us set off." we started, medley and i carrying our muskets, in case we should meet with any strange creature we might wish to shoot--though we knew that there were no alligators or pumas, or other savage beasts such as are found on the neighbouring continent. the scenery was certainly not picturesque. out of the black tufa-formed soil on the lower ground grew numerous curiously-shaped cacti, or prickly pear shrubs, and we caught sight in the distance of one or two monster terrapins crawling among them. at last we reached the entrance of a narrow valley, in which, to our surprise, we found a luxuriant tropical vegetation, not only of grass and shrubs, but of trees of considerable height, produced, we had no doubt, by a fountain of clear water which, issuing from the mountain's side at the farther end, flowed down the centre in a babbling stream of some width, though what afterwards became of it we could not discover. numberless birds, several of gay plumage, flew about in all directions, and were so tame that they perched on the branches close to us whenever we stopped, as if to ask what we wanted in their domain, and three at different times settled on mary's head or shoulders. medley was going to shoot at some which looked like pigeons, but she cried out, "for shame! i would not for the world have the beautiful things killed. they trust us, and it would be a cruel return for their confidence." my messmate immediately lowered his gun. "you are right, miss bland," he answered; "i did not consider what i was about to do." he shortly afterwards proposed climbing to the top of a cliff from which he expected to obtain a view over the island to the northward. as this was a task mary was unable to accomplish, i remained with her while he set off alone. as i saw by the sun that it was high time to commence our return, i told him that we would walk on slowly towards the tents, so that he might overtake us. i cannot say that i was exactly in a hurry for him to do so, as mary and i being old friends we naturally had a good deal to talk about which could not interest him. at last, however, it struck me that he ought to have caught us up; on looking back i saw him running towards us. on our stopping to allow him to come up he made a sign to us to go on. had i been alone i should have waited, but though i could not divine what danger threatened i thought it prudent to hurry mary on. "what can he have seen to alarm him?" she asked. "that is more than i can say, but he is not a person to be alarmed without reason," i answered. "it is said that these islands were produced by volcanoes; perhaps one has just burst forth, and he fears that the lava may overtake us." "we should have heard the noise and seen the fire and smoke if that were the case," i replied. "then it is possible that he may have seen some wild beast which was not known to exist here," she observed. "do you think so?" medley, who at that moment overtook us, answered the question, "not a wild beast, miss bland, but a set of ruffians, whom it might be dangerous for you to meet; i saw them just below me carousing round a blazing fire, at which they had been cooking a terrapin, or some other animal. as i crept nearer to find out who they were, i at once guessed their character by their horrible oaths, the snatches of ribald songs and savage laughter which reached my ears. i got near enough even to distinguish the features of several of them, among whom i recognised tom moon, the armourer, and jos mortis, both of whom were among the rascals who ran off with our whale boat from tumbez, you remember, jack. i think there were others of the gang, but would not be certain. i was retiring when moon caught sight of me and shouted to his companions to give chase. fortunately most of them were too drunk to make much headway, but seeing that some of them were coming, i judged it prudent to run on and warn you, for i suspect that they are ready for any kind of atrocity." while my messmate was giving this account we were hurrying on--indeed there was no time to lose under any circumstances, for almost directly after the sun had set it would become dark, and we might have much difficulty in finding our way. i frequently looked back with some anxiety, and fancied that i saw several men in the distance, but we still hoped to reach the tents before they could come up with us. medley and i were resolved, should they do so, to keep them at bay with our muskets till mary had effected her escape. she kept up her spirits, not being as much alarmed as i thought she would have been. i was greatly relieved when at length we saw the white tops of the tents. as we got nearer i shouted, and soon captain bland appeared, followed by pepper and salt. "you have been too long away, young people, and i was on the point of setting out to look for you; however, as i have no doubt that you have plenty of good excuses to offer, you are forgiven," he said, in his kind, cheery way. when medley told him of the sort of characters we had seen he expressed his satisfaction that we had avoided them. "they probably belong to the schooner you saw standing in for the island the other day, jack; and if so, the chances are that she is not the honest fisherman we supposed," he remarked. "we must keep a watch on the fellows in case they should come this way." though he said this he did not appear to be much troubled about the matter, and we were soon all seated at mrs bland's tea-table in her tent. i, however, had told pepper and salt, whom i could trust, to be on the look-out, so that we might not be taken by surprise. we spent the evening happily as usual, mary singing to her guitar, while the kind captain told some of his best stories, at which he always laughed most heartily himself. i made an excuse two or three times to go out, to be sure that the kroomen were on the alert, and i also visited the seamen's tent, and told them to be ready to turn out if necessary. "all right, jack," said the captain, guessing what i had been about. "you've got the wise prudence of a careful officer in you, though i don't think the roistering crew medley saw will attempt to make their way to-night thus far from their camp." when i again sat down the captain told the last of his stories for the night, and mary sang another song; but scarcely had her sweet notes died away than pepper's rough voice was heard shouting, "who go dere! stop or shoot!" "who says that?" exclaimed an english voice, though as gruff as the black's. "i say dat," cried salt, who was at some distance from his companion. "take care--i see you." i guessed that the kroomen, favoured by the colour of their skins, had concealed themselves, so that the intruders were puzzled as to their whereabouts, and afraid to approach. medley and i hurried out of the tent, and calling up the seamen, who followed us with their muskets, went to where the kroomen were posted. the ground rising slightly, we could see several dark figures in front of us against the sky moving about, but i doubted whether they could make us out. if the pirates, for such we had good reason to suppose they were, had expected to take us by surprise they were disappointed. our men cocked their muskets with loud clicks, which might easily have been heard by them. we waited in silence to see what they would do, but they seemed undecided. presently we were joined by captain bland. "what is it you want here, my men?" he shouted. "we can receive no visitors to-night. to-morrow morning if you come back we will hear what you have to say." the pirates must have guessed who spoke to them, for one of them immediately answered, "just listen, captain; we want some bread and rum, and salted pork, and a supply of powder and lead, with some shot, and a few other things. we wish to be moderate, but the things we must have to-morrow morning as soon as you can send on board for them if you haven't brought enough on shore." "as to that i can make no promise, so goodnight to you, men," said the captain, in a firm tone. the strangers made no reply, but we could hear them talking among themselves. presently one of them shouted, "we must take what we want!" and the whole gang, numbering three times as many as our party, uttering savage shouts, came rushing on, till, when they were within twenty yards of us, the kroomen, without waiting for orders, fired at them. they, on this, hesitated for a moment, and then there came a random volley from muskets and pistols, the shots whistling past our ears. a dreadful idea occurred to me. "mrs bland and mary may be hurt, sir," i exclaimed. "no fear of that, my lad," said the captain; "i bade them lie down under their bedding, for i thought that the rascals might use their fire-arms." just as he spoke the pirates began again to advance, though with more caution than at first, but they had not moved many steps when the four seamen fired, and the kroomen, who had quickly reloaded, did the same. this again checked the advance of the pirates, who probably did not expect to meet with so warm a reception. "reserve your fire the rest of you," shouted the captain, to give the fellows the idea that we had more men ready to receive them should they venture to come on. strange to say, none of our party were hit, nor, as far as we could tell, were any of them brought to the ground. providentially for us, the whole of the pirates being drunk, and many of them cowards at heart, instead of rushing forward, as we had expected them to do, they retired to a distance, shouting and swearing at us as they went off. i thought that captain bland would now send his wife and daughter out of danger on board the "eagle," but he considered that by so doing the few men who remained might be overpowered, and his property left to the mercy of the pirates. "i don't think that the fellows will return, and if they do we must treat them as before," he observed. "the chances are that in a short time they will be all fast asleep. they attacked us in a drunken freak more than with any settled plan." for some time it appeared that he was right. he returned to the tent to relieve the anxiety of his wife and daughter, while medley and i mounted guard with pepper and salt, telling the other men that we expected them to relieve us in a couple of hours. before half that time, however, had expired, we heard the pirates again coming on. presently, giving vent to the most fearful shouts and shrieks, they fired a volley at us and then came rushing on. their voices aroused our companions, who sprang out to our assistance, while captain bland, who had been on the alert, also joined us. "kneel down, lads, and do not fire till i give the word," he said, in a low voice. we obeyed him, and scarcely had we done so than the pirates, still shouting and shrieking, discharged their pieces, the shot, however, flying over our heads; then on they again came, but before they got much nearer, a hearty cheer rose from the direction of the beach, and some thirty men or more from the two ships, armed with pikes, cutlasses, and muskets, came tramping up, again cheering lustily. we all fired just before they joined us. the pirates did not stop to encounter them, but scampered off as fast as their legs could carry them, several throwing down their weapons the more quickly to escape. captain hake, who led the party just landed, followed with most of the men for some distance, but no one could move rapidly over the rough ground, and the pirates, favoured by the darkness, and better acquainted with the country than we were, effected their escape. though there was very little chance of their again molesting us, watch was kept during the night. captain hake said that on hearing the firing, suspecting that we were attacked, though by whom he could not conjecture, he had lowered his own boats, and summoned captain bland's crew to our assistance. the next morning a party set off to try and capture our assailants, but they had managed to reach their schooner, which was seen standing out to sea. though no dead bodies were found, marks of blood seen on the rocks showed that several had been wounded. mary was unwilling to make any more distant excursions, but she and her mother continued to reside on the island till the "lady alice" was ready for sea. now came the moment of trial. captain hake had been specially civil whenever he met me in company with captain bland, and i began to hope that he would allow me to join the "lady alice." my old friend at length once more pressed the point. captain hake at once assumed the stern manner he knew well how to put on. "i mustn't let the lad think too much of himself; but it's just this, captain bland, you want him and so do i, and as i have a right to him i intend to keep him. he rejoins the `eagle' this evening." captain bland could not complain. he had received great assistance from captain hake, who lent him pepper and salt and two sandwich islanders, with which addition to his crew, now that the rest were well, he was able to continue his fishing. mary, however, was very indignant with captain hake, and went so far as to call him a hard-hearted, cruel man, who wanted me to do all his drudgery, instead of allowing me to act as an officer with her father. the next morning we sailed, and for some time kept company. i was glad to see the "lady alice" shortly afterwards take two whales, for i felt as much interest in her success as in that of our own ship. twice we were becalmed when close together, and medley and i got leave to pay a visit to our friends. i need not say that we were most kindly received. it seemed to us like going out of the rough world into a small paradise when we entered the pretty neat cabin, and were seated at the table with mary and good mrs bland. medley had a talent for drawing, and used to make pictures of ships and scenes descriptive of whale-catching for mary, which we thought very good and true to nature. among them were two--one of a ship leaving port, another of one returning. "i wish this was the `lady alice,'" said mary, taking up the last. "it will be truly a happy day when we get back with dear father safe." "i hoped that you were enjoying your cruise, and would be in no hurry to have it over," i observed. "so i do on many accounts," she answered. "but i am always anxious when i see father go out to attack a huge whale. two of our men were killed by one, and father might share the same fate. sometimes his boat is a long, long way out of sight of the ship, and we cannot tell what is happening." "you must just trust in god, miss bland," observed medley. "he is doing his duty, and you can pray that he may be protected." "i always try to do that; but still, you know, the danger is great, and that makes me wish to be safe at home again, though i fear that you will be there so long before us that you will have sailed again to some distant part of the world perhaps, and we may never see you more." "perhaps the `lady alice' will be more fortunate than you expect, and may soon get filled up," i answered, wishing to restore her spirits, which, for some reason, were unusually low. was it on account of some unseen danger threatening us? for several weeks we continued in company, both ships being tolerably successful; but the "lady alice" certainly killed more whales than we did, simply, i believe, because a better look-out was kept. yet captain bland never sent the boats away on a sunday, while all days were alike to captain hake. i judged by his remarks that he was somewhat jealous of the better fortune of his brother commander. at last we lost sight of the "lady alice." whenever i could manage it i went aloft to look out for her, but though i strained my eyes gazing round and round the horizon, i searched in vain. in what direction she had gone no one could say. about a fortnight after this, when we were about fifty miles to the southward of the galapagos, i one morning at sunrise having gone aloft, caught sight of a sail between us and the islands, and almost ahead. my heart gave a bound, for i made sure that she was the "lady alice." as, however, we neared her, when i again went aloft to look out, much to my disappointment i saw that she was a much smaller craft, a schooner, standing from the eastward for the islands. another look at her a little later showed me that she was of the same size and appearance as that of the craft whose piratical crew had attacked us. i felt, indeed, convinced that she was the same. on coming down on deck i told the captain, unable, however, to conjecture what he would do. at first i thought it possible that he might make chase, and attempt to capture her; but then i reflected that though we had four guns she probably carried many more, with a larger crew, and that, at all events, we could not venture to fire at her unless she attacked us. "we'll let her alone, jack, whether she's the pirate, schooner or not, but we must take care that she does not come alongside the ship while the boats are away, or the rascals aboard her may take the liberty of relieving us of our money and stores," observed the captain. the moment he said this the thought flashed across my mind, "what if she should have fallen in with the `lady alice'?" the idea was too terrible to dwell on. yet once conceived, i could not banish it from my mind. i spoke to medley on the subject. he tried to console me by saying that even if the schooner we had seen was a pirate it was not at all likely that she should have fallen in with the "lady alice," and if she had, have ventured to attack her. as may be supposed, i more eagerly than ever looked out for our fellow-cruiser, but day after day went by and not a white speck denoting a distant sail was to be seen above the horizon. we were all this time very unsuccessful in our business. we gave chase to three whales, which, one after the other, got away before the boats reached them. the captain swore that he would have the next. not one was seen, however, for a whole week. the men grumbled and wondered why we remained on the station. at last one morning, just at daybreak, the look-out, who had just gone to the masthead, gave the welcome shout of "there she spouts! there she spouts!" in a moment the watch on deck aroused those below by the loud stamping of their feet, and up they tumbled. the captain and mates rushed out from their cabins half-dressed. the four boats were lowered, and away they pulled in the direction the whale was seen, about two miles to windward. medley and i, with two seamen, the doctor, and other idlers, remained to take care of the ship, and to beat her up after the boats. the whale sounded, and remaining down fifty minutes rose again nearer the ship, so that we could clearly see what took place. the boats and their crews giving way with might and main, gathered round from different directions. the captain was the first to strike his harpoon into the whale, following the weapon with a couple of lances; he was fast, but he quickly backed off from the monster, which, leaping half out of the water, and turning partly round made a dash with open mouth at another boat coming up, and in an instant crushed it into fragments as if it had been built of paper. the crew sprang overboard on either side, endeavouring to escape--whether any were killed we could not ascertain--and the next instant the whale, raising its powerful flukes, struck a third boat, shattering her by the blow, and throwing her high into the air, bottom upwards, her people and gear being scattered around on the foam-covered surface of the water. the other boats pulled away to avoid the same fate, which it seemed likely would be theirs, for the old lone whale was savagely bent on mischief it was very evident, when he suddenly sounded, dragging out the line like lightning after him. a second line was secured to the first, but that reached the bitter end before the first mate's boat, engaged in trying to rescue the drowning men, could come up, and it was cut to save the boat from being dragged under water. not till then could the captain go to the assistance of the people still struggling for their lives. some were holding on to oars, others to fragments of planks. at length the survivors were picked up, and the two boats returned on board. the men, as they came alongside, looked very downcast. three of our shipmates had disappeared--two of whom had been crushed by the monster's jaws, the other killed by the blow of his flukes--as many more were severely injured, the third mate was among the killed. the captain, ordering the carpenter at once to put together two boats to supply the places of those destroyed, went to his cabin. i had never before seen him so much out of spirits. he seemed to think that some fatality was attending the voyage. in less than half an hour he returned on deck, looking flushed and excited. "we must have that whale if we lose a couple more of our boats in taking him," he exclaimed, addressing the first mate. "keep a bright look-out for him." this was not so easily done, for darkness was coming on, and the monster might possibly have swum away from the ship. the mate answered, "ay, ay, sir," and hailed the look-out aloft. some time passed and no whale appeared; a large one, such as that attacked, can remain down eighty minutes, and swim some distance in that time. at last night came down upon us, and the chances of discovering the creature decreased. the weather too, hitherto fine, changed, and before morning the ship was under close-reefed topsails, dashing through the fast-rising foaming seas. had we got the whale alongside we should probably have had to cut from it. the captain, however, had no intention of giving up the search. we beat backwards and forwards in the neighbourhood for three days, till the gale abated, and then made several circuits round the spot, increasing the radius without seeing the old whale or any other. the men who had before grumbled at being kept so long on the station now declared that the captain had gone out of his mind, and i feared that if he persisted much longer they would break into open mutiny. still day after day he continued sailing round and round, till one morning when we had been running to the eastward, and he ordered the watch to brace up the yards, they stood with their hands in their pockets or folded on their breasts, while they stamped loudly with their feet. at that instant the watch below came rushing up on deck armed with weapons of all descriptions, some having muskets and pistols, others cutlasses, pikes, harpoons, and blubber spades. the captain on this, calling on the two mates, medley, and me to stand by him, rushed into his cabin, from which he quickly returned with a rifle in his hand, and several pistols stuck in his belt. a shout of derisive laughter from the crew greeted him. he took no notice of it, but cried out to us, "go and arm yourselves, and we'll soon put down these mutinous rascals." as he spoke he raised his rifle, and half a dozen muskets were pointed at him. at that juncture the look-out at the masthead shouted, "a dead whale away to the southward!" "we must not lose it, sir," said the first mate. "lads!" he cried, turning to the seamen, "we'll settle this matter afterwards. brace up the yards." the men obeyed with alacrity, having stowed their weapons forward, while the captain placed his on the companion hatch. we were soon convinced that the object seen was a dead whale. innumerable birds hovered above it, while the splashing in the water near it showed that also teemed with living creatures. the monster was worth a thousand pounds if we could secure its blubber, but as we got nearer the horrible odour which reached us even to windward put an end to our hopes. to have taken it alongside would have poisoned the whole crew. the captain, however, insisted on regaining his harpoon, and the ship being hove-to he went away in a boat with a black crew. he did succeed in getting the harpoon, but the line was so completely coiled round and round the monster's body, into which it had cut deeply, that it could not be brought off. the captain looked very pale when he returned, and at once retired to his cabin. the blacks, though at first very sick from this horrible task, quickly recovered. the first mate, who had followed the captain below, soon coming again on deck told the men that he was ordered to shape a course for tumbez, where the ship would remain for a fortnight, and all hands have leave to go on shore. a hearty cheer greeted this announcement, and the mutiny, which threatened not to end without bloodshed, was peaceably brought to a conclusion. chapter five. the recollection of the suspicious schooner was continually haunting me. being unable also to account for our not having fallen in with the "lady alice" made me feel far from happy. medley tried to cheer me up by suggesting that she had probably sailed for the westward, and that we should find her by-and-by in that direction. at last we reached the bay of tumbez, and came to an anchor off the mouth of the river. i looked eagerly out, half expecting to see the "lady alice" there, but no other english ship was in the roads besides ours. as soon as we had got off a supply of wood and water on rafts through the surf as before, the captain said, "now, lads, i will fulfil my promise and allow you all a run on shore for three days, a watch at a time; i'll pay for your lodging, but you must be back at the hour i fix." the men expressed their satisfaction by a cheer, and that they might have three full days, the starboard watch, to which i belonged, at once shoved off. a surf was breaking on the bar, where an upset would have been a serious matter, as sharks abounded ready to pick us up. we crossed, however, in safety, and pulled up the stream for five or six miles. the scenery was very pretty. in many places the trees grew thickly on the banks, their branches, among which numbers of amusing little monkeys were sporting, hanging completely over the water; now we could see the creatures peeping out at us from among the leaves; now they would skip off with wonderful activity; now come back and drop sticks and nuts down on our heads, keeping up a constant chattering all the time. as an american sailor observed, we might as well have tried to stop a flow of greased lightning as to lay hold of their tails. while we were watching the monkeys i saw what i had taken to be a dead log begin slowly to move, and presently a huge pair of jaws opened and an alligator glided off the bank into deep water; we found, indeed, as we got higher up, that the river swarmed with alligators, so that none of us were disposed to take a bath in fresh water. we might have gone up to tumbez by the river, but as this would have given us a long pull against the current, we landed at a plantation owned by a kind old lady, who offered us fruit and cakes and wine, and said that she should be happy to see me again. we then proceeded for three miles or so through orange groves and sandhills to the town, a wretched tumble-down-looking place, half choked up with sand. here, as it was now dark, we took shelter in a house called an inn, but, except in the public hall, where the eating and drinking went on, not a room contained a particle of furniture, so that we had to lie down on the floor and be devoured by mosquitoes and creeping things innumerable. there were several young americans of a superior class with whom i had associated during the afternoon, and when we got up we agreed that the wisest thing we could do would be to get out of the town as fast as possible. we scarcely knew each other at first, so swollen were our faces and necks from the bites of the voracious insects. early in the night the greater part of our men were drunk, and it appeared probable that before the day was much older the rest would be so. we, however, had to wait for breakfast, and before we left the whole place was in an uproar with tipsy seamen and natives quarrelling and fighting. escaping from the disgraceful scene we made our way to the house of donna anna, the old lady who had been so civil to us when we landed. she received us very kindly, and hearing why we left the town commended us for our discretion, telling us that we were welcome to remain till we had to return to our ship. as the heat was too great to make us wish to go out, we spent the day lolling about in a cool room, and eating when food was brought to us. in the evening we strolled through the orange groves, eating as much of the fruit as we desired. our hostess still further showed her kindness by supplying us with mosquito curtains to sleep under at night. we were all sorry when the time came for us to embark, but our men did not make their appearance, and i don't know when they would have come had not the second mate gone into the town at daybreak and compelled the more sober to bring off the others. as we pulled down the river we met the captain coming up it to look for us. he was very angry, and declared that he was much inclined not to let the other watch go on shore on account of the behaviour of the men. he relented, however, charging them to look out how they conducted themselves. soon after they had shoved off, the first mate said that he saw a small craft of some sort under sail coming in from the offing. all the telescopes on board were at once directed towards her, and before long she was pronounced to be a whale boat. on she came, steering for our ship, which, as we had the british flag flying, was easily distinguished from the american's. the crew were lying along on the thwarts, the heads of two of them just raised above the gunwale, as if their eyes were directed towards us; one man only was sitting up steering, and he was leaning back seemingly in an exhausted state. i looked at him several times through my glass till the boat drew nearer, when i was convinced that he was my kind friend captain bland. yes, there was no doubt about it. fearful apprehensions crowded into my mind. what could have become of the "lady alice"?--had any accident happened to her? captain bland would, i was certain, not willingly have deserted his wife and daughter. how eager i felt to inquire! directly the boat came alongside the mate and i, with two other men, descended to assist up the people in her. "take them first; they want help more than i do," said the captain, pointing to the others, one of whom kept murmuring, "water! water!" the others scarcely spoke. captain bland himself looked bad enough--so haggard and thin. we soon had him and the rest on deck and their boat hoisted in, when their captain was carried into captain hake's cabin. after he had taken some weak spirits and water and some food, he was able to speak without difficulty. "o sir, do tell me where are mrs bland, and mary, and the `lady alice,'" i said, as i was taking away his plate. "i wish, jack, that i could answer the question," he answered. "they will be fearfully anxious about me, but i trust that they and the ship are safe enough. just a fortnight ago, when off the galapagos, we sighted three whales. i went in chase of one of them to the northward. the other boats pulled after the rest. the whale i was following headed away from the ship, but still i hoped to come up with him before dark and make him my prize; i had nearly succeeded, and in another minute should have had my harpoon in his side, when he turned flukes and disappeared. though the sun was setting, i expected that he would come up again while there was light enough to strike him, so waited on the look-out, but the weather changed; a thick mist came up, the night became very dark, and though we heard the sound of spouting in the distance during the night, when morning broke no whale was to be seen-- nor was the ship in sight. anxious to be on board, i steered in the direction where i expected to find her, with, as i hoped, one or two whales alongside. it was blowing fresh with some sea on, but not sufficient to make it necessary to cut the whale adrift, should one have been secured. every hour i expected to come in sight of the ship, but we had reached the spot where i thought she would be found, and she was nowhere to be seen. we then steered to the southward and south-east, supposing that she might have stood after the boats in that direction. once we saw a sail, some small craft, a schooner apparently; we tried to speak her, to learn if she had fallen in with the `lady alice,' but she kept away from us. at length i came to the painful conclusion that if we did not before long fall in with the ship, we should run a fearful risk of being starved. we had providentially brought away a bag of biscuits of about fourteen pounds weight, half a dozen sausages, and a breaker of water, and we had besides a pound and a half of wax candles. a portion of the biscuits and sausages had already been consumed, but i now put the crew on an allowance, so that the food might last us for eight or nine days--the time i calculated it would take us, should the wind hold from the westward, to reach this place, for which i at once steered. the sausages were soon gone, and then the wax candles helped out the biscuits. we should have died, i think, though, had not we caught six flying fish on one day and three another--for our last crumb of biscuit and drop of water were gone before we sighted the land." "i hope that captain hake will at once sail in search of the `lady alice,'" i exclaimed, "no time should be lost." i thought of the schooner, but i did not mention my fears respecting her, lest i should increase the anxiety of my friend. "captain hake has not yet offered to sail, but i trust that he will without delay," he answered. soon afterwards captain hake entered the cabin. my friend at once told him his wishes. "sorry that part of my crew are on shore; we must wait till they return," was his answer. "could not you send for them?" asked captain bland. "i wish to relieve the anxiety of my wife and daughter." "i'll go on shore, sir, and bring them back!" i exclaimed, eagerly. "more easily said than done," observed the captain. "however, you may go." i hurried on deck, selected pepper and salt and two sandwich islanders, all of whom i could trust--which i could not the english seamen--lowered a boat, and pulled away. i trusted to medley and the doctor, who were on shore, to help me. my aim was to get hold of the men before they were too tipsy to move. going up the river we landed at donna anna's, where i found medley, and together we hastened on to tumbez. on the way we fell in with our doctor, mccabe. we told him our object. "i'll manage it for you," he said. "i'll frighten them out of their wits, and make them ready enough to return on board. i'll just hint to them that the liquor is poisoned, and so it is, for it's poison itself. they saw how the other watch looked when they came back, more dead than alive, and they'll be ready enough to believe me. i'll go on first, and then do you come up, and we'll get them down to the boat before they've time to think about it." we agreed, and the doctor hurried on. we followed slowly. on arriving at the town we found some of the men already half-seas over, and the rest looking very much scared at what the doctor had told them. some proposed attacking the place, and burning it down in revenge, but we suggested that they would be better employed in carrying their helpless shipmates to the boats, that they might be the sooner under the doctor's care. the wine-shop keepers and their friends, afraid of losing their prey, did their utmost to prevent this, but we succeeded, and half-carrying half-dragging, we got the tipsy men down to the boats. the doctor observing that exercise was the best thing to keep off the effects of the poison, the more sober willingly took to the oars, and to the surprise of the captain we soon made our appearance alongside. the doctor took good care to dose all hands round, and though several were very ill from the effects of the abominable aguadente, he got the credit of saving their lives. the captain, having no excuse for not sailing, gave the order to weigh at daybreak. the question was in what direction we should steer? should we go back to the galapagos, look into their harbours, and cruise about those islands? it was not likely that the mate of the "lady alice," after losing his captain, would remain long in that neighbourhood when all hope of finding him had been abandoned. captain bland thought that he would go either to the marquesas or sandwich islands, to obtain hands, without whom he could not prosecute the object of the voyage. "then what will your wife and daughter do?" asked captain hake. "will they remain on board, or take a passage home in the first full ship they fall in with?" "they will remain on board the `lady alice', i feel sure of that," said captain bland, in a tone of confidence. "they'll not give me up so quickly. they'll think that i have got on board some ship, or landed on one of the islands, or have come across to the mainland. women do not give up those they love in the way indifferent persons are apt to do. they'll not believe i am lost, but oh! how terribly anxious they'll be, notwithstanding, poor dears, poor dears!" and my kind friend hid his face in his hands to conceal his grief. i had all the time the thought in my mind of that abominable schooner with her miscreant crew, and the terrible dread that she might have fallen in with the "lady alice" while her boats were away, and run off with her. what resistance could the five or six people left on board offer, even though they might have suspected her character before she got up to them? still, i had the wisdom to keep these thoughts to myself. the captains decided on sailing first for the galapagos, and then to the marquesas and sandwich islands, calling off all intermediate islands. they hoped, also, to fall in with other whalers from whom information might be obtained. scarcely had we got out of the bay than the wind headed us, and we were making a long board to the southward, when the sound of a gun was heard. it was followed by several others in quick succession. the reports evidently came from the direction in which we were sailing. instead of tacking, as the captain had intended to do, he stood on. i went aloft with a glass, and in a short time i saw two vessels standing off from the land on the opposite tack to that we were holding. the leading vessel was a schooner, the other a large ship, which was firing her bow-chasers at her. i could see the puffs of smoke issuing from the bows of the ship before i heard the reports. every now and then the chase fired a stern-gun, for the purpose, i guessed, of trying to knock away some of her pursuer's spars, though from the distance they were apart it seemed to me with very little chance of success. the schooner showed no colours, but presently i saw a flag fly out from the peak of the ship, which, though indistinct, i was nearly sure was that of the peruvian republic. that the schooner was the dreaded craft which had so long haunted my imagination i felt perfectly certain, as i was that her piratical character was known, and that the man-of-war was intent on her capture. still, there seemed a possibility of her escaping should her pursuer not succeed in winging her. we might, however, cut her off, and prevent her from getting away. i watched the two vessels for a few minutes longer, and then hurried down on deck to tell captain hake what i had seen, and to suggest to him that we might enable the man-of-war to capture the schooner. "what business have we to interfere with the quarrels of foreigners?" he remarked. "the chase is probably a smuggler, which has been trying to land her cargo on the coast, or it may be has some refugees on board belonging to one of the many parties who are always at loggerheads." "but, sir, i am morally certain that she is the schooner we saw off the galapagos, to which those ruffians who attacked us belonged," i exclaimed. "perhaps she has been plundering some english vessel, and for what we can tell she may have fallen in with the `lady alice.'" i felt constrained to say this to induce captain hake to do as i proposed, i did not stop to consider the effect it might produce on captain bland. "jack may be right," he exclaimed, in an agitated tone. "my good friend, don't hesitate to follow his suggestion. if we make one tack to the north-west, and then put about again we shall cross her bows, when it will be hard if we cannot knock away some of her spars; or perhaps when her crew see what we are about, they'll lower their sails to save themselves from worse consequences." captain hake made no reply; but, to my great satisfaction, at once put the ship about, and soon afterwards ordered the guns to be loaded and the muskets to be brought on deck. he was a man of deeds rather than of words. captain bland thanked him heartily. "we must see that we are not making fools of ourselves before you need do that," he answered, somewhat gruffly. we stood on for some time, and then again put about. after this we rapidly approached the schooner, which had lately been drawing ahead of the corvette. the latter had ceased firing, but was crowding on more sail. once more we put about so as to be on the same course as the schooner. captain hake had been narrowly scanning her; as we got her within range he went to one of the guns, captain bland took charge of another, the mate of a third, and i, no one interfering, prepared to fire the fourth, all run out at the same side. we were now well to windward, all our guns pointed high. the captain, ordering the man at the helm to luff up, fired; the rest of us in succession followed his example. our crew gave a hearty cheer, for the schooner's main gaff was shot away, and the next moment down came her fore-topmast, the square topsail hanging over the side and the jib trailing in the water. our work was done, and we stood on. in a short time the corvette was almost close alongside the schooner, into which she at once poured her broadside. i fancied that i could hear the shrieks and groans of the hapless crew as the shot swept across the deck of the chase, or crashed into her side, and the sound of the rending and tearing of the stout planks. the pirates had had the madness to fire at the government cruiser when all hope of escape was gone. we were by this time away to leeward, and on the point of heaving-to, the corvette being the nearest to us. beyond her i could see the masts of the schooner; they were bending over away from her antagonist. for a few seconds my attention was drawn from her, as i had to assist in bracing round the yards; when i looked again the masts had disappeared, the corvette was standing on also, about to brace round her head yards-- the schooner had sunk with every human being on board. we saw no boat lowered to attempt saving the lives of any who might be still floating on the surface. perhaps none were seen. captain bland, hoping that he might possibly obtain some information about the "lady alice" on board the corvette at once borrowed a boat and invited me to accompany him to visit her. he was remarkably silent as we pulled for the ship, and thus my mind had time to recur to the gloomy thoughts which had before pained me so much. "what if on board that schooner there were others than her crew-- prisoners taken from any vessel they might have pillaged? all had shared the common fate, and i had been instrumental in their destruction. what if the pirates had, as i dreaded, attacked the `lady alice', and carried off mrs bland and mary?" the idea was too terrible; i tried to put it away from me. perhaps the same thought was causing anguish to the heart of my friend. i was thankful when we got alongside the corvette; our fears would be relieved, or we might know the worst. the accommodation ladder was lowered and manned to do us honour, and the captain, an englishman by his appearance, stood ready to receive us. he put out his hand as captain bland stepped on deck, and warmly greeted him. "i am deeply obliged, captain, for the service you have rendered me in knocking away that rascally schooner's spars," he said in a frank tone. "she might have got off otherwise, and given me another long cruise in search of her. i have been on the look-out for the villains for months past; for they have plundered numerous vessels, and sunk or destroyed others i suspect, besides pillaging the villages along the coast. i should have been glad to have taken them alive to have had them tried, but our shot made more sure work than i expected." "can you tell me, sir, the names of the english vessels the pirates are supposed to have plundered?" asked captain bland in an agitated tone. "if we are to believe the stories current at the peruvian ports, i should say half-a-dozen at least," answered the captain. "let me see, there is the `ruby,' the `jane and john' the `lady alice,' the--" "good heavens, sir!" cried captain bland, interrupting him. "were the people on board ill-treated? did the ruffians take any of them away, or did they merely carry off such valuables and stores and provisions as they could lay hands on?" "the `lady alice' are you speaking of?" asked the captain in a tone which showed that he did not suppose we were interested in her fate. "by the bye, though they attacked her they did not succeed in getting on board, for they were driven off in the most gallant fashion by her crew, notwithstanding that her captain and several hands were away in a boat, and it is much feared have been lost." "thank heaven," ejaculated captain bland. "blessings on my brave fellows. i am her captain, sir. can you tell me where she is? are my wife and daughter well?" "she is safe enough in the port of payta, i hope, by this time, as we convoyed her within a few leagues of the harbour, and then stood away in search of the schooner which has just met her just doom. your wife and daughter, to whom i paid a visit on board, were well, and though anxious about you, persisted in believing that you would be restored to them." "i knew that they would never give me up for lost. they have been spared much misery, anxious as they may have been. thank heaven for that!" cried my kind friend, grasping the captain's hand. "i am grateful to you, sir, for the good news you have given me, indeed i am; and now, with your leave, i'll return on board the `eagle,' that we may get to payta as soon as possible." though the captain of the corvette politely pressed us to stop for dinner, and offered to send for captain hake, i was glad that captain bland declined his proposals. directly we got on board, the boat being hoisted in, we made sail for payta, where we shortly arrived. the appearance of captain bland and his boat's crew caused no little astonishment on board the "lady alice," for both officers and men had given them up for lost. i went into the cabin to break the news to mrs bland and mary. they guessed at once by my countenance that captain bland had returned. he quickly followed me. "i knew that you would come back, father. i was sure that god would take care of you," exclaimed mary, as, half-weeping and half-laughing, she clung round his neck. how blessed it is to possess a perfect confidence in our heavenly father's protecting care over those we love! chapter six. our stay at payta was shorter than we had expected. the "lady alice," with the assistance of the english commander of the corvette, obtained more speedily than would otherwise have been the case all the repairs she required, and captain bland secured several good hands from among the crew of a merchantman wrecked further down the coast. captain hake gave the larboard watch of our ship leave on shore to make amends for their disappointment at tumbez, but they did no credit to our country, for after quarrelling with the natives, during which one of them was stabbed, they were brought off in the last stage of brutal intoxication, from which it took them several days to recover. i paid frequent visits to the "lady alice," which lay close alongside us. captain hake did not object to my doing that, but when captain bland again asked him for the loan of me (as he put it) my captain assumed the glummest of glum looks, and replied, "i thought that i had settled that matter before. the lad came out in this ship, and he goes home in her, if i have my will." though disappointed when captain bland told me this i had much reason to be thankful that i was able to enjoy, even at intervals, the civilising influences of female society. how different my lot to that of many poor lads away for four long years from any one who takes the slightest interest in their moral welfare, or attempts to raise their minds above the grovelling existence of their brutal associates. i should be ungrateful if i did not mention, in addition to other advantages, the benefit i derived from the society of medley, who was truly a friend to be prized. it was a great consolation to me to find that the two ships were to cruise in company, though i might possibly not be able for many weeks together to visit the "lady alice." on leaving payta we steered westward for the usual cruising ground. we had each at the end of ten days taken a couple of whales, when one sunday morning a number appeared in different directions. the "eagle's" boats were quickly in chase, but those of the "lady alice" remained hanging from the davits. "what can the old man be about?" i heard the captain remark to the first mate as they were about to shove off. "it cannot be that he doesn't see the whales. the owners will be down upon him if he doesn't look after their interests better." he said something to the same effect as he passed under our consort's stern. "i keep the ten commandments, captain hake," answered captain bland. "the master who gave them is the greatest of the two, and he will look after the owners' interests." by night on that occasion our boats had brought two whales alongside, but the crews were so weary from having been away all day under a scorching sun that they were unable to commence cutting in till next morning. at that time the boats of the "lady alice" were away, and in less than an hour had brought one whale alongside; shortly afterwards another was secured, so that as it turned out both ships commenced trying out at the same time, and the "lady alice" had the whole of the oil stowed away by saturday night. the same sort of thing occurred more than once after this. captain bland adhered to his rule, and by the end of the week had stowed as many barrels of oil in his hold as we had. at length whales becoming scarce, the two captains agreed to proceed westward across the pacific to the japan whaling ground. we called off various islands on our way, chiefly to obtain fresh provisions and water. at length we reached the neighbourhood of the kingsmill group, off which we found so many whales that we remained for several months, during which time we captured a large number. as there is no safe anchorage the ships had to stand off and on while the boats went on shore to obtain water and provisions, but we had to be very careful in our dealings with the natives, who were thorough savages and treacherous in the extreme. the weather now gave signs of changing, but as every day a whale was seen the captains were tempted to remain on. i had of late frequently gone away in the boats, generally with medley, who had become a good harpooner. for two days not a whale had been seen, and we were on the point of proceeding further west when about noon a whole school appeared, and scattering sported far and wide over the surface of the deep. all the boats from both ships were lowered, and i went in one with medley, who was intent on attacking a large whale which we saw to the eastward, in which direction the land lay from us. just as we had got within a dozen fathoms of the monster up went its flukes and it sounded, leaving us looking very blank at the spot where it had gone down. it might be forty minutes or more before it would come up again. we determined to wait, and as we had had a sharp pull we refreshed ourselves by munching some biscuits and drinking a part of the contents of our water breaker. the whale remained down a much longer time than we had expected, and when it came up appeared far away to the eastward, or much closer to the shore. again we bent to our oars, eager to get fast before it should once more sound. it was as much as we should do to reach it in time; if we were too late we should scarcely have another chance before dark. already the sun was hidden by a dark bank of clouds rising above the horizon, and the wind was blowing strong from the westward, but pulling directly before it we did not feel its force, though it was evident that the sea was gradually getting up. i could see both the ships at some distance apart, but none of the boats were visible to us sitting down. i ought to have told medley, who, having his eye on the whale ahead, did not remark the change in the weather. "if we kill the whale we shall be able to lie made fast under its lee, even should it come on to blow, till the `eagle' can come and pick us up," i thought. the whale, after remaining so long under water, took a proportionate time to spout on the surface. we were close to it. medley, making a sign to the bow oarsman to take his place, stepped forward and stood up harpoon in hand. we ceased pulling--the next instant a loud thud showed us that the weapon had struck deep into the monster's side. he followed up the blow by plunging in three lances, and was about to hurl a fourth when he shouted out "back off all!" while he allowed the line to run rapidly out of the tub over the bollard. we backed our oars with all our might, knowing that our lives might depend on our getting clear of the monster before it commenced the fearful struggles it was probably about to make. instead of sounding, however, or lashing the water with its flukes, it darted off along the surface at a rapid rate towards the land. already a considerable portion of the line had run out when medley secured it round the bollard, and away we flew, towed by the whale, at a furious rate through the water. the second line was secured to the end of the first, in case the whale should suddenly sound; but this it seemed to have no intention of doing. on and on we were dragged farther and farther from the ships, but we had no thoughts of cutting loose from the whale after all our exertions, and we hoped that, in its endeavours to escape, it would wear out its strength, and thus become an easy prey. medley stood ready all the time to slacken out more line should its speed become so great as to run the risk of its dragging the bows under water, while the man next him sat with axe in hand prepared to cut it in case there was a probability of the boat being swamped. nearer and nearer we approached the land, till we could distinctly see the surf rising up in a wall of foam, and breaking over the coral reef surrounding it. we expected every moment that the whale would turn to avoid the danger ahead, and that we should be able to haul in the slack of the rope, and get sufficiently close to give it another wound. that it was losing blood, and consequently its strength, we knew by the red tinge of the water in its wake; still it held on. i glanced towards the shore--i could see a gap in the line of surf, beyond which the land rose to a greater height than anywhere near. it formed, i concluded, the entrance to a bay or lagoon, but seemed so narrow that even a boat would run the danger of being swamped by the surging waters on either side. galled or terror-stricken as the whale evidently was, i could scarcely suppose that it would run itself on shore, yet from the course it was taking it seemed possible that such it was about to do. suddenly, however, the roar of the surf growing louder and louder, it appeared to perceive its danger, and leaping almost out of the water it turned away to the northward, giving the boat so violent a jerk that she was nearly capsized. escaping that danger, we were exposed to another, for the sea, now brought on our beam, continually broke over the side, employing two hands in baling, while often it appeared as if she would be turned completely over. at length the monster began to lessen its speed, and we were hauling in the line to get up to it, when suddenly raising its flukes down it went, dragging out the line again at a rate which made the bollard smoke, but the sea breaking over the bows prevented it from catching fire. the first line was soon drawn out--the second went on, and that, too, speedily ran towards the end. it was vain to attempt stopping it. the whale was now, we knew, swimming under water, and heading away from the shore. it must ere long come up again--but could we hold on till then? already the seas broke fearfully over the bows. in spite of the efforts of the men baling, the boat was half full of water. medley seized the axe; the bitter end of the last line was reached. a dark sea came rolling on. nothing could save us from being swamped, it seemed. the axe descended, a loud thud was heard, the line was severed. "back off all!" cried medley, taking the bow oar to steer by. we pulled for our lives; the sea broke under the bows. scarcely till now were we conscious that, after all our toils, the whale was lost. we had not, as we had hoped, its huge body to hang on to, to protect us from the fury of the fast-rising seas. darkness had now come on; we looked out in vain for either of the ships. the "eagle," on finding that we did not return, would burn blue lights to direct us to her. the "lady alice" would do the same should any of her boats be absent. we pulled on against the still rising seas. how long our boat would float amid them was doubtful. "there's alight, boys!" cried medley at length; but it was away to the northward, and far off, for it only just appeared above the horizon. to reach it we must bring the sea abeam and run a fearful risk of being rolled over or swamped. still the attempt must be made, unless we were prepared to remain toiling at the oars all night, or to run the risk of trying to reach the shore. we continued to pull on, keeping the boat's head to the sea, when, looking round, i observed a glimmering bluish light suddenly spring up on the starboard bow. that it was at an immense distance i knew, as i could not distinguish the body from which the rays of light proceeded. medley saw it also. "she is hull down, and it would take us till morning to reach her, even if we could do it then," he said in a tone which showed how serious he thought our condition. still we could more easily reach the vessel from which the distant light proceeded than the one on our beam. our situation was sufficient to alarm the stoutest hearts, and we were all young and comparatively inexperienced. the dark sky seemed to have come down close above our heads; the foam-covered seas came rolling on, every instant increasing in size, while astern was the dreadful reef, over which the furious breakers were dashing with a terrific roar. i had given up my oar to another man, and was seated near medley, when i saw a small bright speck in the sky just above the horizon. "what is that? can it come from a ship?" i asked, pointing it out to him. he was silent. gradually the spot of light expanded into an arch. "it is the eye of an hurricane," he said at length. "we shall have it break upon us presently, and if we fail to reach the land, jack, we shall not live to see another sunrise." calmly telling the men to be prepared for the worst, but not to despair, he put the boat round, and we pulled in for the land. i told him of the opening i had seen. he had observed it also, but was doubtful whether we should discover it in the darkness. still, unless we could do so, our destruction seemed certain. earnestly i prayed for deliverance; so did medley, i know. with fearful rapidity, borne onward by the sea, we approached the raging breakers. for some time in vain we looked along the line of foam for the opening we had seen. the howling tempest astern forbade us attempting to pull off the shore; but should we gain it, if it was inhabited, what sort of treatment were we to expect from the savages? several boats' crews had, it was said, lost their lives among this group. i was straining my eyes ahead when i made out against the sky the outline of the high land i had before remarked. beyond it the clouds appeared to be brighter than in any other part of the heavens. the instant afterwards the pale moon burst forth, and though but for a brief space, it was long enough to enable her to serve as a beacon to us. directly below her we saw the looked-for opening. "give way, lads, we may yet save our lives," cried medley. the men did give way, but so narrow appeared the opening that it seemed impossible we should get through without being swamped by the breakers rising high up on either side, rendered visible and more terrific by the vivid flashes of lightning darting from the clouds, which were followed by crashing peals of thunder, sounding above even the roaring of the angry waters. onwards we were carried, the foam leaping high above our heads on the summit of a hissing sea, and then down we shot like an arrow, guided by medley's oar, on to the comparatively calm surface of a deep bay. a few strokes more we glided up it, and were in smooth water, the moon not hiding her face till we were in safety. we made out before us a sandy beach, towards which we steered, and, leaping out, drew up our boat to free her of water. our first act was to kneel down and return thanks to our heavenly father, who had so mercifully preserved us, and most of our rough crew, though at first they hesitated, followed our example. we then looked out for a place which would afford us shelter during the night from the raging storm. near the beach was a grove of palm-trees, but the wind, howling amid their stems, bent and twisted them about so furiously that we had reason to dread, should we lie down under them, that some, being uprooted, might fall and crush us. keeping outside the trees, we made our way towards the high ground, one side of which we found consisted of a coral cliff, and we had not searched long before we discovered a cave large enough to afford shelter to all our party. the floor was of sand, and having no fear of venomous creatures or savage beasts, the men threw themselves down to obtain the rest they all so much required. we had brought from the boat the biscuits and the small stock of water we possessed, but none of them were inclined to eat, though they drank up more than half the quantity of the precious liquid remaining in the breaker. medley and i, who were, as were the rest, wet to the skin, walked up and down under shelter of the rock trying to dry our clothes. "if we had but a fire it would be a great comfort," i observed. pepper, one of our kroomen, hearing what i said, exclaimed, "massa, me got light, nebber fear!" groping about, he soon found two pieces of dry wood, and fashioning them with his knife, he began to rub one against the other in a way which at length produced a bright spark. i had a handful of leaves ready, and we had quickly a capital fire blazing up just inside the cave. how grateful we felt for its genial warmth! what if, while we were congratulating ourselves on being safe on shore, any misfortune should happen to those in whom we were so deeply interested? i felt that i would thankfully be on board the "lady alice" to share the fate of my friends, or to aid, as far as human strength could go, in averting the danger to which they might be exposed. i knew, however, that my wishes were of no avail. i knelt down with medley, and prayed with all earnestness that they might be protected; we then stretched ourselves on the sand near our men. "jack, it did not occur to me before that this island may be inhabited; if so, that our fire may attract the natives," said medley, just as i was dropping off to sleep. "it ought to be put out, or we must keep watch. they might murder us before we could attempt to defend ourselves." i agreed with him, but confessed that i could no longer keep my eyes open. "i'll keep the first watch, and then i'll call up pepper and salt, and the latter shall call you. the others cannot be depended on," he said, though i could scarcely comprehend the meaning of his words. it was nearly daylight when salt at last awoke me. he would not have done so then, honest fellow, had not he been ordered. i asked him if he had heard or seen any natives. "no, massa jack, me tink none here; but better get to de boat and catch some fish for breakfast, and den if any savage come we ready to start," he answered. i thought his advice good, and desired him, as soon as it was light, to go down to the boat and get the lines ready, so that we might shove off as soon as the other men awoke. i, in the meantime, directly the dawn broke, made my way to the summit of the hill, that i might survey the island, and, if possible, ascertain the position of the ships. i had fortunately brought a small but powerful telescope given me by captain bland. the fury of the hurricane was over, but the breakers still beat with violence against the barrier reef, and made it impossible for us to put to sea. in a short time the glorious sun, rising above the horizon amid the fast dispersing clouds, shed a bright light over sea and land, and enabled me to obtain a far-extending view. the island on which we had taken refuge was much smaller than i had supposed, owing to the reef which extended along it; but across a narrow passage was another of much greater extent and away to the north and north-west were several others, besides numerous reefs marked by the white masses of foam flying over them. several tiny wreaths of smoke which rose up amid the groves on the nearest island showed me that that, at all events, was inhabited, as, probably, were most of the others. as the mist of morning cleared away i could distinguish in the distance the huts of the natives, though, owing probably to the barren nature of the soil at the end nearest our island, none were built there. again and again i swept the horizon in search of the ships; nowhere could i discern them. in what direction could they have been driven? i at last observed beyond a line of reefs what i took to be a group of cocoa-nut trees rising out of a low islet faintly traced against the blue sky like gossamer webs. yes, there were trees, but among them, after keeping my glass steady for a minute or more, i made out the masts and yards of a ship. that she was either the "eagle" or the "lady alice" i felt certain, but how she had escaped the reefs and been driven in where i saw her i could not conjecture. as her masts appeared upright i trusted that she was not on shore; but whether such were the case or not, she might find it difficult to escape from her position should the savage inhabitants of the neighbouring shores try to make her their prey, as they had succeeded in doing other vessels under similar circumstances. what was even now going forward on board her, who could tell? again i looked round in vain for the other ship, and then hastened down to join medley. i found him setting off with the other men for the boat, he supposing that i had gone with salt to look after her. he could not even conjecture which of the ships i had seen, but he agreed with me that we must put off to try and get on board her the moment we could venture out to sea. he would have gone back with me to the hill, but the men were crying out for food, and insisting on endeavouring to catch some fish. none of the trees near us bore cocoa-nuts, nor had any water been found, probably the reason that the island was uninhabited. medley served only a small portion of biscuit to each man, and warned them all to be very careful of the water, as we might be unable to obtain more till we reached the ship. judging by the surf which still beat furiously on the reef there was small prospect of our doing that till the next day at soonest. salt had got the lines and hooks ready, and some shell-fish for bait, so we at once pulled out as near the entrance of the lagoon as we could venture. we had not had our lines down long before we began to get bites, and in a short time we had hauled in as many fish as would give us an ample supply of food for the day, we returned to the shore to cook and eat our prey. we again lighted a fire at the mouth of our cave, hoping that the smoke would not be seen by the savages, but to prevent being surprised medley sent pepper to the other side of the island to give us due warning should he see any of them coming over. after breakfast the rest of the men lay down to sleep, while medley and i went to the top of the hill to ascertain by the state of the sea when there was a probability of our getting off, and to watch for the appearance of the other ship. we looked for her in vain. the ocean, however, was rapidly losing the quickness of its motion, though the huge waves were still slowly and lazily tumbling against each other as they rolled on till they reached the reef, where, with a roar of thunder, they broke into masses of foam. the chief object of interest, the distant ship, remained motionless as before, her canvas closely furled. had a sail been loosed we should have seen it fluttering in the breeze. "in a few hours at most we shall be able to pass through yonder channel," observed medley, pointing to the entrance of the lagoon. "look, the sea scarcely even now breaks across it. if necessary, i would not hesitate to take out a boat in spite of the risk i might run; but we will not make the attempt for the present." i agreed with him that it would be folly to do so, and we returned to the cave. we sat down in the shade. the heat was great, and neither of us having had much rest, we both fell as sound asleep as were our men stretched at their lengths a short distance from us. hours may have passed. i was aroused by pepper shouting, "de savage come! de savage come! quick, quick! rouse up, boys, get to de boat." salt was the first to start to his feet on hearing his companion's voice, and by kicks and pulls to awaken the rest. i grasped medley by the arm and helped him up. the men in a panic were hurrying off, when he reminded them of the breaker of water and the remainder of the fish which had fortunately been cooked. they took the breaker and fish up between them, and set off, while we waited for pepper. he had seen a large body of savages, flourishing their formidable spears and gesticulating wildly, come down to the shore and begin to swim across the channel, evidently, as he supposed, having discovered that strangers were on the island, though how they had done so it was difficult to guess, unless they had seen medley and me on the top of the hill. that they had hostile intentions was pretty evident by the account pepper gave us. had we possessed fire-arms we might have defended our selves, but as it was we could secure our safety alone by flight. we found the men hurriedly launching the boat. in their dread of the savages i am not sure that they would have waited for us had we been delayed. the boat was quickly in the water, and we all leaped on board. medley took the steering oar, and the men gave way. as i looked ahead i could see the green billows rolling in towards the opening, and still breaking with fearful force against the barrier reef on either side, but in the centre i observed a clear glass-like swell, over which i hoped we might find a safe passage. medley seemed not quite certain about the matter, and told the men to lay on their oars till he could perceive a favourable opportunity for dashing out. just then a fearful yell sounded in our ears, and looking astern i saw the beach covered by a band of savages flourishing their spears and gesticulating to us to return and be killed. some of the more active were springing along the rocks so as to get near enough to hurl their weapons at us. the crew, without waiting for medley's orders, bent to their oars, and though several spears fell into the water at no great distance off, we were soon beyond their reach. without waiting to ascertain what the savages were about we steered for the centre of the passage. a sea like a mass of liquid malachite came rolling in--we mounted to its summit, and then descending into the trough, were soon rising on another watery height. the crew pulled lustily, and in a few minutes we were well outside the breakers, and able to turn the boat's head to the northward. it had become a perfect calm, so that we had a long pull before us. at this the men grumbled, as they had expected to hoist the sail. medley, however, reminded them that had there been wind the ship would probably have got under weigh, and we should have missed her. we pulled on along the coast of the larger island, but whether or not we were perceived by the people on shore we could not tell. the men at last complaining of fatigue, declared that they must stop and take some food and water. to this medley could not object, eager as he and i were to get up to the ship. while the men were eating the remainder of the fish and biscuit, we kept two of the oars going, and had just passed a point forming one side of a bay when, looking towards the shore, we saw a fleet of large canoes, thirty or more, ranged along the shore, the people apparently hurrying on board. on examining them through my glass i perceived that they were all armed, and it at once occurred to me that they were starting on an expedition to attack the ship. medley was of the same opinion. "you see the savages in those boats," he exclaimed; "let us see what you can do. if they catch us we shall be in their try-pots before many hours have gone by, but if we can get on board the ship we can at all events have a fight for our lives." the men needing no further incentive to exertion, cramming their food into their mouths, threw out their oars and away we flew over the now calm surface of the ocean. as i looked over the starboard quarter i saw that several of the canoes had shoved off from the beach and were coming after us. had there been a breeze we should have had no chance of escaping them. in a short time the whole fleet was after us. the savages probably reckoned on our not knowing the shortest passages through the reefs, but medley and i kept a bright look-out, i making a good use of my telescope. now we had the coral rocks rising close to us. several times i could see the bottom as we dashed on. occasionally we had to turn either to the east or west, but still we were rapidly nearing the ship. my chief fear was that other canoes might be waiting further to the north and dash out upon us. while standing up i brought my glass to bear on the ship. how thankful i felt when i became certain that she was the "lady alice." she had at all events escaped any accident from the hurricane, and i had no doubt that we should beat off the savages should they venture to attack her. looking astern i saw to my satisfaction that we were greatly distancing the canoes, so that we should have time after getting on board to make preparations for their reception. at length we were discovered by our friends on board, for we saw several persons waving signals of welcome to us from the forecastle. greatly to my relief also i saw that the ship was at anchor at some distance from the shore, while beyond her to the north-west the sea appeared free from reefs. captain bland shook my hand heartily. "we had given you up for lost," he said; "we heard that you were away from your ship when the hurricane came on, and that there was no chance of your getting on board her." "how could you hear that?" i asked, much surprised. "from the second mate and his crew, whom we took on board. very glad i was to have them, as they were of the greatest assistance during the gale, though i fear captain hake must have been hard put to it without them." i interrupted my old friend by telling him of the approach of the canoes. he was not a man to disregard a warning. the boarding nettings were at once triced up, the small arms got from below, and the guns loaded. i inquired anxiously for mary and her mother, who were not on deck. "they suffered much during the hurricane, but are now on foot, and will be glad to see you," answered the captain. i sprang below. i should have startled my friends not a little had not the steward told them that i had come on board, for they had heard of the supposed loss of our boat, though mary told me with a smile, while a tear was in her eye, that as her dear father had been preserved, so she had not despaired of again seeing me. i felt very happy, for i was sure that we should beat off the savages. on my return on deck i found that they had not yet appeared. it was now getting dark. this made us suspect that they had intended to attempt surprising the ship at night, and very probably they would have succeeded had we not providentially seen them and thus been the means of putting our friends on their guard. captain bland, always anxious to avoid bloodshed, ordered the guns to be fired at intervals, both to show the savages that we were on the alert and to attract the attention of the "eagle" should she be in the neighbourhood. though prepared we could not avoid being anxious, for if the natives were resolved on our destruction we should have a severe struggle before we could drive them off. it had now become so dark that it would be difficult to see the canoes till they were close to us. all hands, therefore, remained on deck with our weapons in our hands to be ready at a moment's notice, but the hours went by, the savages had thought better of it we hoped, and dawn at length appeared. we looked out for the canoes, but they were nowhere to be seen, nor was the "eagle." the calm continued, and as we had our two boats besides those of the "lady alice," captain bland resolved to tow her out to sea so as to get a good offing before another night. the anchor was hove up, and with six boats ahead we made good progress. we had got a couple of miles away from the anchorage, and were nearly free of the reefs when the look-out at the masthead shouted that he saw the canoes coming towards us. "keep to your oars, lads," cried captain bland; "we shall have a breeze presently, and shall then easily tackle them." on came the canoes. it seemed too likely that they would reach us before the wished-for breeze had sprung up. the crews of the boats gave way lustily. i had remained on board. as i looked astern i fancied that i could almost hear the shrieks and shouts of the savages as they approached. suddenly i saw the dog-waves blowing out. i, with the rest on board, sprang aloft to loose sails, the boats were called alongside, and by the time they were hoisted up we were gliding rapidly through the water. though several of the canoes, hoisting their sails, got near us, a few shot, which carried away the masts of two or three, made them give up the pursuit, and in a few hours we had run the island out of sight. we cruised in the neighbourhood of the group for two weeks or more in search of the "eagle," but at last despairing of falling in with her continued on for the japan whaling ground. here being very successful, we got a full ship, and, to the joy of all on board, steered homewards by way of the indian seas, calling, however, at several interesting places to obtain fresh provisions and water. the white cliffs of old england were seen at length, and home was reached. captain bland, having made a successful voyage, declared that he would never more tempt the ocean or expose his wife and daughter to dangers such as those from which they had been so mercifully preserved. the "eagle" had not arrived, and nothing was heard of her for several years, when a report reached me that she had sought shelter in one of the harbours of the group, when part of the crew being on shore were set upon and massacred, while those on board were overpowered and killed. the ship then having been plundered was sunk with her cargo of oil, and was thus found by another whaler the following year through information given by one of the natives. thus ended the voyages of the two whalers, of which i have given of necessity but a hurried sketch. i left the whaling service, and sooner than i might have expected, obtained the command of a fine trader to china and the eastern seas, having the happiness of being accompanied by my dear mary, who had become my wife. my excellent friend medley was equally successful, and both of us having retired from the sea, have settled near each other, and often spin to attentive young listeners the preceding yarn, and many others descriptive of our nautical career, though our boys and girls unanimously give the preference to the voyages of the two whalers. the end.